Remember:
If you move or change your e-mail address, please notify the Museletter editor. Bulk mail is not forwarded, so you will not receive your Museletters. E-mail is the only way members are notified of Museletter deadlines.

Welcome
to the following new members of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets who have joined since the last Museletter issue.

New member inquiries should be directed to Peter Piaskoski,the credentials chair. Join us!

Teens turn to poetry to express their feelings
By Marianne Reid
Columbia News Service
     Anthony Milan, 13, of New York strutted on stage in late April to the cheers of hundreds of schoolmates. He might have just scored the winning goal in a high-stakes game, but instead, he
was reading his poem, “Who am I?”
     When Ariel Hunsberger, 18, sat down to use the computer, she used to ignore her parents’ poetry books on the shelf beside her. But since she went to a writing camp last year, she reads those books and others daily.
     “Now poetry is a lot more open to me,” said Hunsberger, of Fredericksburg, VA. “It is more
immediate and is sometimes the best for expression and sharing.”
     Propelled by teaching methods that draw on everything from hip-hop culture to poets-in-residence in schools, teenagers are embracing poetry. In New York, San Francisco and Houston,
teachers are showing young adults how the power of words can help them make sense of their lives.
     “The popularity of poetry among teenagers is enormous,” said James Kass, executive director of Youth Speaks, a literary arts program in San Francisco that teaches writing and poetry workshops to young adults. “It’s become this hip thing, this cool thing.”
     Teenagers’ poetry digs deep without the head-banging analysis of iambic pentameter or the stuffiness of winesipping recitations. Young adults are continuing a rich oral tradition and are
pushing the art form into a more inclusive, high-energy event. Helping the movement gain traction are instructors adopting a more user-friendly approach—like a poem a day or discussing feelings elicited by poems—rather than force-feeding a dissection of the Iliad.
Like Vegetables
     “When your teacher treats poetry like it’s time to eat your vegetables, you leave high school hating it,” said Meg Kearney, acting executive director of the National Book Foundation.
     The teaching of poetry has evolved from sometimes-tedious analysis of poetic forms like the sonnet, the quatrain and the haiku. Examples of specific structure may be presented as models, but students are not encouraged to judge their work against the masters.
     “We’re not measuring our selves against Robert Frost,” said Marty Skoble, who teaches poetry to all grades at St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn. Skoble introduces technical writing skills as students are ready. “They’re really discovering poetry for themselves,” he says.
     But he and others aren’t discarding the tools of rhyme, rhythm and repetition, simile and metaphor. They say they are simply trying to make poetry relevant and appealing. That’s especially important because poetry has to compete with computer games, reality television,
instant messaging and all the other distractions of modern teenage life.
     To help grab teenagers’ attention, some teachers begin lessons with a look at the students’
immediate culture: hip-hop music.
Strong Connection
     “Hip-hop is such a strong connecting force for this generation,” said Saul Williams, a
contemporary poet and songwriter in Hollywood, Calif. “Even if they don’t like it, they know a few songs.” In late April, Williams introduced his own honest and in-the-moment poetry to eighth graders as poet-in-residence for a week at Intermediate School 145 in Jackson Heights, Queens, where Anthony Milan is a student.
     One day, he had his students read lyrics to their favorite songs, including one by Tupac Shakur called “So Many Tears.”
     “Now was that a poem?” Williams asked a class. Twenty heads nodded yes.
     The teenage years are times of self-doubt, and the art of teaching poetry is persuading teenagers to believe in themselves, some teachers say. Through writing, deeper thoughts and emotions will emerge.
     “We teach the teenagers to have enough faith in their heart, minds and tongues,” Kass tells his students. “You never know what’s going to come out. You can erase it on paper, but you can’t erase it from your head.”
     A recent shooting in Milan’s neighborhood compelled him to write about it.
     “Poetry is like therapy,” he said. “It’s better to write it down than keep it all inside.”
     Hunsberger, who is more inclined to write fiction than something self-disclosing, finds poetry one of the few media in which she’ll write about herself.
     “I’ve always wished I could slip betwen the sheets of time/ Visit the people and places of my most impossible dreams/ Always wished I could slip between the sheets of time/ Imagine myself a player in a twirling pantomime,” Ariel writes in a recent poem, “Twirling Blues.” “But I’m stuck
here as me/ I can’t be those people whose stories I tell/ I’m stuck here as me/ With a desire I cannot quell.”
     “Poetry is where I write something real,” she explained. “It’s more revealing of myself.”

In Memoriam

Abigail “Dixie” Curkeet
     Abigail “Dixie” Curkeet of Mt. Horeb died on June 27, 2004, at the age of 97. A life-long lover of nature, particularly animals of all sorts, Dixie was a writer of not only poetry, but non-fiction and children’s stories, which she illustrated as well. She was a tutor for remedial reading at her local library, and was active in a number of writers’ groups besides WFOP.
     Contributed by D.B. Appleton

Lucille Kleist Shaw
      Lucille Kleist Shaw of Poynette, age 84, of Poynette, died on August 3, 2004. She wrote for Portage-area newspapers for years and her poetry often could be found on the
website poetry.com. Lucille was still writing up until the last week of her life. She belonged to writers' clubs and won the Golden Crow award. She is survived by four children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Funeral services were held in Portage on August 7th.

Peggy Shimkus
     Margaret “Peggy” Shimkus, 85, of Racine passed away on March 12, 2004. Peggy was born in New York but lived in Racine for over 50 years. Survivors include a son, daughter and son-in-law, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Felix in 1990.
     Frank Konieska, fellow South region member, writes: “While the passing of any loved one is sad, it’s especially poignant to me to lose a poet and their unique view of the world. We here in southern Wisconsin will miss Peggy Shimkus, as I am sure all of the members of the WFOP will.” Frank went through some of the back issues of the calendar and picked out a poem which he especially remembered hearing her read. It is entitled “Hunter’s Moon.”

Hunter’s Moon Margaret A. Shimkus Last night the moon hovered in the eastern sky its lemon eye laid a swath of light bathing denizens of the darkness to unmask lovers skulking thieves creating a bounty of deer-shadowed meadows garnet-jeweled rabbit eyes Diana moon goddess floated above it all sharing nothing of herself until the light of day dimmed her borrowed shine.

Dorothy Westring
      Dorothy Westring, one hundred years old and still writing with grace and style, died on June 9, 2004. All of us who knew her grieve with her sons and our fellow Wisconsin poets. She was a part of a Round Robin in which I have shared for over twenty years and she never failed to have a poem for us to not only savor but chew on. We will miss her but we celebrate a life well lived.
     Contributed by Lenore McComas Coberly

Keep Your Dues Current
      Please remember that membership dues are payable January first of every year. We no longer offer a “grace period” after nonpayment of dues. Members must be current with their dues
to enjoy membership benefits such as:

• the opportunity to be published in the Museletter’s “Poetry Page”
• listing of recent publications in the Museletter
• free “chapbook” ad, and reduced advertising rates for other ads in the Museletter
• eligibility to enter the “Triad” poetry contest
• reduced entry fee for the “Muse” contest
• free “member” web page on the Fellowship’s web site
• and, of course, the Museletter itself.

Museletter Adds Extra Delivery Options
      At the Spring conference, the Board voted to add several new options for delivery of the Museletter.
      Members who want to read and download the Museletter from our website will be able to receive an email notice with a link to the Museletter web page. By choosing this option, members will be removed from the bulk-mail list and will not receive a hard copy of the Museletter except the one they download and print themselves. This will provide the fastest delivery of news, at a significant savings to the Fellowship.
      Members may also opt to receive the Museletter by first-class mail rather than bulk mail. This should eliminate many of the delivery delays that some members have experienced. This will increase mailing costs to the Fellowship. For now, the Board decided not to pass this extra cost along to the members choosing this option.
      Those satisfied with things as they are don’t need to do anything. The “default” delivery method will be the traditional printed copy, sent via bulk mail. That’s how we’ve been doing it all along. Members will need to notify the Museletter editor if they wish to exercise one of these new options. To notify the Museletter editor, send an email indicating which delivery choice you prefer to thefalks@frontiernet.net. If you would rather contact the editor by mail, send a note to her at: Christine Falk, 9556 Upper 205th Street W, Lakeville, MN 55044. Changes will go into effect with the fall issue.

Poetry as Art: Art-Inspired Poetry Spring Conference April 29 & 30, 2005 Racine, Wisconsin

Member Publications

Poetry Contest Offers Publication, Cash Prizes
      Calling all poets: the Wisconsin Academy Review begins accepting submissions for its statewide poetry contest on September 1, with a deadline of December 6. Winners and
runners-up are published in the Wisconsin Academy Review, and the top three winners receive cash prizes. Winners and runners-up have the opportunity to do a spring reading in Madison (during National Poetry Month), and the top three winners are also invited to read at a special event at the Wisconsin Book Festival. Lead judge for the poetry contest is poet Jean Feraca. See www.wisconsinacademy.org for details.

Seeking Additional Round Robin Participants
Members of a Poetry Round Robin are hoping to include a few more contributors. This Robin was begun by the late Dorothy Westring. It has no official name. We always called it “Dorothy’s Robin.” Any poet who would appreciate diverse opinions and critiques on poems on a monthly basis are asked to send one poem to Shirley O’Neill, 820 West Main St., Platteville, WI 53818. Each time the Robin returns to you, you are expected to add another poem, and to comment on the poems of the other members. We try to make only constructive comments, and the poems remain in circulation for an additional month so everyone can see all the comments. Sometimes we even disagree on the criticisms. It can be an educational experience for both beginners and accomplished poets.

FINANCES
Fourth Quarter Financial Report

April 1, 2004 through June 30, 2004

General Account:  submitted by D.B. Appleton, treasurer
Balance April 1, 2004    $36,341.35

Balance June 30, 2004     $36,341.35

Literary Fund Account:  submitted by Sue DeKelver, Literary Fund Chair
Balance April 1, 2004    $2,266.24

Balance June 30, 2004    $1,702.36

Calendar Account:  submitted by Lou Roach, Calendar Business Manager
Balance April 1, 2004   $10,085.56

Balance June 30, 2004   $11,600.72

submitted by D.B. Appleton, treasurer