Hello, friends!
This is Alys, your PSI Events & Programs Coordinator and amateur tech guru (as PSI President Deborah Petersen likes to call me!). As the grayed gloom of late Winter is replaced with the colors, scents, and sounds of Spring here in Indiana, we've been busy at PSI getting ready for our annual Spring Fling conference and of course celebrating National Poetry Month!
Part of my service to PSI includes updating the website and our public Facebook page with information about this year's Spring Fling and things like the conversational National Poetry Month Daily Prompts that Deborah's sharing with you. I hope you are enjoying the prompts, and I hope you'll attend our Spring Fling on 24 April via Zoom! It's going to so much fun! In the meantime, I hope you're enjoying the warmer weather as much as I am!
On a personal note, I also hope that President Biden's COVID-19 vaccination [program is going smoothly for you. I'm scheduled to receive my second vaccination shot this Friday, and I can't wait! With my pre-existing health conditions putting me at elevated risk for COVID-19, I've been isolated for over a year and it was really hard waiting for Indiana to open up vaccinations to my age group (Indiana's vaccination plan went by age not at-risk categories, and moved very slowly until just a few weeks ago). Having the full vaccine means that I'll be able to hug my loved ones for the first time in 404 days ~ my "Hug Day" is 24 April, our Spring Fling date! I hope all of you have your own long-awaited "Hug Day" coming soon, too!
As always, if you're not yet a PSI Member, please consider joining our fantastic group of poets! Information about membership can be found here: ​PSI Membership
Take care, keep wearing your mask, and write on!
​~ Alys

Hello, PSI Friends!
This is Alys ~ your newly appointed Events & Opportunities Coordinator and Webmaster!
My thoughts turn to cliches and maxims today: many hands make light work, jump in and get your feet wet, practice makes perfect, patience is a virtue, and tomorrow is another day!
Let me say thank you for allowing me to help out behind-the-scenes in this great organization. I'm excited to work with our newly elected Board ~ check 'em out on the Officers Page.
I hope to start creating some virtual opportunities for us during the pandemic ~ I'll also help behind-the-scenes with any in-person events. This is a good opportunity to divulge to you all that my pre-existing rare lung disease and chronic heart failure mean that I'm under several doctors' orders to not be out in public until I can get a highly effective (tested, proven, etc) vaccine for COVID-19. 
Until that happy day, I'll be focusing, as Events & Opportunities Coordinator, on some virtual events & opportunities, like Round Robin Open Mics via Zoom (perhaps once a month!) and hosting a special PSI interview series on @theroundtable, which is the podcast that Sarah E. and I host for our 501c3 nonprofit arts organization, Community • Education • Arts (CEArts).
As for my role as Webmaster, today's the first time I've logged in to the website to explore it ~ may I say that Sarah E. and Chuck have been doing a GREAT job, and I consider myself their "Assistant" until I can get as savvy with the website as are they!
Back to those cliches ~ many hands do indeed make light work, so please feel free to contact me or any of the Officers if any of you have ideas/want to help with our PSI Events & Opportunities (both in-person and virtual). And, patience is indeed a virtue, so please be patient with me as I learn the PSI ropes!
~ Alys

In today's Premier Poet's Corner, we highlight a past Premier Poet, Mary Couch.  Enjoy her beautiful piece. Copyright of the author, used with permission.

Today we highlight a beautiful collaborative poem spearheaded by Jenny Kalahar. She writes:

"I asked poets far and wide to contribute to a chain poem, and here is the end result from myself and 18 creative friends (not necessarily in order): Alys Caviness-Gober, Mary Couch, Sarah E. Morin-Wilson, Shelly Gambino, Deborah Petersen, David Allen, Nancy Simmonds, Kathy Jo Carter, George Wylie, Dennis White, Tamara Horton Saylor, Harold Taylor, JL Kato, Michael Strosahl, Chuck Kellum, Spike Morin-Wilson, James Green, and Patrick Kalahar. I did a little editing to keep the flow and style, but not much. I hope you love this as much as I do! Thank you to all who participated! I'll be publishing this in the state poetry anthology this autumn."

I’m thrilled to announce that poet Curtis L. Crisler will make a special guest appearance at PSI’s online Facebook event: Social Distancing Social Media Social for Poets! This event will take place entirely on Facebook, April 25, 1:30-3p. Sign up here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1871821312950293/. Invite your friends!

As some of our PSI members may know, Curtis Crisler was lined up to be our featured speaker at Spring Fling. When we had to cancel our in-person event due to coronavirus concerns, I reached out to him to see if he would be willing to drop by our online event briefly to talk about his latest project. Not only did he say yes, he’s donating a signed copy of Indiana Nocturnes, his brand-new release! We’ll be giving away both a copy of Indiana Nocturnes and “This” Ameri-can-ah during our online event. (PSI members who attended the Spring Fling at Fox Island a few years ago, you will remember Curtis read selections from “This” Ameri-can-ah and was a hit. Thank you, Nancy Simmonds, for the donation of “This” Ameri-can-ah.)

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is show up to our online event on April 25 and participate in the comment section. Any US resident, PSI member or not, is eligible to win. You must be age 13 or older to enter. (Young poets, encourage your guardians to enter and share the book with you if they win!)

About Curtis L. Crisler:

Curtis L. Crisler was born and raised in Gary, Indiana. He received a BA in English, with a minor in Theatre, from Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), and he received an MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

He has two poetry books out: Don’t Moan So Much (Stevie): A Poetry Musiquarium (Kattywompus Press) and “This” Ameri-can-ah (Cherry Castle Publishing). His recent poetry chapbook Black Achilles (Accents Publishing) was released in 2015. His previous books are Pulling Scabs (nominated for a Pushcart), Tough Boy Sonatas (YA), and Dreamist: a mixed-genre novel (YA). Other chapbooks are Wonderkind (nominated for a Pushcart), Soundtrack to Latchkey Boy, and Spill (which won the 2008 Keyhole Chapbook Award).

He is the recipient of a residency from the City of Asylum/Pittsburgh (COA/P), the recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), Soul Mountain, a guest resident at Hamline University, and a guest resident at Words on the Go (Indianapolis). Crisler received a Library Scholars Grant Award, Indiana Arts Commission Grants, Eric Hoffer Awards, the Sterling Plumpp First Voices Poetry Award, and he was nominated for the Eliot Rosewater Award and the Jessie Redmon Fauset Book Award. His poetry has been adapted to theatrical productions in New York and Chicago, and he has been published in a variety of magazines, journals, and anthologies. He edited the nonfiction book, Leaving Me Behind: Writing a new me, on the Summer Bridge experience at IPFW. He’s been a Contributing Poetry Editor for Aquarius Press, and one of the Poetry Editors for Human Equity through Art (HEArt). Crisler is an Associate Professor of English at IPFW.

​Visit him at http://www.poetcrisler.com/.

In today's Premier Poet's Corner, we feature David Allen with an amusing take on the current quarantining. It's good to use a sense of humor to handle these stressful times!

(With apologies to James Whitcomb Riley)
​
Little David Allen’s in his house to stay
An’ washes the pots and plates up, meditating on days
Of fear and quarantinin’, meanin’ don’t go out for a drink
“Keep a social distance,” is the order, makin’ one think
If the loneliness is worth it, if you can’t get or give a hug
AIl because we’ve been invaded by a new pandemic bug
Aw, livin’ in this new age just makes me want to shout
Covid 19’ll get you
     If you
          Don’t
               Watch
                    Out!

​