At Fall Rendezvous this month, we named a new ISFPC Premiere Poet…Michael Erdelen! Although those of you who attend state meetings certainly know Michael, I thought it would be nice to introduce him to the rest of our poet followers, and maybe ask him a question or two you haven’t heard yet.
 
1.) Home club?
Northwest Indiana Poets
 
2.) Hometown?
Lowell, IN
 
3.)  Previous positions in ISFPC?
1st Vice President - Contest Chair
 
4.) How long have you been writing poetry? (since what age?)
Since I was 12 [58 years]
 
5.) Do you remember what first turned you on to poetry?
My mother
 
6.) Favorite form of poetry to write?
Rhymed & metered
 
7.)  To rhyme or not to rhyme? Which do you do?
Both are fine.
 
8.) Favorite poets?
Edwin Arlington Robinson, Emily Dickinson and Emma Wheeler Wilcox
 
9.)  What line or phrase from a poem gets stuck in your head?
"Angels in the architecture spinning to infinity..." [Paul Simon]
 
10.)  What are you favorite subjects to write about?
Whatever pops into my head.
 
11.)  Describe your writing environment.
My very best stuff comes in a flash when I least expect it.
 
12.) What do you find most challenging about writing poetry?
Getting everything down before it fades away.
 
13.) Your day job?
Blissfully retired
 
14.)  Other hobbies?
Study of History, reading and walking.
 
15.)  Family members?
My wife and best friend Barbara.
 
16) One unusual talent?
I have spoken with God.
 
18.) Future goals for ISFPC?
To be the best Premier Poet I am capable of being.
 


Next blog post...Michael's first poem, written at age 12! But for now, enjoy his workshop from Fall Rendezvous 2015, "Immortality for Poets."

NEW! This year NFSPS is sponsoring a contest for spoken and heard poetry. In the first round, you submit audio files. Winners will submit videos. Deadline is March 15.

Click HERE for all the rules on the NFSPS website.

We all read our poetry to other poets at our writers' groups and round robins. Sometimes we even perform it out in the community. But has anyone competed in a spoken poetry contest? I looked around for tips and tricks on poetry performance. 

And next, to inspire you, check out these awesome poetry student performers at Poetry Out Loud!

ISPFC Poets gathered at the Inn at beautiful Spring Mill State Park this past Friday-Sunday.




​

The banner is up and ready to welcome poets!



​

Closeup of the banner.



​

Caroline Dewey and friends set out these lovely fall decorations.



​

Beautiful Autumn decor.



​

Outgoing President Sandra Nantais served as Master of Ceremonies. Sandra will be moving to Louisiana soon as her husband has accepted his dream job. Although she is stepping down as ISFPC President, she will continue to be involved in projects long distance, including retaining her office of Historian. We thanked Sandra for her service to ISFPC, passion for poetry, and leadership though words and gifts. Good luck, Sandra! We will miss you!



​

Deborah Petersen, 1st Vice President, will be stepping into the President position, and David Allen will become 2nd VP. At Rendezvous, she presided over the awards portion of our Annual Poetry Contest. Deborah did a great job her first year as Contest Chair, organizing the 27 categories, judges, poems, certificates, and readings! See our contest page for results and congrats to all!



​

Poets placing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in each category read their poems to us. Here's Georganna Tresslar presenting us with her poem.

If the winning poets were not present or out of state, a panel of readers presented the winning 1, 2, and 3 placings in each categories of the contest. Here is Steve Zimmerman.



​

Shelia Hite is ready to read!




​

Caroline Dewey reads a winning poem from Annual Contest.




​

Mary Couch, Premiere Poet, treated us to a reading of her poetry and invited us to try a new form and share our results. This was Mary's last Rendezvous as Premiere Poet. She has done a lovely job promoting poetry around the state, and tapped into the power of social media as a platform. She wrote a poem almost every day on her Facebook Page!




​

And the new Premiere Poet of ISFPC is....Michael Erdelen! We love Michael's skill in writing poetry (esp. humor). He is also a warm people person and will do much to promote poetry in Indiana this next 3 years. Michael was present to receive this position (a surprise!) but I was clapping so hard I missed getting a good shot. Here is a picture of him last year leading the workshop "Immortality for Poets." Michael already has his first newsletter article written and will be highlighting the works of lesser known classic poets during his term, which he deems "treasures."




​

Each evening concluded with our famous round robins - any poet, share a poem! Here is Marlene Million.




​

Georganna Tresslar admires a gift from our President to all members - a special Indiana bookmark.

Sandra Nantais commissioned these lovely bookmarks to commemorate ISFPC's diamond anniversary and Indiana's bicentennial.

Speaking of Bicentennial, we've had a full year of Officially Endorsed Bicentennial Legacy Projects. Here's the proof!



​

Caroline Dewey, who chaired the Bicentennial Committee, reported on the climactic event of the year. Dozens of Indiana poets, including many of our ISFPC members, gathered in Greenfield at the boyhood home of James Whitcomb Riley. We shared our poetry with hundreds of people coming to Riley Fest.


​

Display the team took to Riley Days, sharing what we are about at ISFPC.






​

As part of Caroline's Bicentennial presentation, poets read poems they presented at Riley Days or about Indiana. Here Jenny Kalahar, Marlene Million, Alice Couch, and Mary Couch present a collaborative poem about state parks.



​

We were honored to have Indiana Poet Laureate Shari Wagner as our feature speaker. Shari is warm and friendly and has done much to promote poetry around the state. She is working on 4 books simultaneously! She treated us to a sneak preview of one of them, a collection of poems written from the persona of a Mennonite farmwife. Read more about Shari's work on her website, Through the Sycamores.



​

After dinner, Shari Wagner coached us through a great workshop about writing poetry as memoir. As part of the exercise, we each told the group about something we'd inherited. This was both inspiring from a writing standpoint and insightful from a personal standpoint. We learned all kinds of new things about each other. For example, the fact the Alice Couch used to help her dad perform trick flycasting shows! What a daredevil poet!



​

Here's the gang!




​

The joy of meeting at a state park is taking breaks to enjoy the scenery!

This scarecrow says thanks for coming and see you at Spring Meet with Last Stanza Poetry Club!

Join us in just TWO DAYS for Fall Rendezvous at Spring Mill State Park!