SCROLL DOWN TO REGISTER
Our venue for PSI’s Fall Rendezvous is unable to host conferences because of the pandemic. We also want to protect the health of our members, so we are moving our annual autumn weekend poetry getaway online. We hope you can join us from the safety of your own homes! It is open to both PSI members and non-member poets.
The event will be held entirely on Zoom, a video conferencing platform. Many of us have gotten very familiar with Zoom during the pandemic. If this will be your first time using it, it’s simple. You only need a computer, notebook, laptop, or smartphone, ideally with a webcam and microphone. If you don’t have a webcam or microphone in your device, you can still log in to the event online and call in using a regular phone to hear us.
The event will be held entirely on Zoom, a video conferencing platform. Many of us have gotten very familiar with Zoom during the pandemic. If this will be your first time using it, it’s simple. You only need a computer, notebook, laptop, or smartphone, ideally with a webcam and microphone. If you don’t have a webcam or microphone in your device, you can still log in to the event online and call in using a regular phone to hear us.

Printable Schedule | |
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You may attend as many or as few sessions as you like. The login information is the same for all sessions. To avoid sound issues, participants will be muted during some portions of the presentation. Don’t worry - we are also building in chances for participants to speak to the group. The chat box is always available to you to make comments on the presentation or ask questions even when muted.
Elections
We were scheduled to hold elections for the offices of President, 1st VP, and 2nd VP last spring, but Spring Fling was cancelled due to the pandemic. We have decided we can delay these no longer. Elections for officers will take place during the business meeting, as an anonymous poll through Zoom. You will be able to vote right on your device. We will be accepting nominations from the floor if you would like to run for office or nominate someone.
Registration is Free!
In light of the pandemic, we are offering Fall Rendezvous FREE this year! If you wish to make a free will donation to PSI to offset the costs of this event and sponsor upcoming ones, you may send a check made out to “Poetry Society of Indiana” to:
Chuck Kellum
PSI Treasurer
1430 N 200 E
Anderson, IN 46012
Donations may also be made by sending money via Paypal using www.paypal.com/paypalme/poetrysocietyindiana.
To register for Fall Rendezvous, just fill out the form below. This will allow us to send you the Zoom meeting details in order to attend.
In the comment section, please list if you are a member or a non-member (both are welcome), your local poetry club affiliation (if applicable), as well as any additional questions you have about this event. You will be taken to a page with the Zoom login information and added to a list to receive updates about this event.
If you are a non-member and would like to receive additional information about other PSI events, contests, and membership, click the box under the comment section.
Chuck Kellum
PSI Treasurer
1430 N 200 E
Anderson, IN 46012
Donations may also be made by sending money via Paypal using www.paypal.com/paypalme/poetrysocietyindiana.
To register for Fall Rendezvous, just fill out the form below. This will allow us to send you the Zoom meeting details in order to attend.
In the comment section, please list if you are a member or a non-member (both are welcome), your local poetry club affiliation (if applicable), as well as any additional questions you have about this event. You will be taken to a page with the Zoom login information and added to a list to receive updates about this event.
If you are a non-member and would like to receive additional information about other PSI events, contests, and membership, click the box under the comment section.
If you encounter any trouble with the registration form above, you may also your registration info to PoetrySocietyOfIndiana@gmail.com.
Need extra help registering or learning to use Zoom? Here's a brief instructional video.
Highlights from Previous Fall Rendezvous Weekends
We had a great time at
PSI's Fall Rendezvous
Oct 18-20, 2019
McCormick State Park!
Highlights included:
- A presentation by our wonderful outgoing Premiere Poet, Michael Erdelen, and a fond farewell.
- Awards and readings from our 2019 Annual Contest. These will be published in PSI's annual book, Ink to Paper. See Contest page for results.
- An excellent keynote address by George Wolfe, encouraging us to blend science and philosophy into our poetry.
- Nancy Simmonds introduced us to the Golden Shovel poetic form, which will be featured in our Spring Fling Contest.
- A panel of PSI members who have published a book.
- Round robin readings of fine poetry by our members.
- Announcement of our new Premiere Poet, Sarah E. Morin.
- A book swap.
- Time to enjoy nature and write poetry.
Download Alys Caviness-Gober and Sarah E. Morin's presentation Like, Comment, Share: Your Poetry in a Digital Age.

Like, Comment, Share: Your Poetry in a Digital Age | |
File Size: | 6662 kb |
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Enjoy some of the Fall-themed Instapoems we created in our workshop:
2018 Fall Rendezvous
POETRY SOCIETY OF INDIANA 2018 FALL RENDEZVOUS REGISTRATION
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5th, 6:00 PM TO SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7th, NOON 2018
TURKEY RUN INN 8102 E. Park Road Marshall, IN 47859
**REGISTRATION: $ 20.00 PER MEMBER/ $25.00 PER NON-MEMBER
FOR THE ENTIRE WEEKEND
Send check or money order to: Jenny Kalahar, PSI Treasurer
Fall Rendezvous 2018
634 North A Street
Elwood, IN 46036
**ROOMS AVAILABLE AND COSTS: Call the Reservation Line at: 877-563-4371
Or Reserve your Room online: www.indianainns.com at Turkey Run Inn
Group # 1005PS
Rooms range in size and number of beds
Reservations must be made by September 1, 2018 to insure availability.
**ONE-TIME GATE FEE (use your room key to come and go during the weekend) $ 7.00
**MEALS ON YOUR OWN. BUFFET AND MENU ITEMS AVAILABLE AT THE INN FOR BREAKFASTS, LUNCHES, DINNERS.
BRING A BOOK FOR BOOK SWAP! This should be a book of poetry OR a book you have personally written.
BRING POEMS TO SHARE DURING ROUND ROBINS IN THE EVENINGS
BRING YOUR ENTHUSIASM AND READINESS TO SPEND GOOD TIMES WITH OTHER WORD ARTISTS!
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5th, 6:00 PM TO SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7th, NOON 2018
TURKEY RUN INN 8102 E. Park Road Marshall, IN 47859
**REGISTRATION: $ 20.00 PER MEMBER/ $25.00 PER NON-MEMBER
FOR THE ENTIRE WEEKEND
Send check or money order to: Jenny Kalahar, PSI Treasurer
Fall Rendezvous 2018
634 North A Street
Elwood, IN 46036
**ROOMS AVAILABLE AND COSTS: Call the Reservation Line at: 877-563-4371
Or Reserve your Room online: www.indianainns.com at Turkey Run Inn
Group # 1005PS
Rooms range in size and number of beds
Reservations must be made by September 1, 2018 to insure availability.
**ONE-TIME GATE FEE (use your room key to come and go during the weekend) $ 7.00
**MEALS ON YOUR OWN. BUFFET AND MENU ITEMS AVAILABLE AT THE INN FOR BREAKFASTS, LUNCHES, DINNERS.
BRING A BOOK FOR BOOK SWAP! This should be a book of poetry OR a book you have personally written.
BRING POEMS TO SHARE DURING ROUND ROBINS IN THE EVENINGS
BRING YOUR ENTHUSIASM AND READINESS TO SPEND GOOD TIMES WITH OTHER WORD ARTISTS!
FRIDAY OCTOBER 5
Registrations and check in available at 5:30pm
6:00 WELCOME!
6:15 PREMIER POET WORDS OF WISDOM AND A FEW GIGGLES Michael Erdelen
Break
7:00 NATIONAL CONFERENCE UPDATES President and Attendees
7:30 PSI CONTEST WINNING POEMS AND PRESENTATIONS OF AWARDS Break 8:30 ROUND ROBIN SHARING OF POEMS (LEAD BY PREMIER POET)
SATURDAY OCTOBER 6
8:30 PSI BOARD MEETING/BUSINESS REPORTS/LOCAL SOCIETIES’ REPORTS/BYLAWS VOTE
9:30 “AN AUTHOR’S VIEW OF SELF-PUBLISHING” Jenny Kalahar, Mary Couch, Joyce Zephyrin Break
10:30 “CREATIVE WAYS TO PROMOTE POETRY” Alys Caviness-Gober
11:15 PSI CONTEST WINNING POEMS AND PRESENTATIONS OF AWARDS Lunch
1:00 “MAGNIFYING THE WORLD: CELEBRATING SCIENCE AND NATURE IN POETRY” * KEYNOTE SPEAKER: JESSICA REED *PRESENTATION AND WRITING WORKSHOP 3:00 NATURE/TRAILS HIKE Dinner
6:00 “POETRY IN TRANSLATION” SPIKE WILSON
7:00 BOOK SWAP Break
7:30 NATIONAL CONFERENCE REPORT AND ACTIVITIES
8:00 PSI CONTEST WINNING POEMS AND PRESENTATIONS OF AWARDS
8:30 WRAP IT UP………………
Break
9:00 ROUND ROBIN SHARING OF POEMS
SUNDAY OCTOBER 7 --FEED THE BIRDS @ NATURE CENTER AND HIKE// EN PLENAIRE POETRY AND HIKE
Registrations and check in available at 5:30pm
6:00 WELCOME!
6:15 PREMIER POET WORDS OF WISDOM AND A FEW GIGGLES Michael Erdelen
Break
7:00 NATIONAL CONFERENCE UPDATES President and Attendees
7:30 PSI CONTEST WINNING POEMS AND PRESENTATIONS OF AWARDS Break 8:30 ROUND ROBIN SHARING OF POEMS (LEAD BY PREMIER POET)
SATURDAY OCTOBER 6
8:30 PSI BOARD MEETING/BUSINESS REPORTS/LOCAL SOCIETIES’ REPORTS/BYLAWS VOTE
9:30 “AN AUTHOR’S VIEW OF SELF-PUBLISHING” Jenny Kalahar, Mary Couch, Joyce Zephyrin Break
10:30 “CREATIVE WAYS TO PROMOTE POETRY” Alys Caviness-Gober
11:15 PSI CONTEST WINNING POEMS AND PRESENTATIONS OF AWARDS Lunch
1:00 “MAGNIFYING THE WORLD: CELEBRATING SCIENCE AND NATURE IN POETRY” * KEYNOTE SPEAKER: JESSICA REED *PRESENTATION AND WRITING WORKSHOP 3:00 NATURE/TRAILS HIKE Dinner
6:00 “POETRY IN TRANSLATION” SPIKE WILSON
7:00 BOOK SWAP Break
7:30 NATIONAL CONFERENCE REPORT AND ACTIVITIES
8:00 PSI CONTEST WINNING POEMS AND PRESENTATIONS OF AWARDS
8:30 WRAP IT UP………………
Break
9:00 ROUND ROBIN SHARING OF POEMS
SUNDAY OCTOBER 7 --FEED THE BIRDS @ NATURE CENTER AND HIKE// EN PLENAIRE POETRY AND HIKE
Mark Your Calendars for Future PSI Fall Rendezvous Weekends!
2019 Fall Rendezvous
October 18-20, 2019
Canyon Inn at McCormick State Park
451 McCormick Creek Park Road Spencer, IN 47460
What's a Fall Rendezvous like? We're still making our schedule for 2018, but check out our agenda from 2017 for an idea on what you might see:
Schedule of Events
FRIDAY – OCTOBER 27th
4:00PM – 6:00PM REGISTRATION / DINNER
6:00PM WELCOME – DEBORAH PETERSEN
6:15PM – 7PM PREMIER POET PRESENTATION
MICHAEL ERDELEN
7PM – 7:50PM STRUCTURAL POETRY / FORMS
MARY A. COUCH
7:50PM–8PM BREAK
8PM – 9PM POETRY CONTEST
DAVID ALLEN & READERS
9:00PM - ? ROUND ROBIN READINGS
SATURDAY – OCTOBER 28th
7:00AM – 8:30AM BREAKFAST
8:30AM – 9AM PSI BUSINESS MEETING/
NATIONAL CONVENTION/SOCIETY
REPORTS/PSI BOARD OVERVIEW
9AM – 10AM PUBLISHING – JENNY KALAHAR
10AM – 10:15AM BREAK
10:15AM – 11:15AM LANGSTON HUGHES
SARAH E. MORIN-WILSON &
ALYS CAVINESS-GOBER
11:15AM – NOON POETRY CONTEST
DAVID ALLEN & READERS
NOON – 1:00PM LUNCH
1:00PM – 3:00PM KEYNOTE SPEAKER – LAUREN M. DAVIS
POETRY AS MEMOIR
Finding the Poem; Writing the Memory: Sifting Through Your Past to Create Epiphanic Poetry. To mimic the intimate and resonating connections many poets create through their personal histories, participants in this seminar will be challenged to explore memory by tangibly observing their own pasts, leading readers toward epiphanic realizations. A short lecture will explore specific poetic forms and tactics in this genre. A generative workshop will follow. Attend ready to use your memory, your reflections, and your senses to write a successful poem.
3PM – 5:00PM FREE TIME (Visit, Hike, Shop, Write a poem)
5:00PM – 6:00PM DINNER
6PM – 7:00PM BOOK SWAP & OPEN FLOOR
7:00PM - ? POETRY CONTEST
DAVID ALLEN & READERS
TBD ROUND ROBIN READINGS
SUNDAY – OCTOBER 29th
8AM – 9AM BREAKFAST & GOODBYES
9:00AM EN PLENAIRE POETRY/HIKE
OR SHOPPING
Mark your calendars for:
PSI SPRING MEET May 12, 2018 HOSTED BY NOBLE POETS - TENTATIVE
2018 FALL RENDEZVOUS-TURKEY RUN STATE PARK OCTOBER 5-7
4:00PM – 6:00PM REGISTRATION / DINNER
6:00PM WELCOME – DEBORAH PETERSEN
6:15PM – 7PM PREMIER POET PRESENTATION
MICHAEL ERDELEN
7PM – 7:50PM STRUCTURAL POETRY / FORMS
MARY A. COUCH
7:50PM–8PM BREAK
8PM – 9PM POETRY CONTEST
DAVID ALLEN & READERS
9:00PM - ? ROUND ROBIN READINGS
SATURDAY – OCTOBER 28th
7:00AM – 8:30AM BREAKFAST
8:30AM – 9AM PSI BUSINESS MEETING/
NATIONAL CONVENTION/SOCIETY
REPORTS/PSI BOARD OVERVIEW
9AM – 10AM PUBLISHING – JENNY KALAHAR
10AM – 10:15AM BREAK
10:15AM – 11:15AM LANGSTON HUGHES
SARAH E. MORIN-WILSON &
ALYS CAVINESS-GOBER
11:15AM – NOON POETRY CONTEST
DAVID ALLEN & READERS
NOON – 1:00PM LUNCH
1:00PM – 3:00PM KEYNOTE SPEAKER – LAUREN M. DAVIS
POETRY AS MEMOIR
Finding the Poem; Writing the Memory: Sifting Through Your Past to Create Epiphanic Poetry. To mimic the intimate and resonating connections many poets create through their personal histories, participants in this seminar will be challenged to explore memory by tangibly observing their own pasts, leading readers toward epiphanic realizations. A short lecture will explore specific poetic forms and tactics in this genre. A generative workshop will follow. Attend ready to use your memory, your reflections, and your senses to write a successful poem.
3PM – 5:00PM FREE TIME (Visit, Hike, Shop, Write a poem)
5:00PM – 6:00PM DINNER
6PM – 7:00PM BOOK SWAP & OPEN FLOOR
7:00PM - ? POETRY CONTEST
DAVID ALLEN & READERS
TBD ROUND ROBIN READINGS
SUNDAY – OCTOBER 29th
8AM – 9AM BREAKFAST & GOODBYES
9:00AM EN PLENAIRE POETRY/HIKE
OR SHOPPING
Mark your calendars for:
PSI SPRING MEET May 12, 2018 HOSTED BY NOBLE POETS - TENTATIVE
2018 FALL RENDEZVOUS-TURKEY RUN STATE PARK OCTOBER 5-7
Speaker Bios

Lauren M. Davis first studied creative writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington on a national Student Exchange and returned to Indiana University of Fort Wayne to complete a BA in Writing. She then attended the University of Southern Maine to obtain her Masters of Fine Art in poetry. Works from her collections Sleeping Through the Earthquake and Women Bones have appeared in numerous literary journals and an anthology. She teaches creative writing, composition, and art appreciation at the University of Saint Francis, Ivy Tech Community College, and Indiana Institute of Technology. She often appears as a genre editor for the Stonecoast Review, and works as a freelance writer for a variety of businesses and non-profits. She also designed, wrote, and taught Poetry Through Literacy, a curriculum for illiterate adults, was an contracted artist for Artlink’s CSA project, the writer in residence in Washington State’s Hypatia in the Woods in 2016, and spent Summer 2017 observing Naropa’s University’s Summer Writing Program through the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. She will spend Fall 2017 teaching a creative writing curriculum she designed especially for the Indiana Institute of Technology, their first ever offered.

Michael Erdelen, a Lowell, Indiana native has been writing poetry since he was 12 years old. A member of the Northwest Indiana Poets, he states that his mother was his greatest influence, and enjoys writing both rhymed and unrhymed poetry. He served in the U. S. Air force for 4 years, and then went to work for Inland (now Mittal) Steel for 28 years. While there, he was a Utilities supervisor and a commodities (natural gas) buyer. He retired at 50 years of age.
Since retirement, he has served on the board of the Meadowbrook Property Owners association. He is a past Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus; an Envoy Ambassador for Gibault home for children; and served as 1st vice president/contest director of the Poetry Society of Indiana. His present and most special position is as the Premier Poet of the Poetry Society of Indiana.
Since retirement, he has served on the board of the Meadowbrook Property Owners association. He is a past Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus; an Envoy Ambassador for Gibault home for children; and served as 1st vice president/contest director of the Poetry Society of Indiana. His present and most special position is as the Premier Poet of the Poetry Society of Indiana.
Highlights from Previous Fall Rendezvous Weekends

We had a great Fall Rendezvous at Spring Mill State Park in Mitchell, IN, Oct 14-16! See the highlights here.