The Poetry Society of South Carolina
Monthly Programs

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General Information

Readings are free and open to the public. Book signing and reception follow the program, held on the second Friday of the month in downtown Charleston at:

  The Charleston Library Society
  164 King Street (just before Queen)  
  7:00 p.m.

Seminars are also held at The Charleston Library Society, unless otherwise stated, and run from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Members $10, College of Charleston students free, all others $15.  

Click here for a printable flyer of our programs.

Click here to visit us on Facebook. September 14
Alan Michael Parker with Deborah Lawson Scott
Alan Michael Parker is Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Davidson College; he is also a Core Faculty Member in the Queens University low-res MFA. Among his awards are three Pushcart Prizes, a poem in Best American Poetry, the Fineline Prize from the Mid-American Review, and the Medwick Award from PSA. He has written three novels and seven collections of poems, most recently Long Division (Tupelo Press, June, 2012).

PSSC President Deborah Lawson Scott, a native Baltimorean, lived in Miami for 25 years before moving to Charleston in 2003, and also spends time in the Catskills and Stockholm. Her lyric poems reflect these varied landscapes; as a Long Table Poet, she also enjoys collaborative writing. She is an MFA graduate of Queens University of Charlotte and among her numerous poetry prizes is the DuBose & Dorothy Heyward Society Prize. Her work has appeared in journals and anthologies including My South, Poetry in the South, Kakalak, and Boomtown.

September 15
Seminar with Alan Michael Parker
“Revenge, and Other Delights.”
In this seminar, we will consider the idea of the revenge poem, with its emotional upheavals and its medical malpractices, from Pope’s “Arbuthnot” to Plath’s “Daddy” and beyond. Come with writing utensils and memories of childhood: our comedy will be serious.


October 12
David St. John with Anna Journey
David St. John has received NEA, Guggenheim Foundation, and Rome fellowships, an award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the O. B. Hardison Prize for teaching and poetic achievement, and the George Drury Smith Lifetime Achievement Award. Among his ten volumes of poetry is Study for the World’s Body, nominated for The National Book Award in Poetry; Where the Angels Come Toward Us is his collection of essays, interviews, and reviews. He teaches at The University of Southern California and lives in Venice Beach.

Anna Journey is the author of two collections of poetry: Vulgar Remedies (Louisiana State University Press, 2013) and If Birds Gather Your Hair for Nesting (University of Georgia Press, 2009), selected by Thomas Lux for the National Poetry Series. She teaches creative writing at the University of Southern California.

October 13
Seminar with David St. John, “The Braided Narrative: The Poetry of Philip Levine and Larry Levis.”


November 9
Jillian Weise Poet and playwright Jillian Weise is the author of a poetry collection, The Amputee’s Guide to Sex, and a novel, The Colony. The Book of Goodbyes won the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, and will be published by BOA in Fall 2013. Her work has appeared in A Public Space, The New York Times, Tin House and elsewhere. She wrote some of these poems while on a Fulbright Fellowship in Argentina. She is an Assistant Professor at Clemson University.

November 10
Seminar with Jillian Weise, “The Poet as Spy.”
Adopt a secret agent name. Work with classified documents. Create entries for a spy book. This workshop/seminar will take, as its theme, the poet as spy, and introduce you to techniques for close observation and discovery.


December 14
Holiday Party, for PSSC Members Only


January 11
Open Mic with Jim Lundy

Native Detroiter Jim Lundy has lived in Charleston since 1988. Immediate past president of the PSSC, he has served on its board since 2006, and is curator and emcee of Monday Night Poetry & Music, Charleston's longest-running open mic. He read for Charleston County Public Library's "A Rather Poetic Evening" series, and Piccolo Spoleto's "Stories for Life Festival" and "Sundown Poetry Series." He has two chapbooks of poetry, All I Can Be Is Myself (2006), and Funny in the Way of Trenchant Men (2009), and a CD of original songs, Don't Believe Every Story You're Told (2012). He works as a landlord and historic home inspector.


Special Events in February
Tongues Aflame Reading Series
Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art
College of Charleston
161 Calhoun Street
Readings begin at 7 p.m. with a reception to follow.
In celebration of Lesley Dill’s Poetic Visions: From Shimmer to Sister Gertrude Morgan, co-sponsored by PSSC.

February 8
Paul Allen with Barbara G.S. Hagerty

Poet/songwriter Paul Allen received the SCAC’s Individual Artist Fellowship in Poetry, the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award (George Mason University), the Vassar Miller Poetry Prize (American Crawl), the Distinguished Research Award (College of Charleston), and a Pushcart Prize. Ground Forces (Salmon Poetry, Ireland, 2008), according to poet Andrew Hudgins, is about "brokenness and, with richly explored theological implications, everything in the broken world, the fallen world." Allen has retired, Professor Emeritus, from the College of Charleston, and lives on the road in a camper.

Barbara G.S. Hagerty is a Charleston native whose essays, columns, and poems have appeared in national and regional periodicals. Her poetry books include The Guest House (2009) and Motherfish (2012), both from Finishing Line Press. A member of Richard Garcia's Long Table Poets workshop, she held the 2010-2012 Fellowship in Poetry from the SC Arts Commission. She coordinates the Piccolo Spoleto Sundown Poetry Series with Susan Meyers, and serves on the board of PSSC. She has worked as a photographer, curator, and teacher of poetry and creative nonfiction, and holds an MA in Creative Writing from The Johns Hopkins University.

February 9
Seminar with Paul Allen, “From Anecdote to Myth: Aspiring to the Bigger Poem—Not Necessarily Longer, but Bigger.” Two or three abandoned drafts—or even recent poems—may be just notes for one bigger poem, the one with larger themes, more layers; the one that aspires to “Dover Beach,” “Among School Children,” “Sunday Morning,” and the like. It’s fun to see if they are. Please bring six pages of your most recent writing, whether completed poems or abandoned attempts. No copies, they’re just for you.

Special Events in February
Tongues Aflame Reading Series
Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art
College of Charleston
161 Calhoun Street
Readings begin at 7 p.m. with a reception to follow.
In celebration of Lesley Dill’s Poetic Visions: From Shimmer to Sister Gertrude Morgan, co-sponsored by PSSC.


March 8
Keith Flynn with Justin Williams

Keith Flynn, founder and editor of The Asheville Poetry Review, has authored four collections of poetry, most recently The Golden Ratio (2007). His poems have appeared in The Carolina Quarterly, The Colorado Review, Crazyhorse, Rattle, and hundreds of others. He has been nominated six times for the Pushcart Prize, was awarded the Paumanok Poetry Prize in 1996, and has given thousands of performances from his work across North America and abroad. In 2005 and 2006, Flynn served as the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for North Carolina, working to promote the cultural importance of poetry in his home state.

Justin Williams grew up in Charleston. Even though his mother was a librarian for decades, he didn’t become interested in writing until he was a senior in high school. He began with the penning of short stories, but shifted to poetry as a College of Charleston student. Currently, he is trying to figure out how to take his next baby step in life.


March 9
Seminar with Keith Flynn, “The Power of Poetry: Honoring The Condensary.” Condensation is the final frontier for a poet. Examining the work of our finest pruners, including Frank O’Hara, Wallace Stevens, Dylan Thomas, and Li Po, we will focus on losing the dross and creating poems that are more muscular and radioactive. Each participant should bring at least twelve copies of two poems. Work will be considered for publication in The Asheville Poetry Review.


Special Event in March
Poetry Reading by Scott Cairns
Charleston LIbrary Society, 161 Calhoun Street
March 15, Friday, 7:00 p.m.
Open to the public, reception immediately following


March 19, 10:00 a.m. - noon
Special Event: Paul Allen at the
Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center

PSSC presents poet/songwriter Paul Allen in residency at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston. Dr. Allen will conduct a songwriting workshop during the ongoing songwriter's group, and to the general VAMC community he will give a presentation of his poems and songs, and conduct a poetry writing exercise. More information will be posted here as it becomes available.

Photo: John Boncek


April 12
Brian Turner with Blake Hoffmeyer
Soldier-poet Brian Turner is author of two poetry collections, Phantom Noise (2010) and the award-winning Here, Bullet (2005). His poetry has been published in Poetry Daily, The Georgia Review, and other journals, and included in the documentaries Voices in Wartime and Operation Homecoming. He earned the MFA from the University of Oregon and has lived abroad in South Korea. In 2009, Turner was selected as one of fifty United States Artists Fellows.

Blake Hoffmeyer attended Georgia State University in Atlanta. He left school to join the Army National Guard as an infantryman, and was deployed to Afghanistan from 2009-10. He continued his education at the College of Charleston where he will earn his BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing in May. He plans to continue writing, and will return to Afghanistan for the withdrawal in late Fall 2013.

April 12, noon to 2:15 p.m.
Special Event: Brian Turner at the
Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center
Main Auditorium

Brian Turner will be in residency at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, where he will give a poetry reading and conduct a poetry workshop.

12:00 p.m. Poetry Reading
12:45 p.m. Book signing
1:15 - 2:15 p.m. Workshop and discussion

April 13, 10:00 a.m. to noon
Charleston Library Society
Seminar with Brian Turner, “Figure Studies.” Taking our cue from the studio artist’s practice of sketching the human figure in pencils and charcoals, this workshop will experiment with perspective and intention through a variety of ‘sketches’ focused on one primary subject. Time permitting, we’ll also consider poetry’s use of white space and silence (just as the sketch artist’s lines and shadows are in conversation with the blank space of the canvas or paper). Materials required: Please bring writing tools with you to class (pen and paper or a laptop).


May 10
Annual Forum with Eric Nelson

Eric Nelson has published four collections of poetry, including Terrestrials, winner of the X.J. Kennedy Poetry Award (2004), and The Interpretation of Waking Life, winner of the Arkansas Poetry Award (1991). He coordinates the Department of Writing and Linguistics’ creative writing concentration at Georgia Southern University.


May 11, 10:00 a.m. to noon
Seminar with Eric Nelson, “The Catalogue.” The catalogue (aka list) poem, a popular form among contemporary poets, has a long history. Homer, Milton, Whitman, Ginsberg—not to mention the Bible—have used catalogues to great effect, either as self-contained poems or as sections of epics such as the Iliad and Paradise Lost. We will look at several examples—both old and new—discuss the characteristics of a compelling catalogue poem, and write a draft of one. POETRY SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
WRITERS' GROUPS:
The Poetry Society has hosted writers groups regularly since the early 1920s.  Poetry Society members are invited to attend free of charge for support and critique of their poetry.

Charleston Library Society
10:00 a.m. until noon, changed to the fourth Saturday of every month, starting September 2012. In December, the group will meet on the 15th.

Open to PSSC members and Charleston Library Society members only.

Moderators:
September 22, Deborah Lawson Scott
October 27, Richard Garcia
December 15, Kit Loney

January 26, Kit Loney
February 23, Susan Laughter Meyers
March 23, Mary Harris
April 27, Katherine Williams

For more information, contact PSSC.