Author: kystatepoetry

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Poetry Out Loud: Join Our Virtual Open Mic August 19

Whether you’re a seasoned performer or just testing your poetic voice, there’s something electric about sharing your work aloud. That’s why the Kentucky State Poetry Society is hosting a Virtual Open Mic on:

🗓️ Tuesday, August 19
🕒 8:00 PM CT
📍 Live via Zoom (open to all)

This is a welcoming space for poets across Kentucky (and beyond!) to come together, share work, and celebrate each other’s creativity. Read something new, revisit an old favorite, or simply join to listen. No pressure, just poetry.

Need a few tips before you step up to the mic? Here’s our advice:

  • Pick a piece that feels honest to you.
  • Practice reading it aloud with clarity and intention.
  • Time yourself (3 minutes max is a good rule of thumb).
  • Support fellow readers with snaps, emojis, and encouragement in the chat!

This event is free, fun, and full of community. We hope you’ll join us for a night of poetic connection!

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What Form Can Teach Us: Reflecting on Part One of the Poet Laureate Craft Talk Series

On August 9, Kentucky’s Poet Laureate Kathleen Driskell kicked off our exclusive three-part craft talk series with a deep, illuminating conversation that invited KSPS members to reconsider what poetic form can offer—not just as a structure, but as a lifeline.

Through personal anecdotes and rich literary history, Kathleen traced the arc of a centuries-old form and showed how its familiar shape can be both a creative challenge and a surprising comfort when the words won’t come. Attendees were offered a glimpse into how form can offer clarity, guidance, and even play—especially during times of creative drought.

Each poet left with something different: a question, a new draft, a memory of rhythm, a spark. That’s the magic of this series—not just the knowledge shared, but the space made for reflection, curiosity, and community.

Part Two arrives in October, and it promises a new set of tools for writers looking to sharpen, shape, and deepen their poems. Kathleen will return with more insights and hands-on strategies, this time exploring the art of revision—and how to turn the raw material of inspiration into something refined, resonant, and whole.

This free virtual event will again be capped at 55 participants. Registration is open now.

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Tuning the Strings: What to Expect from Clay Matthews’ Craft Talk

Kentucky State Poetry Society is thrilled to welcome poet and professor Clay Matthews for the second installment of our summer craft talk series. Mark your calendars:

September 16, 2025
7:00 PM ET
Live via Zoom (registration details on the Events tab of our website!)

In his talk, String Theory: An Exploration of Poetry that Employs Multiple Threads, Clay will help us unpack the hidden strings that hold a poem together. From musical compositions to circus acts, poems can be complex, layered performances—but when crafted intentionally, they sing. This session will explore how poets can weave disparate images, voices, and topics into a cohesive whole. Expect a blend of discussion, close reading, and prompts that will help you stretch your creative thinking and “knit together” something new.

Whether you’re a fan of Clay’s work or simply curious about how to braid complexity into your poems, this event will offer ideas and inspiration for all experience levels. These craft talks are only accessible to KSPS members. Ready to start your annual membership? 

Already a member? Learn more about our craft talk series and, to Clay’s talk on September 16, bring the energy to explore poems that balance multiple threads—we’ll explore together how and why it works.

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Craft Talk with Kentucky Poet Laureate Kathleen Driskell

The Kentucky State Poetry Society is proud to host the first in a three-part Poet Laureate Craft Talk Series featuring Kathleen Driskell, acclaimed poet, educator, and Kentucky’s current Poet Laureate.

Join us for Part One of this exciting series on
🗓️ Friday, August 9
🕚 11:00 AM (ET)
📍 Live via Zoom (Registration required—limited to 55 attendees)

As the author of several celebrated poetry collections and the Chair of the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University, Kathleen brings a wealth of insight and generosity to every discussion about poetic craft. In this opening session, she’ll explore essential techniques and creative strategies to strengthen your writing, regardless of where you are in your journey.

This craft talk is part of a larger three-part series, exclusively hosted by KSPS, highlighting the wisdom and work of Kentucky’s newest Poet Laureate. Stay tuned for details on Part Two and Part Three—coming soon!

Spots are limited to 55 participants, so be sure to register early.

This event is free for all poetry lovers, but if you’re able, we invite you to support our programming through a suggested donation via PayPal. Every contribution helps KSPS bring meaningful opportunities like this to our community.

Whether you’re a long-time fan of Kathleen’s work or discovering her for the first time, this is a rare opportunity to learn from one of Kentucky’s most powerful poetic voices.

📣 Coming up in the series: Future sessions with Kathleen will continue this fall and winter. Follow KSPS for upcoming dates and topics!

Want to be the first to hear about events like this? Become a KSPS member today!

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Exploring the Power of What’s Not Said: A Reflection on Trish Jaggers’ Craft Talk

On July 15, KSPS members gathered virtually for the launch of our summer craft talk series—a bold new chapter in our Kentucky Voices programming. Led by poet and professor Trish Jaggers, One of These Things Is/Isn’t True: Negation in Poetry invited attendees to consider the power of absence, contradiction, and fragmented meaning as essential tools in the poetic toolbox.

In an hour that felt both quiet and electric, Trish guided us not through a traditional workshop, but something more like a doorway. Participants explored how negation—what isn’t said, what’s denied, what’s hidden in the margins—can deepen emotional resonance and open poems to multiple truths. Drawing from poets like Emily Dickinson and her own experience, Trish challenged us to “create nothing, from nothing,” and to trust that something honest and urgent could emerge.

The session unfolded not just as a lesson, but as a kind of poem itself: subtle, complex, unafraid of silence. We left with new questions, new fragments, and perhaps, most importantly, permission to let ambiguity live in our lines.

Thank you to Trish Jaggers for this beautiful beginning. If you missed the live session, a limited recording is available for KSPS members. Stay tuned for our next craft talk in the series:

September 16, 2025 – String Theory: An Exploration of Poetry that Employs Multiple Threads
 Hosted by Clay Matthews, this session explores how poets weave seemingly unrelated ideas, voices, or images into a cohesive and compelling whole. Details and registration will be available soon.

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Summer’s Second Wind: A Season for Sharing, Submitting, and Showing Up

By now, summer’s rhythm is in full swing—fireflies blinking across the evenings, gardens growing wilder by the day, and maybe (just maybe) a little more room to write. At the Kentucky State Poetry Society, we believe this season isn’t just for slowing down—it’s for showing up: to your craft, your community, and your own creative voice.

As we head into July, there are two exciting ways to do just that:

July 15: Virtual Craft Talk with Trish Jaggers

Join us for the first session in our special summer craft talk series, One of These Things Is/Isn’t True: Negation in Poetry, led by Kentucky poet Trish Jaggers.

Together, we’ll explore how absence, opposition, and ambiguity can deepen meaning and open new creative doors in our work. This isn’t just a workshop—it’s a poetic unraveling, an invitation to slip between the lines and find unexpected truths in what isn’t said.

Free for KSPS members. Space is limited—register here to save your spot!

July 31: Adult Poetry Contest Deadline

Have a poem that’s been waiting for the right moment? This is it. Our annual adult poetry contest is open through July 31. Whether you’ve been writing daily for LexPoMo or you’re returning to the page after a break, we encourage you to share your work. All Kentucky-based writers (and KSPS members elsewhere!) are welcome to enter.

Prizes. Publication. A chance to see your work recognized.
 Sometimes the hardest part is hitting submit—but we’re cheering you on.

Why Now?

Summer has a way of loosening something in us. Maybe it’s the heat, or the long light, or the space between seasons. But often, it’s this time of year that gives us permission to reflect and reach out.

So consider this your creative check-in.
Have you written something lately that surprised you?
Is there a line from another poet that’s been haunting you (in the best way)?
Are you ready to share a piece of yourself with a wider audience?

Whether you attend the July 15 reading, submit by July 31, or simply sit on your porch scribbling lines into the dusk, know this: you’re part of a living, breathing community of Kentucky poets—and your voice matters.

Tag us in your writing moments @kystatepoetry, and let’s keep this summer humming with poetry.

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The Art of the Second Look: On Revision, Rest, and Returning to the Page

LexPoMo has wrapped, and if you took part in the 30-day writing marathon, you might be feeling a mix of pride, relief—and maybe a little uncertainty. Now what?

At Kentucky State Poetry Society, we believe that the end of writing is never the end of the poem. It’s an invitation. A doorway. A second look.

Whether you wrote 3 poems or 30 last month, July is the perfect time to step back and start revising. Revision isn’t about fixing something broken—it’s about listening closer, discovering layers you didn’t know were there, and shaping your words to say what they truly want to say.

A Few Questions to Begin:

  • Where does the poem surprise even you?
  • Which lines still feel electric weeks later?
  • Which ones feel heavy—or hollow?
  • What would happen if you changed the point of view? The tense? The line breaks?

Sometimes the poem you thought was finished is only just beginning.

Need a Reason to Revisit Your Work?

We’ve got two:

  • Our Poetry Reading is July 15—a great chance to hear how another poet crafts meaning, tension, and emotion in their work—and maybe get ideas for your own revisions in the process.
  • Our Adult Poetry Contest closes July 31. The poems that often rise to the top? The ones that have been thoughtfully revised, trimmed, expanded, and shaped with care.

Tip for the Week: Read Aloud

One of the simplest and most powerful revision tools? Your own voice.
Reading a poem aloud will catch clunky phrasing, weak images, and rhythm that doesn’t quite sing. It can also help you fall back in love with your own language.

So go ahead—step outside, find some shade, and give your poem a voice. You might just hear something new.

We’d love to see where your revision journey leads. Tag us @kystatepoetry —we might feature them in a future post. However you return to your work, know this: every poet rewrites. And every revision is an act of belief in your own voice.

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Poet Laureate Craft Talk Series with Kathleen Driskell

Join us for an exclusive three-part virtual workshop series with Kentucky Poet Laureate Kathleen Driskell, hosted by KSPS. Each session focuses on a different element of poetic craft and includes practical takeaways that poets of all levels can apply to their own writing practice.

Session 1: The Italian Sonnet and Its Enduring Flexibility

Saturday, August 9th | 11am to noon EST

Join Kentucky Poet Laureate Kathleen Driskell as she discusses the fascinating history of the Italian Sonnet and how she relies on the form to write new poems when she’s stuck. Takeaways? Attendees will learn how to use similar strategies to create shapely unified poems of their own, especially helpful when the dreaded writer’s drought surfaces. This session will be capped at 55 registrants.

Registration closed

Session 2: Revision Checklists

Saturday, October 4th | 11am to noon EST

Join Kentucky Poet Laureate Kathleen Driskell as she discusses strategies for revising poems, using a checklist that she’s developed throughout her writing career. Takeaways? Attendees will pick and choose, and come up with their own strategies, creating their own revision checklists that will help them unify their own poems. This session will be capped at 55 registrants.

Registration closed

Session 3: Meaning-Making Sentences for Our Poems

Saturday, December 6th | 11am to noon EST

Join Kentucky Poet Laureate Kathleen Driskell as she discusses how her ideas on form and content help her pick, choose, and deploy sentences appropriate in syntax and sound in order to make meaning for our poems. Takeaways? Attendees will revisit and learn new rhetorical and syntactical strategies to put to use in their own poems. This session will be capped at 55 registrants.

Register here

While these events are free, we welcome donations via PayPal to support KSPS programming and honor our Kentucky Laureate’s time and talent. Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated. Suggested donation: $25. 

donate here
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Summer Craft Talk Series: Poetry, Process & the Power of the Unspoken

This summer, KSPS invites members to dive into the art and process of poetry like never before. Our Kentucky Voices series is expanding to feature a special three-part virtual craft talk series, each led by a celebrated Kentucky poet and focused on a unique approach to poetic craft. These aren’t your standard readings. These are immersive, reflective, and experimental spaces designed to ignite curiosity and deepen your relationship with the written word.

Our first session kicks off July 15 with “One of These Things Is/Isn’t True: Negation in Poetry” led by award-winning poet and educator Trish Jaggers. This session asks a provocative question: What happens when meaning comes not from what is said—but what isn’t?

“There is no glass in the bathwater.”

With that image, Trish opens a gateway into the poetic potential of absence. In this talk, participants will explore how negation, opposition, and even lies can elevate language beyond its literal frame. Together, we’ll read poems that “tell all the truth but tell it slant,” and examine how emptiness, silence, and contradiction give poems their emotional weight.

This won’t be a traditional workshop. As Trish describes it, it’s “an opening through which we will slip on our way across the water, tiptoeing around the shards that are not there.” You won’t leave with rules—you’ll leave with questions, experiments, and a new lens for your own writing.

📅 July 15, 2025 | 7 PM EST
📍 Virtual | KSPS Members Only
🪑 Space is limited to 55 participants – Register now

Upcoming Craft Talks

String Theory: An Exploration of Poetry that Employs Multiple Threads
Hosted by Clay Matthews | September 16, 2025 – 7 PM EST
 What holds a poem together beneath the surface? In this session, we’ll unpack the hidden structures that tether together different voices, moments, and meanings. Through guided prompts, discussion, and practice, you’ll experiment with weaving your own threads—poetic and otherwise—into new creative work.

Craft Your Words: A Multi-Modal Approach to Poetry Writing
Hosted by Lucy Oquaye | November 18, 2025 – 7 PM EST
 Poetry can be paper and glue, image and text, absence and form. This hands-on session explores how collage, blackout poems, and zine-making can unlock new poetic possibilities. With tactile tools and a multi-sensory approach, we’ll create poetry that embraces fragmentation and opens new doors of expression

How to Participate

These craft talks are free and exclusive for KSPS members. Each session is limited to 55 participants to ensure an intimate and engaging experience. If you’re not yet a member of the Kentucky State Poetry Society, now’s the perfect time to join. You’ll get access to this series and a full year of member benefits, including publication opportunities, contests, and more.

Start your membership and reserve your spot today.

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“Commas Are Expensive” by Deidra White

At Kentucky State Poetry Society, we believe poetry can do more than reflect the world — it can interrupt it. It can demand breath in spaces where breath is often denied.

We’re honored to share “Commas Are Expensive” by Kentucky poet Deidra White — a piece that speaks directly to the bone-tired reality of Black womanhood, of single motherhood, of enduring in a world that too often takes without pause.

can someone lend me a comma because commas are expensive you know and periods and question  marks and ellipses for that matter are luxuries for other’s but not me and i know that you know  what i mean for instance when was the last time you were able to question anything while running  around doing fixing solving saving slaying conquering everything that life has thrown your way  like we some sort of super negro slave not tied to the laws of human physicality bending not  breaking losing sleep lifting entire households while we jump over societal obstacles and pits of  financial instability and you better not complain cause then you’re angry bitter broken hurt  damaged as if they didn’t have a hand in building our whipping post and smiled while they checked  for the sturdiness of it and it was so sturdy that it still stands today ready willing and able to soak  up my blood our blood that spills on every street corner and in every country on every towing line  as we pull ourselves through the refuse with entire villages on our backs my god i could use a  comma a question mark an ellipsis but none of those exist in our bag of tricks no rest for this weary  no pause no bell signaling the end of this round of duckingdodgingjabbing no cornerman with  water nor towel to wipe sweat from brow no cut-man to stop the bleeding and i just keep on  swinging and dancing trying to endure the molestation cause that’s what it is you know  something forcing it’s way inside my sanctity and don’t get me started on periods that never end  anything for me i thought at least i can end this run on existence but nah no way no how cause  every period i put down magically disappears like even autocorrect is working against me  making sure that i survive like when i was eleven i attempted a period cause i needed a comma  but wasn’t nopausenobreak nomoment of peace for me to catch my breath so i attempted to put a period there and it didn’t stop nothing and i tried again in my twenties and thirties several times  like i’m done i cannot continue on this tortuous marathon running and leaping over hurdles that i  ain’t see in nobody else’s lane and i be damned if i ain’t still here and i heard you screaming like  Celie i’m poor black and i may even be ugly but i’m here like that’s some sort of accomplishment  and i ain’t saying you wrong for feeling like that cause i know you know the truth about who we  are and what we done and how we came through but they even twisted that into some super negro  strong black woman fallacy like because we make it look so easy it’s ok to keep doing us like  this while they show up ring side with her and say i’m so glad baby that you ain’t that like he  don’t remember that i fought beside him with our kids on my back and i guess i’m just tired and  my attempted periods don’t work and i ain’t never been able to question what’s happening here  cause won’t nobody answer me but you and you got the same questions i do so we just keep  fighting our way through this run on existence hoping that down the line that towing line that  everybody uses for us to pull them through i know you know cause you was right there beside  me fighting for civil rights and women’s rights and voting rights and lgbtqia+ rights and every  other right while we’re being done wrong someone would at least lend me a comma cause fuck  i just wanna take abreakabeatapause just a minute to myself so i can catch my breath a little  seeing that i can’t afford to do that right now because commas are expensive  you know