Sorry We Were Out...

We apologize for our lengthy hiatus from the blogosphere.  Vacation, random personal crises, and just plain laziness may have interfered with our ability to post much over the last month and a half. 

We would like to just blame the gap on our flurry of preparation for the Spring/Summer issue, which will launch by the first of next month, but that doesn't completely account for our lapse. 

However, we might as well take the opportunity to mention that the Spring/Summer issue will launch by the first of next month!  It's looking to be a good issue, and we look forward to wrapping up production on it soon.  The issue will include the top three poetry contest winners and much more literary goodness.

And, finally (finally, indeed) look for a new review here in the blog next weekend.

2011 Poetry Contest Finalists

We're pleased to announce the 10 finalists for our 2011 Vivienne Haigh-Wood Prize for a single poem.  The prize winner will receive $500 and the winning poem will appear in our Spring/Summer 2011 issue, out next month.  The second and third place poems will also appear in a special section of the issue, and all non-winning finalists will be listed there as honorable mentions.  Finalists will be notified of the status of their entries shortly before the issue appears.  Congrats and good luck to all!

*Finalists are listed in alphabetical order by name.

Lou Amyx:  Roses
Connie Boyle:  An Inheritance
Pat Hurshell:  Elegy (in 3 movements)
Pat Hurshell:  Leda Tells It Again
Tomasz Mielcarek:  I Was Waiting For You
Jenny Sanders:  Mama's Little Heartbreaker
Lorraine Schein:  The Hanged Woman
Lorraine Schein:  The Lady in the Lake
N. A’Yara Stein:  For the Rest of Our Lives, That Far Place Waits
Julie Stuckey:  Watching the Door

Announcing Our Finalists for the Vivienne Haigh-Wood Prize

Yes, it seems we have 11 finalists rather than 10. What can I say? I was an English, not a math major. OK, that's not quite an excuse, since distinguishing between the numbers 10 and 11 came a bit earlier in my education (say, kindergarten at the latest.) Well, they are 11 great poems, I think, so no regrets on the counting error.

We wish everyone luck with the final selection, which will be announced in the Spring issue, out late in May. The winner and runner-ups will be notified before the issue appears and the prize will be awarded in May.

The finalists are listed in alphabetical order (since I'm fairly confident I've mastered the alphabet, at least ;)

Marcia Arrieta: "Days"

Jessica Cuello: "Donkeyskin" and "In the Spired House"

Deborah DeNicola: "Eve of my Evolution"

Katharyn Howd Machan: "When I Return to Sardinia"

Jane Olmsted: "Imperative"

Lorraine Schein: "The Crystal Fairy Book"

T. Stores: "If My Father Were a New England Poet"

Jari Thymian: "Radish Mother"

Whitney Vaughan: "O Joy, Mouths the Muse to Her Suitor"

Andrea L. Watson: "Reckless Light Ordains Each Leaving"

Fall Issue Coming Soon

Just letting you all know it won't be long before the launch of our next installment, Melusine 1.3, possibly with a slightly new look for autumn... We're tentatively planning for the 20th or 21st of this month.

By the way, don't forget to send in your entries for Melusine's first annual poetry contest! The deadline is February 15, 2010 and details are here.