Sunday, Apr. 15. -- Reading in Georgetown, SC

Poetry reading in Georgetown, SC
The Two Susans: Susan Finch Stevens, Susan Laughter Meyers
Sunday, April 15
3 - 4 p.m.
Coffee Break Cafe, 716 Front Street
... Come early to get a latte or pastry to enjoy during the reading.
Reading sponsor: Harborwalk Books

Other Susans--and poetry lovers of any name--are welcome.

storySouth has published three of my poems

The new issue of the online literary journal storySouth is out, and I'm happy to have three poems in it: "Season of Tourists"; Military Maneuvers, South of Drowning Creek"; and "Passage." Here's a lineup of the poets in Issue 33, Spring 2012:

Special feature: Katie Chaple
Also: Susan Laughter Meyers * Nadine Sabra Meyer * Nathan Friedman * Terri Kirby Erickson * Jenny Z. Wu * John Stanford Owen * Sarah Sweeney * Rebecca Gayle Howell

Congratulations to the editors and staff; many thanks for including my work.

March 19, 2012: Ed Madden's MFA poetry workshop at USC

Tomorrow Bryan Penberthy and I will be guest teachers in Ed Madden's MFA poetry workshop at the University of South Carolina. We're both looking forward to the experience, meeting with the students while Ed is away in Ireland. We'll read a few poems, talk about our writing process and publication experience, and teach a brief mini-lesson. My mini-lesson will be on "The Usefulness of Silence in a Poem."

Saturday, Mar. 3 -- Poetry Workshop: The (IL)Logic of Poems

Poetry Workshop: The (IL)Logic of Poems
Saturday, March 3, 2012
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Susan Laughter Meyers, instructor
OLLI at CCU
Waccamaw Higher Education Center
160 Willbrook Blvd.
Pawleys Island, SC 29585
$30
Register at 843-349-6584
or webadvisor.coastal.edu

Most poems veer from linear logic in some way – and are better for it. This workshop will look at the odd, illogical turns that poems often make – with their gaps, leaps, and non sequiturs, as well as their surreal and dreamlike juxtapositions. The class will include discussion, writing activities, and a class packet. Bring an in-progress poem of yours. Within two weeks after the workshop, you have the option of emailing a poem to the instructor for feedback. Lunch can be brought or bought nearby.

Feb. 12 - 16: Ossabaw Island Writers' Retreat

Ossabaw Island Writers' Retreat
February 12 - 16, 2012
Ossabaw Island, near Savannah, GA
Faculty: Craig Johnson, fiction; Sue William Silverman, nonfiction; Susan Laughter Meyers, poetry
Visit the website for further information.

What a beautiful setting for a writers' retreat! The program includes workshops, faculty lectures and readings, student readings, individual conferences, and time for writing and exploring the island.

Poetry workshop at SCCTE Conference, Kiawah Island, SC

Thanks to Hope Spillane for inviting me to teach a poetry workshop for the South Carolina Council of Teachers of English at their annual conference at Kiawah Island, SC, a couple of weekends ago. The workshop was on the morning of January 27, a day that started out rainy but had brightened up by the start of the class; so we pulled back the heavy draperies of the conference room to let the beauty of Kiawah Island be our inspiration. It was a pleasure to work with a room full of teachers eager to talk about and write poetry.

Our topic was "Writing toward a Poem's Mystery." To explore that subject we spent time reading and discussing published poems by poets such as Charles Simic, Kay Ryan, and Thomas Transtromer; and then we tried our hand at a group poem, which we read in a round-robin approach after each participant wrote one line of the poem. An impressive group!

Prime Number Editors' Selections, Vol. 1

A new print anthology of literary work chosen from the online magazine Prime Number has just been released by Press 53: Prime Number Editors' Selections, Vol. 1 -- edited by Cliff Garstang, Valerie Nieman, and Tracy Crow. I'm pleased to have poems included in it.

Contributors:
Nonfiction by Maris Venia, Stephen J. West, and Faye Rapoport DesPres;
Fiction by Kevin Wilson, Scott Loring Sanders, Susan Tepper, Anne Leigh Parrish, Jon Trobaugh, Richard Wiley, Meagan Ciesla, Dennis Ginoza, Virginia Pye, John Flynn, Dan Moreau, Daniel Meltzer, Linda Stewart-Oaten, Paul Hetzler, and David Meischen;
Poetry by James Harms, Sarah Lindsay, Jake Adam York, Susan Laughter Meyers, Mark Smith-Soto, Lola Haskins, Timothy Black, Robert Hill Long, Theodore Worozbyt, Rachel Hadas, Erica Dawson, Barry Spacks, Ruth Foley, Emilie Lindeman, Catherine Staples, M.A. Schaffner, and William Reichard.

To order: Press 53

Poem published by The Pedestal Magazine

Pedestal 67, celebrating 11 years of the magazine, includes my poem "Why I Am Not a Tightrope Walker."

Thanks to The Pedestal for including my work, along with poets Sara Backer, Esvie Coemish, Jeanpaul Ferro, James Grabill, Lois Marie, Harrod, klipschutz, Sandra Kohler, Simon Perchik, Eric Paul Shaffer, Judith Skillman, and Jared Smith.