And The Winner is....( Left Coast Eisteddfod - Poetry Competition/English Language )

A message from Peter Thabit Jones....


Adjudication



It was good to see the range of poetic forms and subjects submitted for the Competition. Each poem offered something to the reader, be it an imaginative mind-picture, an original phrasing of an emotion or a striking statement. Poetic devices (such as alliteration, internal rhyme and repetition) were handled in a confident and effective way. Those poets that tried a specific form displayed a control of stanzas and rhyme-patterns, which contributed to a sense of rhythm in their poems. I really enjoyed entering into the world of each poem. I reduced the large batch of entries to an impressive short-list of twelve potential winners.

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I feel the following poets deserve a mention for their very good poems:

Bee Richards, Jolen Whitworth, Stephen Hughes, Heidi Falk and Elnaz Rezaei Ghalechi.

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The RUNNER-UP of the Left Coast Eisteddfod 2009 Poetry Competition (English language Category) is Lines on Mt. Washington by Peter Lewis.

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It is a poem that builds up steadily and climaxes in an excellent and appropriate last line. The tone of the narrator engages; and there is some quite skilled sound-texturing throughout the work.

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The WINNER of the Left Coast Eisteddfod 2009 Poetry Competition (English language Category) is Imprint by Sherry Weaver Smith.

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It is a poem that presents an emotional and very human experience in a striking and original way. The poet controls the unfolding of the poem with admirable confidence. She utilises language for maximum effect and her poetic voice is powered by a quiet integrity. It is a poem that calls one back to it time after time and it still retains its obvious strengths. It will be a real pleasure to publish the poem in January’s Issue 11 of The Seventh Quarry Swansea Poetry Magazine.



Peter Thabit Jones, August 2009


Congratulations to Sherry and Peter....

The Dragon Has Landed!

We apologise for the cheesy title but we are naturally very pleased and excited to be able to announce that plans for the Left Coast Eisteddfod in Portland this August are now beginning to firm up. This week we secured the location for the event in Portland, Oregon: it will take place at the Crystal Ballroom on Saturday, 22 August 2009.

Below is a shot of the view of the ballroom from the stage. The Crystal Ballroom has been a Portland nightlife destination for many decades, glamorously famous for its dance floor: a wooden floor on a ball-bearing base, below a balcony of fixed seating, with two bars - one in the balcony and one at the back of the ballroom itself. The ballroom overlooks downtown West Burnside Street, a main boulevard which bisects the north and south halves of the city and just blocks from Powell's Books, the largest independent bookstore in the United States, probably in the western hemisphere.

The ballroom is on the third floor and in addition to that floor, we have the second floor, which is another bar and dance floor - photograph of that bar, intrepidly claimed for Wales by AmeriCymru member, Hugh Roberts, at the bottom of this post, below.

So far confirmed to attend are:- Chris Needs, Bruce Anderson, Niall Griffiths, Oceans ApartDavid Western. Other announcements will follow. There is every chance, should our funding situation continue to improve, that we will book a second and possibly a third day It was our original intention to stage a three day event and we are exploring various sponsorship options with interested parties at the moment. and

The program for the event is in the beginning planning stages but so far we're looking at a Welsh market/tradeshow with vendor spaces during the day and seminars/appearances by lovespoon carver David Western and author Niall Griffiths on the ballroom stage and performers appearing in the ballroom in the evening.

The winners of all our online Eisteddfod competitions will be announced at the event. The Short Story Competition is being judged by Lloyd Jones and Peter Thabit Jones is judging the Poetry Competition. Judges for the other competitions have yet to be announced. David Western will announce the winner of the Left Coast Eisteddfod lovespoon he is creating and auctioning for the event.

We're working out additional presentations and possibly appearances and events at other locations near the Crystal Ballroom: book signings and other events. We'd really love to hear from anyone about events they'd like to see at this, any ideas anyone to make it even bigger and better.

We want to thank all our members and contributors for helping us get to this point and giving us an opportunity to promote Wales and modern Welsh culture in the western USA. We really hope we see a lot of you here and plan a special event for AmeriCymru members.

Peter Thabit Jones and John Good to Judge Left Coast Eisteddfod Poetry Competition!

We are immensely proud and pleased to announce that Peter Thabit Jones and John Good will judge the entries in the Left Coast Eisteddfod Poetry competition ( English and Welsh language categories respectively ). First prize for both ctegories in this competition wiil be $100 (65GBP approx ). Second and third place prizes to be announced soon. The final submission date for entries is July 31st 2009. To submit your entry please go to this page and read the rules carefully before entering:- Left Coast Eisteddfod 2009 Poetry Competition Group. The competition is open to non-Americymru members but the submission procedure is slightly different.

Peter and John will need no introduction to most of our readers but just in case here are a few links:-

Peter Thabit Jones Website

Peter Thabit Jones on MySpace

Interview With John Good on Americymru

Oceans Apart Website

Peter Thabit Jones reading several of his poems on poetryvlog

Oceans Apart at the "Trans Celtic Gala" show, 2008