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NORTH CAROLINA L I T E R A R Y R E V I E W
Fall 2023
Redmond also selected Michael Loderstedt’s performance of “Why We Fished” (his 2021 James Applewhite Poetry Prize poem of the same title) for Honorable Mention, calling it “a love letter to fishing, a beautiful poem akin to prayer because of the detail. The speaker’s voice is confident, as he sets the scene via fishing lures, equipment and a photograph of a fish is projected above him. The poet outfitted in fishing regalia, the fishing why becomes evident, not only through props, but captivating lore. The poem’s beauty contracts and expands from fishing into a much larger statement about life.”
“ a love letter to fishing, a beautiful poem akin to prayer because of the detail.” —Glenis Redmond
Finally, special note was made of Janet Ford’s two submitted performances, “His Time” (recipient of the 2017 Guy Owen Prize) and “Grandfather Mountain,” both of which Redmond found reminiscent of Eudora Welty. All of these poets received honoraria from the NCPS and were invited to perform at the September 16 meeting. The inaugural Jaki Shelton Green Performance Poetry Prize recipient and honorees, which you can watch on Youtube at the links provided herein, reveal how performance poetry can include both poetry written for the page and poetry written to be performed. As our submission guidelines for this contest indicate, performance is the critical component of this contest. We look forward to watching more performances across the state and for next year’s second annual Jaki Shelton Green Performance Poetry Competition. Submissions will be open throughout April. n
ABOVE Michael Loderstedt performing his honorable mention
ABOVE Janet Ford performing her special mention poems
poem, “Why We Fished” MICHAEL LODERSTEDT’s recent writings have been featured in Muleskinner Journal, Bangalore Review, and Musepaper. He received a 2020 Ohio Arts Council Fellowship in Literature for his memoir manuscript The Yellowhammer’s Cross. His first book of poems, Why We Fished, published by Redhawk Publications, is inspired in part by his upbringing on the barrier island of Bogue Banks, NC.
JANET FORD lives in the Brushy Mountains of western North Carolina. Her poems have appeared in NCLR Online, Poetry East, Caesura, and elsewhere. In 2022, she received the Susan Laughter Meyers Residency Fellowship Award, and her work was selected for Poetry in Plain Sight 2023.