A Love In! FSP 50th Anniversary Celebration – call out for readers

To celebrate us and those older poets who make up our rich history, the 7th November 2025 FSP City Meeting will follow a special format at the usual Box Factory venue.

30 volunteer poets are invited to read any poem by any poet from any FSP Reader or Anthology prior to number 30 along with a short biography of that poem’s author. The reader cannot read one of their own poems from these anthologies. However, they can read ONE poem of their own for consideration for 2025’s anthology. There will be no open mic.

Suggestions are now open and will be curated by David Cookson, on a first come, first served basis.… Click for more

A Chronicle of Friendly Street’s First Fifty Years – Call for Contributions.

As part of Friendly Street’s fiftieth anniversary year in 2025, we are inviting contributions from past and present members or attendees for a ‘Chronicle’ of recollections about what Friendly Street has meant and provided in ‘human’ terms for those involved over the last half century.

These memories should be in the form of short vignettes, no more than two paragraphs or 500 words long. They can be composed as prose, poetry, or a mixture of both.

The vignette must express each contributor’s sense of a significant memory, anecdote, or reflection on why Friendly Street mattered – whether for them personally or in broader social terms – during the period when they first became involved.… Click for more

Poem of the Month – March 2025 – Helen Hutton

The Poem of the Month for March 2025, selected by 2025 Anthology editors Val Braendler and Ben Adams, is Cold Case by Helen Hutton. The commended poems are Taking the Master Class by Nigel Ford, 3 x H20 by Bruce Greenhalgh and Ends and Soapbubbles by Avalanche.

Cold Case
Helen Hutton

i
Night is crisp as a nurse’s bib
and the bench seat in the old Holden
cold and narrow like an ambo’s gurney …
there’s me – look – pressed against the passenger door
      no handle,       no window winder      no escape.
He strokes the column shift
sweat glistens on the ginger hairs
on the back of his hand, saliva pools
in the corner of his mouth …
No need to sit over there, city Sheila.… Click for more

The Poetry Laboratory

Tuesday 13th may 2025
7:15pm for 7:30 start

Brookside Cellars Community Arts Centre
17 Moore St, Tranmere (off Glynburn Rd), SA 5073

$5 entry
Cash only, includes refreshments

An evening when great poetry and great poets are put under the microscope. Come along and be entertained, informed and even make your own poetic contribution.

Our first evening will feature a presentation by that poetry force of nature, Avalanche, on the life and work of ee cummings (that’s right, no capital letters).

Following this will be an open mic opportunity to read a poem or two, either cummings’ poetry or your own inspired by/about/relating to cummings and his work.… Click for more

Celebrate History Month with music and poetry at Milang Lakeside Butter Factory

Sunday, 4th May, 2025
1:30pm for 2:00pm start

Milang Lakeside Butter Factory
22-23 Daranda Terrace, Milang, SA 5256.

$10 entry fee to read
Free to listen

Guest poets:
Nigel Ford & Jude Aqulina

Milang and District Community Association and Friendly Street Poets are proud to present the inaugural Milang Poetry Slam and Music event at the historic Milang Lakeside Butter Factory,

What better venue to soak in history than the Milang Lakeside Butter Factory, which was established in 1893. Enjoy a relaxed afternoon listening to music, and poetry about the past, at this newly restored historic site on the shores of Lake Alexandrina.… Click for more

Poem of the Month – February 2025 – Erica Jolly

The Poem of the Month for February 2025, selected by 2025 Anthology editors Val Braendler and Ben Adams, is Remembering Mark Twain by Erica Jolly. The commended poems are Another Day at the Home for Incurables by Cary Hamlyn, glance by Billy-Jack Johnstone and The Soul’s Code by Inez Martinez.

Remembering Mark Twain
Erica Jolly

This story comes from
Back Matter – the archives
of Lapham’s Quarterly
‘Philosophy’ Volume VIII,
No. 3 Summer 2015.
 
You warned us all
about the temptation
to vice and corruption
in your satire The Gilded Age.
 
Plutocrats – all hungry –
finding immense riches
in technical advances
after the Civil War.… Click for more

Voluminous Grid – The Adelaide Poetry App 

Calling All Poets!

Voluminous Grid, a geolocation poetry app, is bringing Adelaide’s stories to life through verse. This interactive app will showcase poems – new and old – that celebrate the CBD of the City of Adelaide.

We’re seeking diverse voices, locations, and perspectives that capture Adelaide’s rich past and poetic present. Whether you’re a South Australian poet or from interstate, we’d love to see your work. The app will feature a mix of unpublished works, previously published pieces, and historical poems.

Featured poems will be accessible via smartphone as text and voice recordings, performed by professional actors, with walking events in 2026 to launch the app.… Click for more

Single Poet 2025 submissions now open!

FSP is pleased to announce that submissions for Single Poet 2025 are now open and close on midnight 31st May 2025. Each volume in the Single Poet series publishes a full-length collection of poems from a poet who has not yet published such a collection.

Before submitting your manuscript, please read the rules and formatting requirements carefully. Failure to comply with the requirements will result in your submission being disqualified. The rules can be downloaded as a PDF document below:

Submissions will only be accepted via an on-line form below:

… Click for more
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