Poetry Society of Texas

PST Summer Conference 2025 Poetry Workshop by Corbett Buchly on Ambiguity in Poetry

Poetry Society of Texas Summer Conference 2025

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I attended my first Poetry Society of Texas (PST) Summer Conference this year, and it was a great experience. Possibly my favorite part was in between sessions getting to meet poets from all around the state, mostly from DFW, Tyler and Houston, but I’m curious if there were poets from some of our other chapters there too. Being involved in an interest-focused community is everything, from the sharing of ideas (publishing, techniques, favorite authors, etc.) to the general commiseration around being an artist.

I’ve been a member of the Poetry Society of Texas and the Denton Poetry Assembly (chapter) for two years now. Since the conference was held in Denton, my chapter hosted it. Late last year, I was invited to run a short poetry workshop for it. I said, “of course!” because I tend to say “yes” to things. And then I promptly came home and asked myself, “Now, what topic am I going to deliver a workshop about?” But as I looked through my notes, and the books that I’ve tabbed, and I thought about my own poetry goals and philosophy, the arrow really began pointing toward this idea of ambiguity in poetry. I was able to pull in perspectives and poems from a variety of sources to assemble a lecture and workshop. I was really happy with the result, and got some great feedback from the participants afterward. The full title of my workshop was “Balancing the Concrete and the Ambiguous.”

At any rate, I look forward to attending another PST summer conference and renewing friendships and diving back into that poetry community.

The Poetry Society of Texas Annual Awards Banquet 2024 – Poets & Poems

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I was lucky enough to attend the Poetry Society of Texas Annual Awards Banquet again this year. It’s a lot of fun chatting with other Texas poets and hearing most of the wining poems being read. I was more than happy to take home three awards this year for my poems “ring” (that explores the symbolism of the wedding ring), “two towers twenty-three years” (about 9/11), and “the film” (about the movies, of course!) While 98% of the poems I send out to journals and contests were written in the last five years, I have a few still strong poems from my graduate days that I include. “The film” is one of those few poems. So happy to have it rewarded! It really reinforces the idea that there is an audience out there for all good art. Often you just have to find the right one.

Listening, Lunching and Meeting With the Poetry Society of Texas

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Recently, I got the chance to attend the 2023 Annual Awards Dinner for the Poetry Society of Texas for this first time. It’s always great fun to hang out with fellow poets. I met several writers from the Denton and Mockingbird chapters and got to hear a lot of great poetry.

All of the first place winners in attendance were asked to read their winning poems. I read my poem “what one can see in the dark,” which won The Susan Maxwell Campbell Prize. The name of this prize changes each year and is judged by the previous year’s winner. So next year, I’ll have the opportunity to judge The Corbett Buchly Prize! How fun is that? All of the winning poems will be published in the Poetry Society of Texas Book of the Year.

I thought the best poem of the night was by Diane Glancy, who I now know has had a wonderfully successful career writing and teaching poetry. Of course, I had to buy one of her many books. I’m looking forward with excitement to that arriving. And I look forward to next year’s Poetry Society of Texas event.