Calling all poets

You’ve got two weeks left to submit a Romantic-style poem to win prizes totaling more than $2,000 in a contest by Magnolia Plantation and Gardens to capture the attraction as an idyllic “garden of romance.”

Magnolia, America’s last large-scale romantic-style garden, has recruited a panel of judges who will select the best poets who emulate the sensibility of romantic poets, stir the emotions and celebrate the natural world. Entries will be judged in adult and young adult divisions.

The Rev. John Grimké Drayton is credited with adopting a romantic style of gardening at Magnolia after visiting Europe in the 1800s as the Romantic Movement swept Europe and America. In addition to garden design, the Romantic Movement touched many aspects of European and American society and inspired poetry.

The poems for the contest should emulate the style of poets William Wordsworth, Ashley Tennyson and Percy Bysshe Shelley. A Wordsworth quote inscribed on a small sign at Magnolia’s entrance reads: “Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.”

March 31 is the deadline to enter. Winners will be announced in April.

In the adult division, judges will award $500 for first place, $300 for second place, $200 for third place and $50 to five poets in the honorable mention category. A poem should not exceed 30 lines. Judges will only consider poems in the adult division that follow the romantic style and have the gardens at Magnolia as its theme.

In the young adult division — ages 12 to 17 — the judges will award an iPad for first place, $200 for second place, $100 for third place and an annual family membership to Magnolia to five poets in the honorable mention category. Poems in the young adult division can follow any style and must have the gardens at Magnolia as its theme. More information.

Also in recent good news:

• Farmers market. Daniel Island will continue to have its weekly Thursday farmers market starting May 7 on Seven Farms Drive in front of the Family Circle Tennis Center.

The weekly market is held each Thursday for three hours starting at 3:30 p.m. The market will continue weekly through the end of August. The market’s regional farmers and vendors will represent a variety of fresh produce, seafood and prepared foods, and a number of artisan vendors will offer jewelry, crafts and more. Each week, a different food truck or restaurant will offer additional dinner and prepared food options.

• No drilling. The city of Folly Beach last week unanimously passed a resolution opposing offshore drilling and the use of seismic airguns to search for oil and gas deposits off the coast. Folly Beach followed Edisto Island, Beaufort, Port Royal and Isle of Palm’s lead becoming the fifth community in South Carolina to formerly pass a resolution opposing offshore drilling and seismic blasting, and the 37th coastal community to publically oppose or voice concern with seismic airgun use.
• Tips of the hat. Two tips of the hat this week:

Nathalie Dupree.  The Southern chef and food writer extraordinaire is among five inductees this year to the Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America as announced last week by the James Beard Foundation.

Author of 14 cookbooks and host of more than 300 cooking shows, Dupree has won three James Beard awards and other honors. She and her husband, historian Jack Bass, life in Charleston.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley. The mayor last week was honored by receiving the Krause Center for Leadership Award, one of The Citadel’s most prestigious honors. It is presented annually to a graduate who exemplifies the highest ideals of leadership through integrity and service to others.

“As we lead, we must have a clear, moral, ethical understanding of where we are seeking to go and why,” said Riley. “A leader must always be listening.”

After Riley steps down from being mayor after 40 years later this year, he’ll return to The Citadel to teach and write.