To celebrate the University of Memphis Centennial, the Department of English is hosting an open house for alumni, faculty, and students in Patterson Hall.  Guess who’ll be there?  US!

Come meet the staff and score some free food and drinks.  We’re also raffling away a completely, totally, amazingly FREE one-year subscription to The Pinch, no strings attached.  But you’ve got to be here to win!

For more info on the U of M English Open House:  http://memphis.edu/alumni/clubs/artssciences_chapter.php

But what will you do after the open house?  Come to Burke’s Books for the second installment of the Working Title Reading Series–it will be quite the pinchy affair!

PINCHers reading tonight: Managing Editor for the Spring 2012 issue Tara Mae Mulroy; Managing Editor for the Fall 2011 Issue Scott Carter; and current Senior Creative Nonfiction Editor Devon Taylor. Our current Assistant Managing Editor Tom Useted will be our distinguished emcee, and our Art Editor Erin Pounders is the event coordinator.  Check out the Memphis Flyer story on the reading series here.

See you there!

We would very much like to thank those who helped us out with making this party a great success and so much fun for all involved. First of all thanks to Tara Mae Mulroy and the editorial staff for creating such an incredible issue. Tara Mae is an excellent poet and has a wonderful blog. We very much enjoyed her newest post about why we should all submit to Literary Contests.

We would also like to thank the Askew Nixon Ferguson Architecture Firm for allowing us to  use their space. It was a beautiful venue. We want to thank Joe Wieronski, personally.

Special thanks to Goodnight Gracie Specialty Foods and to Clay Cantrell for the music and to all the volunteers who made such beautiful evening possible.

–The Pinch Staff

We sold merchandise and subscriptions! It’s not too late to buy back issues, tee-shits, slap koozies, magnets, subscriptions or the current issue! PURCHASE.

There was also very yummy food.

Readings!

And lots of talking, smiling and laughing!

What about the Poem of the Month for January, February or March?

Poems are good brain-food. Even more so than fish. They are also better for your eyes than carrots. They also may help you develop super powers if you read enough of them.*

Come by our party tomorrow night (April 6th) and tell us what you thought of them, or buy a subscription, some back-issues and some merchandise. We are also having a raffle for a free subscription (but is you haven’t read any poetry, you won’t have developed the super powers necessary to win).

The Party is in celebration of our Spring 2012 issue and it’s lovely Managing Editor, Tara Mae Mulroy. It is at 7 p.m. at the Askew Nixon Ferguson Architecture Firm, 1500 Union Avenue, Memphis TN. It will feature readings by Steve Adams, Stu Dearnley and Darren Jackson.

Tweet at or Facebook us and let us know what you think of the poems and of the party. Super powers not guaranteed.

*This has not been tested by the FDA. Poems are probably not good for your eyes and the likelihood of you developing super powers any time in the near future is probably pretty slim. However, we stand by that they are good brain-food, especially when you read them while eating fish.

Don’t miss our Poem of the Month on the first of every month.  This month we have a poem from Pinch contributor Mark Jay Brewin, Jr.  See it here!

For you snail-mailers, that means you have to get your stuff printed and stapled and  SASEd and enveloped and mailed by the time the post office closes tomorrow. If it’s not postmarked March 31 or earlier, we can’t read it.

For you online submitters, that gives you until the stroke of midnight Sunday.  Come April 2, our online submission manager will go dark.

You could relax tonight, watch a movie, and order a pizza–and then weep Monday morning when all you have to show for the weekend is an empty pizza box and residual shame from watching another chick flick.  Or you could polish up your poems and prose, send them off to us, and watch your life change forever.  It’s up to you.  This weekend determines your destiny.

Submissions will be closed April 2nd for the journal and for the contest. So please take this time to send us your best work. We are excited to read it!

Don’t forget about our Release Party for the Spring 2012 issue which will be held at the Askew Nixon Ferguson Architecture Firm on Union Avenue. It’s going to be very fun and will feature readings by Steve Adams, Stu Dearnley and Darren Jackson!

If you missed the Pinch party at AWP, or if you really enjoyed the Spring 2012 issue, or perhaps if you just enjoy our company…you should come to our party. There are many reasons to go. Live music. Food. Readings!

We would love to see you.

See here for guidelines.  You can submit online, too!