Last Exit Open Poetry Readings Announced - Early 2025 in Kent

 From our friend RC Wilson:

Kevin Prufer remembers Russell Atkins in this month's issue of Poetry Magazine

Kevin Prufer says: "I think Russell Atkins is one of the most fascinating, unique, and brilliant poets of the 2nd half of the 20th century. He's also one of the most under-appreciated. He died earlier this year. Here's a piece I wrote about him for the Poetry Foundation and Poetry Magazine."

 

 

Permalink: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/1637023/a-syntax-of-his-own-remembering-russell-atkins.

Heights Arts Seeks Applications for 12th Heights Poet Laureate

From our friends at Heights Arts in Cleveland Heights:

Heights Arts, a multidisciplinary arts organization in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, is excited to announce the selection process for the cities’ 12th Poet Laureate for a two-year term beginning April 2025 through March 2027. This upcoming term coincides with Heights Arts’ 25th anniversary. 

The Heights Poet Laureate will receive a yearly stipend and participate in civic and community events, as well as manage Heights Arts’ popular Ekphrastacy – Artists Talk and Poets Respond series throughout their tenure. 

History: The Cleveland Heights Poet Laureateship, established in 2000 by Heights Arts to celebrate and elevate poetry as an essential art form for the community, is the first and longest-running laureateship in the state of Ohio. In 2023, with the endorsement of both Cleveland Heights and University Heights, the laureateship expanded to become the Heights Poet Laureateship. Every two years, Heights Arts’ staff along with the Heights Writes Community Team of volunteers with expertise in the literary arts and the Heights community solicit applications to select a poet from the Cleveland area for this honor. 

“We were thrilled to join Cleveland Heights in the Heights Poet Laureate program,” says University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan, “... and I look forward to our participating in the program going forward. University Heights is committed to supporting the arts. Adding poetry to our city events has been inspirational and has helped bring residents together.” 

The current Poet Laureate, Siaara Freeman, is a dynamic voice in the Cleveland poetry scene, a 2023 Room in the House fellow with Karamu Theater. Freeman is also a 2022 Catapult fellow with Cleveland Public Theater. Her accolades include the 2021 Premier Playwright fellowship with Cleveland Public Theater, the 2020 WateringHole Manuscript fellowship, and being a four-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize. Freeman’s work has appeared in The Journal, Josephine Quarterly, Cleveland Magazine, and other notable publications. She has gained recognition for her viral poems and has toured both nationally and internationally. 

The meeting will be posted on the Heights Arts website for those who cannot attend. Applicants for the laureateship must commit to serving the full 24-month term if selected and must either be residents of Cleveland Heights or have a significant connection to the communities. Applications will be accepted from November 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024. Detailed information and the application can be found at Heights Arts Poet Laureate.

December 14th: Open Mic Sharing in Sandusky

You're invited to this sharing on poetry's relevance in your and our lives.

Sandusky is 55 minutes west and worth the drive. 

December 3rd: Think Forum - An Evening with Billy Collins in Cleveland

Tuesday 3 December 2024 at 7:30 p.m., see former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins at the Milton and Tamar Maltz Performing Arts Center, 1855 Ansel Rd, Cleveland, OH 44106.

Billy Collins is an American phenomenon. No poet since Robert Frost has combined high critical acclaim with such broad popular appeal. His work has appeared in a variety of periodicals including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and The American Scholar. Collins has published twelve collections of poetry that have led to numerous awards including the Mark Twain Award for Humor in Poetry. Collins was named New York State Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006 after serving as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001-2003. Collins’ newest book, Water, Water: Poems, will be released in November 2024.

Book signing immediately following the lecture.

Get your FREE tickets at https://case.edu/maltzcenter/calendar-events/concerts-events-silver-hall/think-forum-evening-billy-collins.

Barbara Sabol and Erica Reid named 2024 Ohio Poets of the Year

The Ohio Poetry Day Association has selected Barbara Sabol and Erica Reid as our 2024 Ohio Poets of the Year. Congratulations to these two amazing writers!

Barbara Sabol was selected for her book of poems, WATERMARK: Poems of the Great Johnstown Flood of 1889 (Alternating Current Press, 2023). The poems in WATERMARK follow the path of the “great flood,” from the time prior to the perfect storm of events resulting in the disaster to the devastating aftermath and the reclamation of a bustling industrial city. The book is a poetic testimony of the great flood story through voices of the unidentified victims; their circumstances and lives imagined from morgue entries. The narrative also paints the backdrop of recovery and renewal, in the voices of survivors, telegraphers, aid workers, and historical figures such as Clara Barton. Watermark is a lyric narrative of this country’s largest and most dramatic flood of the 19th century, told from the perspective of those whose lives it claimed and those who lived to tell the tale. 

For more about the book, visit: https://altcurrentpress.com/2023/10/11/watermark/. 

Sabol is the author of six poetry collections, including WATERMARK. Her book, Imagine a Town, won the 2019 poetry manuscript contest by Sheila-Na-Gig Editions. She went on to become the associate editor of the journal, Sheila-Na-Gig online and edited the anthology, Sharing This Delicate Bread, featuring selected poems from the journal. Barbara co-authored a book of Japanese short-form poems with Larry Smith (Bottom Dog Press, 2023.) Her awards include an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council, and she was named the Arts Alive 2024 Literary Artist. Barbara’s work has been nominated for the Pushcart, Best of the Net, and her haibun was short-listed for a Touchstone award. She conducts poetry workshops through Literary Cleveland and the Cuyahoga Falls Library. Barbara lives in Akron, Ohio with her bird artist husband and wonder dog.

Erica Reid was selected for her book of poems, Ghost Man on Second (2024, Autumn House Press), which traces a daughter’s search for her place in the world after estrangement from her parents. Reid writes, “It’s hard to feel at home unless I’m aching.” Growing from this sense of isolation, Reid’s stories create new homes in nature, in mythology, and in poetic forms—including sestinas, sonnets, and golden shovels—containers that create and hold new realizations and vantage points. Reid stands up to members of her family, asking for healing amid dissolving bonds. These poems move through emotional registers, embodying nostalgia, hurt, and hope. Throughout Ghost Man on Second, the poems portray Reid’s active grappling with home and confrontation with the ghosts she finds there. 

For more about the book, visit https://www.autumnhouse.org/books/ghost-man-on-second/.

Erica Reid, M.F.A., is an award-winning writer now based in Colorado. Her debut collection Ghost Man on Second won the 2023 Donald Justice Poetry Prize and was published by Autumn House Press in 2024. Erica’s poems appear in Rattle, Cherry Tree, Colorado Review, and more. Learn more at ericareidpoet.com.

 

 

 

 

As Ohio Poets of the Year, Sabol and Reid join the likes of Mary Oliver, David Baker, Kari Gunter-Seymour, and Maggie Smith.

This year's Ohio Poetry Day celebration will occur on October 18–19 in Springfield, Ohio.

 

OHIO POETRY DAY AGENDA

Friday, October 18, 7–9 PM: Meet and greet, overnight poetry contest prompt, et cetera.

Saturday, October 19, 10 AM–4 PM: Includes a morning workshop, open mic featuring Ohio Poetry Day contest winners, reading by Honorable Mention Neil Carpathios, and keynote reading by Ohio Poet of the Year Barbara Sabol. Registration opens at 9 a.m.

Where:   Christ Church Springfield,
                  409 E. High Street
                  Springfield, OH 45505

Previous Ohio Poets of the Year

1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994	Hallie Cramer Muriel de Chambrun Virginia Moran Evans Cecil Hale Hartzell Celia Dimmette Novella Humphrey Davis Daisy Lee Donaldson Mary Oliver James Magner, Jr. James C. Kilgore no award given Charlotte Mann Richard Hague Michael J. Rosen J. A. Totts Timothy Russell Amy Jo Schoonover Robert Wallace Bonnie Jacobson David Baker Debra Allbery Grace Butcher Frankie Paino David Citino Tom Andrews Michael J. Bugeja	A Sprig of Bittersweet Sudden Soring To Seek the Sun Song on the Anvil Ocean Carry Us Far There Was This Place Surface Fragments Twelve Moons Till No Light Leaps African Violet     --- Grape Pitcher Ripening A Drink at the Mirage Outside the Dream The Possibility of Turning to Salt New & Used Poems The Common Summer Stopping for Time Sweet Home, Saturday Night Walking Distance Child, House, World The Rapture of Matter The Discipline The Hemophiliac's Motorcycle After Oz
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020   2021 2022 2023	Alberta Turner Lou Suarez William Matthews James Cummins Susan Grimm Miriam Vermilya Myrna Stone Pauletta Hansel Deanna Packard Elton Glaser Cathryn Essinger Herbert W. Martin David Hassler Martha Collins William Heyen Stephen Haven Terry Hermsen Will Wells George Looney Linda Ann Schofield Lianne Spidel Dzvinia Orlowsky David Lee Garrison Jeff Gundy Maggie Smith Kathy Fagan Susan Glassmeyer Laura Grace Weldon Kari Gunter-Seymour Quartez Harris Erica Manto Paulson Rikki Santer	Beginning With And Losses of Moment Time & Money Portrait in a Spoon Almost Home Heartwood The Art of Loss Divining ln Dreams We Kiss Ourselves Goodbye Pelican Talks My Dog Does Not Read Plato Escape to the Promised Land Red Kimono, Yellow Barn Blue Front The Confessions of Doc Williams Dust and Bread The River's Daughter Unsettled Accounts Open Between Us Psalms of the Hood What to Tell Joseme Silvertone Playing Bach in the D.C. Metro Somewhere Near Defiance The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison Sycamore Invisible Fish Blackbird A Place So Deep Inside America It Can't Be Seen We Made It to School Alive Hunger Resurrection Letter: Leonora, Her Tarot, and Me

 

10/23: Dianne Borsenik presents In the Company of Angels

Mark your calendars for October 23 at Speak of the Devil Cocktail Bar in Lorain, Ohio, to catch performances by poets Christine Howey, Marcel Fable Price, and Ray McNiece, hosted by Dianne Borsenik. Exponential fabulousness!

 

October 5th & 6th: Great Lakes African American Writers Conference

9/17: R.A. Washington and company at Mac's Backs

September 17th at Mac's Backs Books on Coventry:

September 19 thru 21: The Wick Poetry Center Celebrating 40 Years

From our friends at the Wick Poetry Center in Kent:

In honor of the Wick Poetry Center’s 40th anniversary, we invite you to join us for a celebration at Kent State University. Over two days and three nights of festivities, our keynote speakers, Padraig Ó Tuama, Naomi Shihab Nye, Jane Hirshfield, and Adrian Matejka will give readings and host engaging panels. As we celebrate four decades of creativity and community, we are also delighted to feature poet and founding director Maggie Anderson, along with our accomplished Wick prize-winning authors.

Register by September 13th at WickPoetry.com.

 

Jeanne Bryner Reading

 Join us for a fine reading by one of 

Ohio's premiere poets--Jeanne Bryner

Drive on out. It's beautiful out here.

Cleveland Inkubator - a free writing conference - begins soon!

Hosted by our friends at Literary Cleveland. Click the pic for more information.

Russell Atkins
Memorial Service

Friday, September 13, 2024
2:00 p.m.

Nesbitt Funeral Home 
6415 Quincy Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44104

The short memorial service will include displays of Russell's books and final papers. Following the service, attendants may, if they wish, proceed to the cemetery and give brief remarks.

Obituary:
https://www.nesbittfh.com/obituary/Russell-Atkins

Cleveland Scene story:
https://www.clevescene.com/news/russell-atkins-cleveland-poet-who-made-strides-in-avant-garde-scene-dead-at-98-45062475

New Unhoused Clevelanders Poetry Anthology

For more about this new anthology, These Words are Not My Home: Poems, Stories and Essays from The Unhoused (edited by R.A. Washington), please read: 

Unseen voices: How a shelter program, new poetry anthology channel thoughts of unhoused Clevelanders by Collin Cunningham in The Land.

Copies of the book are available from Mac's Backs Books on Coventry.  

August 15th: Open Air Poets in Cleveland Heights

People Love Poetry: Every Other Tuesday at Afrika in South Euclid

People Love Poetry happens every other Tuesday (August 8th, August 22nd, September 5th, September 19th, October 3rd, and so on) at Afrika Taste and Lounge, 4483 Mayfield Road in South Euclid, Ohio.

Follow People Love Poetry on Facebook. Or contact them at peoplelovepoetry@gmail.com.

August 17th: See Paula J. Lambert in Sandusky

 Paula J. Lambert comes north to Sandusky August 17th at 2:00

Join us. Open Mic to Follow

Vermilion City Council Appoints Joette McDonald as City’s First Poet Laureate

Congratulations to Joette McDonald! 

From the press release:

At the July 8th Vermilion City Council meeting Mayor Jim Forthofer put forth the name of Joette McDonald to be named Vermilion and the surrounding area’s first Poet Laureate. In his recommendation to council members he highlighted why Mrs. McDonald was such a deserving person for this honor. Vermilion City Council approved this appointment unanimously.

You might be asking yourself “What is a Poet Laureate and what do they do?”. This is not an uncommon question. A poet laureate is “ a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution as an honorary representative of a particular region”. The state of Ohio’s Poet Laureate is Kari Gunther Seymour, appointed by Governor DeWine in January 2024. There are numerous cities or counties who have appointed a Poet Laureate.

So now you ask, “What does a Poet Laureate do?”. The person appointed is a poet who has written poems, books or other literary pieces that have been published. The Poet Laureate might be asked to read a poem at a ceremonial event that the city holds such as a building dedication or be an advocate for not only poetry, but for any form of the literature. They might help kick of the library summer reading program or a school’s Right to Read campaign.

So who is Joette McDonald? Mrs. McDonald has been a teacher of 1st and 4th grade since she was 19 years of age until she retired from Vermilion Local Schools in 1996. She taught at South Street School and Vermilion Intermediate School and has taught many Vermilion residents during her tenure as a teacher. Joette has an undergraduate degree from Kent State

University where she graduated Cum Laude and later earned a Master’s degree from Ashland University.

Joette’s poetry has won numerous awards, has been read on the radio and been published in several periodicals and anthologies. Her poetry books include Seasons of the Soul (2013), It Seems Like Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe (2007) and Waiting for the Bus at Protemus (2005). Mrs. McDonald has also published a book on how to write poetry titled I Feel Like a Poem Coming On-Now What (2007). Composer Dr. H. Leslie Adams has used her poems as art songs, many of which have been performed in concerts and recorded. Joette has also penned two books for young adolescents about Vermilion -The Lighthouse Mystery and The Haunted Hall, a story of Vermilion’s Old Town Hall (now Harbourtown Fine Arts Center).

The Vermilion Poetry Society, who encouraged the Mayor and City Council to establish a Poet Laureate for Vermilion and the Surrounding Areas, will honor Joette McDonald as our first Poet Laureate with a reception on Thursday, August 8th from 7:00-9:00 pm at Harbourtown Fine Arts Center, 736 Main Street. Those interested in attending should email Dr. Jim Chapple at chappjw@aol.com or call him at 440.225.1547 to attend this reception.

Also read in Lorain's Morning Journal.

July 13th: Jeremy Jusek, Dianne Borsenik & Alissa Sammarco in South Euclid

See poets Dianne Borsenik, Jeremy Jusek and Alissa Sammarco on Saturday the 13th, 2 p.m. at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

Register at https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/10323147. 

About the authors:

Dianne Borsenik is active in the northern and mid-Ohio poetry communities. Recent work has appeared in I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing: Ohio’s Appalachian Voices, Songs of Wild Ohio , and Poem for Cleveland. Raga for What Comes Next, a full-length collection of Borsenik’s poems, was studied as part of the Modern & Contemporary American Poetry course at Muskingum University. Flight of Honey, another full-length collection, was published in May, 2023. Actor Jonathan Frid used three of her poems in his one-man tour Genesis of Evil, Speak of the Devil (Lorain, Ohio) named a cocktail after her, and Lit Youngstown printed her poem “Disco” on their t-shirts, all of which makes her feel like a rock star. Borsenik lives in Elyria, Ohio. Find her on Facebook and at www.dianneborsenik.com.

Once when I was little and very frightened, I was handed a jar of honey and a spoon. I closed my eyes and tasted beams of sun. Dianne Borsenik’s Flight of Honey reveals the bitter sweetness we discover in dark moments and closes its eyes to taste the moments of love we return to comfort in. There’s a new discovery in each taste from this collection. From the stark “Up the Mountain” through the inquisitive romp of the title poem to the introspection of “Knotted Together,” Borsenik sets us on a beeline path through her gracious mind with all of the wry humor and thoughtfulness we expect from this poetic trailblazer. In life, “blood doesn’t always call to blood” but this collection, like honey, beads warm amber and asks you simply to slow and savor.
—Jonie McIntire, Lucas County Poet Laureate, author of Semidomesticated (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2022), winner of Red Flag Poetry’s 2020 Chapbook Contest

 

Jeremy Jusek is the poet laureate of Parma, Ohio. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Arcadia University and chemistry/theatre degrees from Marietta College. He has authored more than a half-dozen plays and three poetry collections: We Grow Tomatoes in Tiny Towns, The Less-Traveled Street, and The Details Will Be Gone Soon. He hosts the Ohio Poetry Association's podcast Poetry Spotlight, runs the West Side Poetry Workshop, teaches through Literary Cleveland, and founded the Flamingo Writers’ Guild. To learn more, please visit www.jeremyjusek.com.

The Details Will Be Gone Soon is a close investigation of the primordial underpinnings behind Alzheimer’s disease and the emotional wreckage left in its wake. This poetry collection follows the speaker and his grandmother, Nana, and the various memories shared between the two. At times, the collection seeks to illustrate the loose word associations, frustrations, and existential cloud cover that darkens dementia’s horizons. Other poems steer toward youth and hope, extolling love, lessons learned, and shared experiences. This dichotomy allows the collection to successfully walk that critical line that families of Alzheimer’s patients often experience: one that straddles between the unfairly diminished, barely-present caricature versus the vibrant, vigor-filled past-selves that close friends and family spent a lifetime loving.

 

Alissa Sammarco uses cinematic imagery to freeze those moments in time and evoke the feeling of revisiting them.  She examines the common in life and relationships to find the extraordinary. Her work has appeared in Sheila-Na-Gig, Black Moon Magazine, Change Seven, Quiet Diamonds, The Main Street Rag, Stone Canoe, VIA: Voices in Italian Americana, Rat’s Ass Review, the 2021 and 2022 Lexington Poetry Month Anthologies, and elsewhere. She is the author of two chapbooks, Beyond the Dawn and I See Them Now.  Alissa lives and practices law in Cincinnati, Ohio. www.AlissaSammarco.com.

Moon Landing Day navigates the trajectories of relationships blasted off course by miscalculations, unmet expectations, abuse, and addiction.  In cinematic imagery, these poems reveal the difficult truths of a young woman, the harm that is passed from generation to generation, and the painful journey of acceptance to forgiveness.  From the total loss of control to the emergent spark of self-awareness, this young woman grapples to break the pattern.  She unravels her life and knits it back together in these poems.  They will hold you in their grip and bring you in for a safe landing.

July 18th: Open Air Poets in Cleveland Heights

From our friends at Mac's Backs and the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library:

Join us in the PEACE Park as Coventry Branch and Mac’s Backs Bookstore present an outdoor summer poetry series. Thursday July 18th, 2024, at 7 p.m.

July's reading features poets: Miles Budimir, Steve Goldberg, Jason Harris and Kevin Latimer.

 

Coventry Village Library

1925 Coventry Road
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118

There's Always This Year: Grace Harper interviews Hanif Abdurraqib

Grace Harper of Mac's Backs Books on Coventry has a wonderful monthly book blog called Grace Notes, and I was especially excited to see that for July's edition she has interviewed acclaimed Ohio author Hanif Abdurraqib, whose latest book is There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension [Penguin Random House].

Read this enlightening interview at www.macsbacks.com/grace-notes-july-2024.

June 29th: M.J. Arcangelini & Friends and Ground & Sky Poetry

Saturday, June 29, 2024 from 5:00pm to 7:30pm at Mac's Backs Books on Coventry

Mac's will host a gathering of poets with readings by MJ Arcangelini and Joel Lesses on Saturday, June 29th at 5 p.m. The event is also a book release celebration for Journeys of Sacred Community: A Collection Anthology of Ground and Sky Poetry

MJ Arcangelini, born in Pennsylvania in 1952, has resided in northern California since 1979. He has published in many magazines, online journals & over a dozen anthologies.  He is the author of six published collections, including  Pawning My Sins publlished in 2022 by Luchador Press.

Ground and Sky Poetry is a reading series in Buffalo and Rochester, NY and was inspired by the late poet Maj Ragain from Kent. 

Joel David Lesses is a counselor and the founder of Education Training Center in Buffalo, dedicated to reframing mental health distress as a potential spiritual marker and existential opportunity. He also does the Unraveling Religion podcast which focuses on spirituality, world religion, meditation and poetry.

Other poets scheduled to read include Dianne Borsenik, Chris Franke, Russ Vidrick, Steven Smith, Kathy “Lady” Smith, John Burroughs, Shelley Chernin, Ben Gulyas, Adam Brodsky, Steve Goldberg, Steve Thomas, Scott Silsbe and  Chandra "Peggy Honeydew" Alderman.

Mac's Backs
1820 Coventry Rd.
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118
https://www.macsbacks.com

July 12: Poet Laureate Ada Limón comes to Cuyahoga Valley National Park

On July 12 at 6 pm, Cuyahoga Valley National Park will host the 24th U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón for a special event. Please join us for the unveiling of the "You Are Here" poetry project at the Ledges Shelter.

Seven national parks, including Cuyahoga Valley, were selected by Limón to be part of her signature project “You are Here: Poetry in Parks.” In each park, a picnic table transformed into a work of public art will be unveiled. At the Ledges Shelter, Limón will unveil a picnic table inscribed with Jean Valentine’s poem, “The Valley”.

• The event starts at 6 pm; doors open at 5 pm.
• Please bring a lawn chair or blanket if you’re able.
• Additional parking is available at Kendall Lake (1000 Truxell Road in Peninsula) with a shuttle provided to the event.
• Limón's anthology will be available for purchase at the event.

Poetry in Parks is a partnership between the National Park Service, Library of Congress, U.S. National Poet Laureate, and Poetry Society of America. The initiative is one half of Ada Limón’s signature project titled, “You Are Here.” The project also includes an anthology of original poems by 50 contemporary American poets. Learn more about Poetry in Parks.

Make reservation of register at www.eventbrite.com/e/poetry-in-cuyahoga-valley-national-park-with-ada-limon-tickets-923717222077. 

Last Exit Poetry in Kent - Late 2024

From host RC Wilson:

Here is the Last Exit Open Poetry schedule through December. Please note that all readings are on the 3rd Friday EXCEPT July.

For the latest, follow https://www.facebook.com/groups/275521006684052.
 

5/17: Embracing Wetlands reading in Kent

From RC Wilson:

Please consider coming out for this poetry reading next Friday. Poets from around Ohio and beyond. An important event!