September 2017, CLEVELAND - Art on Madison is excited to announce the launch of POETRY +, a
new monthly reading series for emerging and established writers in Cleveland and the surrounding
regions. POETRY + aims to shine the spotlight on a single writer, providing them with the platform
and time necessary to present a body of their work and to engage and connect with their audience.
Each presenter is given the freedom to decide which materials and anecdotes they will share, as
well as can decide the duration of their reading. POETRY + kicks off on October 24, 2017 with
Cleveland based poet, Andrew Field.
Andrew Field is a poet and librarian and earning his master’s in Library and Information Science
from Kent State University. He has published essays about poetry at Thethe Poetry Blog, B O D Y
Literature, and the California Journal of Poetics, book reviews at the Rumpus and Jerry Magazine,
and poems at the Ocean State Review, Words Dance, and Mantis. He tweets at
https://twitter.com/AField81. In August of 2016, his chapbook, All I Want, was published by Red
Flag Poetry.
POETRY + is free and open to the public. Doors open at 7:00pm. Readings begin at 7:30pm.
More information and how to submit to POETRY + can be found at poetrypluscleveland.weebly.com
or via email at poetrypluscleveland@gmail.com.
Art on Madison is the new studio and gallery of artist, Ivan Kende, Founder and Vanessa Wright,
Director. Art on Madison is currently featuring the artwork of Ivan Kende, and will soon present
rotating exhibitions of local and regional artists.
Art on Madison
13703 Madison Avenue
Lakewood, OH 44107
Media Contact for Poetry +:
poetrypluscleveland@gmail.com
Media Contact for Art on Madison:
ivankende@gmail.com
vanessa.wrightart@gmail.com
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Monday, September 18, 2017
LITERARY TOURISM: CLEVELAND, OHIO
Jennifer Marer gives us a quick guide to LITERARY TOURISM: CLEVELAND, OHIO, stopping at some of the high points of Cleveland: Horizontal Books in Ohio City, Mac's Backs in Coventry, Appletree book at Cedar Fairmont, and the Writer's Center Stage at Maltz Performing Arts Center.- Bookriot.com: Literary Tourism: Cleveland Ohio
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Visible Voice Books Returns
Visible Voice, the classic bookstore in Tremont, is back!
Visible Voice had been a staple of the poetry scene in Cleveland until it closed three years ago. Now it's reopening. According to Scene, Visible Voice Books will officially be open on September 27, in a new location above Crust Pizza Kitchen in Tremont, with even more space and with parking. For those who like sweets with their words, it says they will feature locally-made pastries from Sweet Tooth Confections, specialty teas and brew-in-house coffee from Gimme! Coffee.
2258 Professor Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44113
- Check them out on Facebook
"A bookstore with that lost independent feel — a relaxed, inviting environment conducive to discovery, where quality takes precedence over quantity, where the books marginalized by commercial concerns have a home. If you come in looking for something specific, we will have it or we will find it for you. If you come in looking for nothing in particular, you can lose yourself in a world of new ideas."
Friday, September 15, 2017
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Lighthouse Reading: Hayan Charara & Abraham Smith, 9/29 at CSU
Please
join the Cleveland State University Poetry Center for the Lighthouse
Reading Series's first event of the year! This reading will take place
in Parker Hannafin 104 (on CSU's campus, across from the Student Center)
on 9/29 at 7pm.
Hayan Charara is a poet, children’s book author, essayist, and editor. His third collection of poetry, Something Sinister (2016), was awarded the 2017 Arab American Book Award; he is also the author of The Sadness of Others (2006) and The Alchemist’s Diary (2001). His children’s book, The Three Lucys (2016), received the New Voices Award Honor, and he edited Inclined to Speak (2008), an anthology of contemporary Arab American poetry. With Fady Joudah, he is a series editor of the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize. He currently teaches in the Honors College at the University of Houston.
Abraham Smith is the author of four poetry collections: Ashagalomancy (Action Books, 2015); Only Jesus Could Icefish in Summer (Action Books, 2014); Hank (Action Books, 2010); and Whim Man Mammon (Action Books, 2007). In 2015, he released Hick Poetics (Lost Roads Press), a co-edited anthology of contemporary rural American poetry and related essays. His creative work has been recognized with fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA, and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Destruction of Man, his book-length poem about farming, is forthcoming in 2018 from Third Man Books. Presently, he is at work upon a poetry manuscript about cranes—birds whose song and stature electrify him. This fall, Smith joins the Weber State University community as an assistant professor of English.
Hayan Charara is a poet, children’s book author, essayist, and editor. His third collection of poetry, Something Sinister (2016), was awarded the 2017 Arab American Book Award; he is also the author of The Sadness of Others (2006) and The Alchemist’s Diary (2001). His children’s book, The Three Lucys (2016), received the New Voices Award Honor, and he edited Inclined to Speak (2008), an anthology of contemporary Arab American poetry. With Fady Joudah, he is a series editor of the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize. He currently teaches in the Honors College at the University of Houston.
Abraham Smith is the author of four poetry collections: Ashagalomancy (Action Books, 2015); Only Jesus Could Icefish in Summer (Action Books, 2014); Hank (Action Books, 2010); and Whim Man Mammon (Action Books, 2007). In 2015, he released Hick Poetics (Lost Roads Press), a co-edited anthology of contemporary rural American poetry and related essays. His creative work has been recognized with fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA, and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Destruction of Man, his book-length poem about farming, is forthcoming in 2018 from Third Man Books. Presently, he is at work upon a poetry manuscript about cranes—birds whose song and stature electrify him. This fall, Smith joins the Weber State University community as an assistant professor of English.
Monday, September 4, 2017
Thursday, August 3, 2017
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
INKubator coming- and it's free
Literary Cleveland says:
CLEVELAND INKUBATOR, REGION’S LARGEST FREE ANNUAL FESTIVAL FOR WRITERS AND READERS, SET FOR MONDAY JULY 24th – SATURDAY JULY 29th
Literary Cleveland, a nonprofit organization committed to nurturing a vibrant community of readers and writers in Northeast Ohio, is hosting the third annual Cleveland Inkubator in partnership with Cleveland Public Library from Monday July 24th – Saturday July 29th.
Cleveland Inkubator, Northeast Ohio’s largest free annual festival for writers and readers, will offer an array of free performances, readings and social events as well as a day-long literary conference packed with workshops and craft talks on July 29th.
Inkubator is made by possible with the support of Cleveland Public Library and the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.
“Literary Cleveland continues to put Cleveland’s literary scene on the map and work with partners to build a strong community of writers and readers,” says director Lee Chilcote. “Over the past two years, we’ve helped thousands of people connect with Northeast Ohio’s diverse writing community, learn from professional and amateur writers, and share their talents with the public. Inkubator is a big part of that!"
The schedule for the FREE Cleveland Inkubator includes:
- Monday 7/24, 7:00-9 pm: Read Ohio: Janice Lowe, New York-based author of Leaving CLE: Poems of Nomadic Dispersal, a musical performance, reading and author talk at the Bop Stop in Ohio City
- Tuesday 7/25, 6:30-9 pm: Second annual Lit Cleveland Book Swap at Market Garden Brewery
- Wednesday 7/26, 7:00-9 pm: Between the Lines with Detroit-area writers Kelly Fordon and Laura Hulthen Thomas at the Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern
- Thursday 7/27, 7:00-8 pm: Crossing Borders: Immigrant Narratives performance on Public Square
- Friday 7/28, 6:30-9 pm: Lit Cleveland Live: Open Mic Night at Cleveland Public Library Eastman Reading Garden
- Saturday 7/29 all day (8:30am-5 pm): Cleveland Inkubator literary conference, readings, craft talks and workshops in Cleveland Public Library’s Stokes Wing
The full schedule for 2017’s Cleveland Inkubator can be found on our website. Literary Cleveland’s mission is to create and nurture a vibrant literary arts community in Northeast Ohio.
--
Free all-day writers’ conference on Saturday, 7/29!
- An Inkubator Who's Who
- Registration link
Friday, July 14, 2017
Quotidian words, or enigmatic riddles- what should poetry be?
In the New York Times, Matthew Zapruder wrote "One of the great pleasures of reading poetry is to feel words mean what they usually do in everyday life...". He suggests that a good poem never hides its meaning:
- Understanding Poetry Is More Straightforward Than You Think
- Matthew Zapruder Celebrates Poetry’s ‘True Strangeness’ (commentary by Harriet Staff)
He says "Zapruder mostly reiterates a dominant U.S. rhetoric about poetry and art, a rhetoric that tends to dismiss the excessive and the strange, emphasizing the importance of "accessible" poetry", and suggests "If we can leave behind the constant injunction of our gatekeepers and tastemakers to comply with aesthetics of the "straightforward," we can embrace intense meadows and ecstatic riddles. Jäderlund, Hopkins, Zurita, Lynch, Jefferson all offer a different route, an ecstatic, visionary route that says: poetry is a strange force that can take over your minds and bodies, transport you out of what you think you know and take you into a new kind of mysterious knowledge."
A new battle in an old war. But, does a weird and ecstatic poem necessarily have to be one that can't be literal? Possibly they're both right.
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Ekphrastacy at the Heights
 |
| Image by Mark Slankard, from Heights Arts |
At a reception and gallery evening, artists Christi Birchfield, Grace Chin, Dexter Davis, Yumiko Goto, Doug Meyer, Mark Slankard, and Douglas Max Utter will talk about concepts and development of their work, and poets Jill Lange, Vince Robinson, and Linda Goodman Robiner, along with Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate Christine Howey, will respond to the art with poetry addressing the works of art on view.
If you like art and poetry both, Ekphrastacy is an event to check out.
--(and even if, like me, you can't make it to the Ekphrastacy event (sorry! Thursdays are an evening I'm already committed on), do check out the art next time you're in the Cedar Lee neighborhood!)
Or, visit the gallery, find an artwork that has something to say to you, and try it yourself:
- an ekphrastic poetry lesson (courtesy the Smithsonian American Art Museum)
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Literary magazines...
On BuzzFeed, Lincoln Michel gives you a guide to publishing in literary magazines. And on Catapult, Tony Tulathimutte adds his advice: How to get a story or essay published if you’re not James Franco:
- Lincoln Michel: The Ultimate Guide To Getting Published In A Literary Magazine. Here's everything you need to know before submitting your work to the literary publication of your dreams.
- Tony Tulathimutte: Pitching and Moaning: A Guide to Submitting Your Writing. How to get a story or essay published if you’re not James Franco.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Guide to Kulchur Reopening
Horray for Guide to Kulchur!
- See the article by Sam Allard in the June 14 Scene.
- GTK Press
Sunday, June 4, 2017
WHERE TO SUBMIT: JUNE + JULY
I’ve been thinking about all that goes into these Where to Submit posts, and have been grateful for the kind words that I hear about it more and more these days. One fact you may have observed: I include only a few short story/essay/poetry contests in our literary magazine section. While full manuscript submissions are often organized around contests, I worry that having a “contest” mentality toward literary publications (particularly in the short form) can be discouraging, especially to newer writers. I like thinking of magazines and presses as living breathing organisms rather than as slot machines, and it makes me happy when our list can reflect that.
https://entropymag.org/where-to-submit-june-july-3/
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Hessler Street Fair Winners!
The 2017 Hessler Street Fair poetry contest reading was at the Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern tonight. Some great poems, and great performances.
Congrats to the winners of the 2017 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Contest:
- First place (tie):
- Vince Robinson, "Star Struck"
- Christine Howey, "I Was a Male Impersonator for 40 Years"
- Second place:
- Devlinbleu Chambers "Environmental Super Nova"
- Third Place:
- Keely Aaliyah, "I Am a Soldier"
 |
| The winning poets at Happy Dog: (left to right) Keely Aaliyah, Christine Howey, Devlinbleu Chambers, Vince Robinson (photo by GL) |
The winners will perform on the main stage at the Hessler Street Fair June 3-4 2017 11 am to dusk (watch this space for details of the time), and simulcast live on WRUW-FM 91.1.
The Hessler Street Fair Poetry Anthology (published by Writing Knights Press) with the winning poems as well as all the contributed poems for the contest, will be available at the Mac's Backs booth at the fair, or can be purchased for $14.00 from Mac's Backs Books on Coventry or from Writing Knights Press.
Monday, May 15, 2017
Two Writers at Macs Backs Saturday at 5:00
Larry Smith (The Thick of Thin: Memoirs of a Working-Class Writer) and Patrick Lawrence O'Keeffe (Cold Air Return: A Novel) will share their new books at Macs Backs this Saturday at 5:00
Both books have received Recommended ratings and fine reviews from US Review of Books.
Smith is the editor of Bottom Dog Press, and this is O'Keeffe's first novel. Both are set in working-class worlds. Please join us in this sharing event.
Both books have received Recommended ratings and fine reviews from US Review of Books.
Smith is the editor of Bottom Dog Press, and this is O'Keeffe's first novel. Both are set in working-class worlds. Please join us in this sharing event.
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Erin O'Brien lists Cleveland's ten oddest oddities
She listed them originally for the Republican convention (remember the Republican convention?) last year, but the oddities are still odd. Now that spring is here, check out Erin O'Brien'sWhat are your favorite Cleveland oddities?
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Can You Slam Slam?
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Ray McNiece, Returning Haiku Master of Cleveland
It was a great evening of haiku!
 |
| Winner Ray McNiece and second place Cordelia Eddy at the Haiku Deathmatch (photo by GL) |
Haiku Warriors competing at the Deathmatch:
 |
| center section of the audience at the Haiku deathmatch. (Photo by MT) |
Friday, April 7, 2017
For the love of Pho
I am currently reading two non-fiction books. One called Sapiens
about the development and success of Homo Sapiens and another called I Contain
Multitudes about the relationship between people and microorganisms. I am also thinking about a poem I am going to
write about Vietnamese soup.
So how do these three seemingly disparate texts relate to
one and another? Surprisingly well if one squints a little. There are a couple
points that I hope to mesh together when I finally write this poem (This little
bit of prose here is to get some of the ideas straightened around in my head as
to what I am going to end up with.) I’ve
made a couple starts on the piece – the whole idea started as a challenge from
a 5th grader in Tanzania. I’ve had two false starts so far. Not
really false starts though – just paths that I am not going to go down –
writing a poem can be like playing Let’s Make a Deal – choosing what is behind
door number one two three – etc. except there are innumerable doors and they
keep appearing throughout the process. So, what I’ve managed to do is close off
two doors – and complete whole bunch of pointless surfing of the web.
Like most (here I am assuming) readers I find something I
have an affinity to in a piece of writing – especially non-fiction – and I run
with it a little too hard. Sometimes I stretch the idea thanks to a
confirmation bias on my part – other times I conveniently ignore contradictory
ideas – sometimes my conclusions are merely an echo of a forgone belief. For
example – me assuming that most readers do this as well – anyways…
The two things I have gleaned from my reading so far: I
Contain Multitudes – that once you’ve entered the realm of the microorganism
the laws of probability are thrown out the window because of the sheer insanity
of the numbers you are now working with.
A million in one shot is going to happen thousands of time amongst a
colony of bacteria for instance – of course I just pulled that number out of
the air – but the gist is true and that gist is enough to have derailed the
piece I was working on about Vietnamese soup – because that concept was too
good not to use somewhere – so I got that going on now.
Sapiens revolves around the notion – as I see it, and
I think I’m pretty close to being on -
that the reason the Homo Sapiens species was so successful – surpassing what
might have been accomplished by ordinary evolutionary progress of adaptation
and opportunism – was by developing the ability to believe in fictions en
masse. I.e. currency, religion, monarchies etc. etc. – this allows colossal
shifts of belief and distribution of intelligence, experience, wealth and
labor. I.e. just the fact that a hundred thousand folks might gather in a communal
spot to watch men run into each other on a Sunday afternoon – that’s an
accomplishment that cannot be recreated by other complex animals such as
chimpanzees – whose functional society breaks down over a hundred or so
individuals. Now bees and insects gather in great numbers – but they are
running on instinct not that they all believe in the same fictions – such as
who winds the Super Bowl is something that really matters (at least that we
know of.)
But what if they did? What kind of craziness is going on at
that microbial level – power structures, religious fanaticism leading to
bacterial infections – viral marketing on the actual viral level? All based on
fictions – or in other words lies agreed to be believed.
So, this brings us to Pho – that delicious Vietnamese staple
– my favorite food on the planet – my go-to comfort bowl of noodly warmth in
any stormy port upon this globe. How does this fit in with microorganisms and
shared fiction? I’m not sure but I think it has to do with the fact that the traditional
method of cooking the stuff is in a giant cauldron of a iron pot and rather
than ever emptying the vessel – the bone broth is simply added to – it is a
veritable sourdough approach – it is quite possible that an atom – or a
microorganism has remained in that pot from the very beginning – from the first
day it was started – a microscopic witness to all time as far as that consommé
universe was concerned.
So these are the things I’m rolling around – and this little
bit of writing you’re reading right now is just a way for me to think about it.
Now I’ve stretched some of these ideas I’m sure – and I’m most likely less than
half right on what I’ve posited. I’m not even sure about the idea of the soup
never being totally emptied from the pot – I’m petty sure I heard of it – but it
fits my narrative so I’m going with it – please don’t correct me on any of this.
It’s a fiction I need in order to move ahead.
I Contain
Multitudes
Sapiens: A
Brief History of Humankind
Monday, April 3, 2017
Haiku! Geoffrey A. Landis
The 5th Not-Exactly-Annual Haiku Death Match is only 5 days away! To celebrate the countdown to the haiku contest, for the las two weeks I have featured a haiku (or senryu) from each of the deathmatch contestents.
Here is the last of the eight haiku warriors: Geoffrey Landis (... that would be me):
Carved stone gods
no one worships now
Still they watch and wait
And don't forget that for just a few dollars you can sponsor a haiku warrior team!
The Haiku deathmatch is coming up this weekend! Saturday, April 8 at 7 pm at Dobama Theatre. You can get tickets to the haiku deathmatch at the Heights Arts gallery, 2175 Lee Road, via phone at 216-371-3457, or online:
ORDER HAIKU DEATH MATCH TICKETS
$15 General public | $10 Heights Arts members | $15 at the door
Sponsor a haiku warrior team!
Here is the last of the eight haiku warriors: Geoffrey Landis (... that would be me):
 |
| Photo by GL |
Carved stone gods
no one worships now
Still they watch and wait
--Geoffrey A. Landis
And don't forget that for just a few dollars you can sponsor a haiku warrior team!
ORDER HAIKU DEATH MATCH TICKETS
$15 General public | $10 Heights Arts members | $15 at the door
Previous Haiku warriors featured:
Sunday, April 2, 2017
National Poetry Month!
Once again, it's National Poetry month, so if you want poems to read and prompts to write poetry, this is the month! There's a wide smörgåsbord available.
Over at the Cuyahoga library, check out
- Read Write: Thirty Days of Poetry has a poem every day, and a writing prompt inspired by the poetry
- Start with their April 1 post, featuring "Fold,” by Cleveland poet Ali McClain, and go on from there
- Sign up for their e-mail list
- or check out their twitter feed #readwritepoetry
- National Poetry Month posts
- Start with quiddity and puzzle
- like & follow their Facebook page for updates
- Ignore the ads, and start at Poem A Day, Day One: reminiscing poem
- Challenge Guidelines
- Check out what's happening at any of the 65 readings, poetry workshops, and other writing-related events going on in April, listed on the Clevelandpoetics Calendar.
- And don't miss this Saturday's Heights Arts Haiku Deathmatch at Dobama (OK, I guess I've mentioned this before).
- More ways to celebrate National poetry month
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Haiku on the radio tonight!
Heights Arts says: Happy National Poetry Month!
For a little haiku preview, tune in to Weekend Radio with Robert Conrad on WCLV 104.9 today, Saturday, April 1 at 10pm, when haiku from the Haiku Death Match contestants will be featured
WR 1713
BROADCAST WEEKEND 04/01/17April is Poetry Month, and we observe it with participants in Cleveland’s Haiku Death Match reading their poems, and we hear verse from Ken Nordine, Alastair Reid, Shel Silverstein and Bob and Ray.
...and then on WCLV again Wednesday, April 5 at 2:30pm when poets Christine Howey and Ray McNiece will be interviewed on the air.
Have you ordered your tickets for the Haiku Death Match? We're looking forward to a rollicking night of poetry, entertainment, and audience interaction.
For a little haiku preview, tune in to Weekend Radio with Robert Conrad on WCLV 104.9 today, Saturday, April 1 at 10pm, when haiku from the Haiku Death Match contestants will be featured
WR 1713
BROADCAST WEEKEND 04/01/17April is Poetry Month, and we observe it with participants in Cleveland’s Haiku Death Match reading their poems, and we hear verse from Ken Nordine, Alastair Reid, Shel Silverstein and Bob and Ray.
...and then on WCLV again Wednesday, April 5 at 2:30pm when poets Christine Howey and Ray McNiece will be interviewed on the air.
- Don't have a radio? Listen live online or by MP3.
Have you ordered your tickets for the Haiku Death Match? We're looking forward to a rollicking night of poetry, entertainment, and audience interaction.
Friday, March 31, 2017
Haiku! Christine Donofrio
The 5th Not-Exactly-Annual Haiku Death Match is only 8 days away! To celebrate the countdown to the haiku contest, over the next two weeks I'll be featuring a haiku (or senryu) from each of the deathmatch contestents.
Here's Christine Donofrio:
Cleveland astounds thee
Stadium mustard taste
My heart lives by the lake
And don't forget that for just a few dollars you can sponsor a haiku warrior team!
The Haiku deathmatch will be April 8 at 7 pm at Dobama Theatre. You can get tickets to the haiku deathmatch at the Heights Arts gallery, 2175 Lee Road, via phone at 216-371-3457, or online:
ORDER HAIKU DEATH MATCH TICKETS
$15 General public | $10 Heights Arts members | $15 at the door
Here's Christine Donofrio:
.jpg "Cleveland Stadium fireworks. Photo by Erik Drost")
Stadium mustard taste
My heart lives by the lake
--Christine Donofrio
And don't forget that for just a few dollars you can sponsor a haiku warrior team!
ORDER HAIKU DEATH MATCH TICKETS
$15 General public | $10 Heights Arts members | $15 at the door
Previous Haiku warriors featured:
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