2015 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Contest 5/13 at the Ensemble Theatre

The 2015 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Anthology will be released Wednesday 13 May 2015, 7 p.m., at [PLEASE NOTE NEW LOCATION] the Ensemble Theatre, 2843 Washington Blvd. (in the old Coventry School building, a just a few minutes walk from Mac's Backs) in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Book contributors are invited to read their selected poems that night. Immediately after the reading, a panel of judges will select three winners from among the readers.  Those winners will receive modest cash prizes ($100, 50 and 25) and be expected to come read their poems Sunday 17 May at 1:45 pm at the Hessler Street Fair, broadcast live on WJCU.

We also encourage you to check out the annual Hessler Poetry Jam hosted by Ray McNiece and his Tongue-in-Groove band, from 2 to 5 p.m. on May 16th at the Barking Spider.  Select poets including the Hessler poetry contest winners will be invited to share their poems accompanied by the band.

Thank you to everyone who submitted, and congratulations to the following poets whose work was selected for inclusion in the anthology!

Alexis-Rueal — “Lard”
Michael J. Arcangelini — “Telling My Father about Paradise”
Dana Aritonovich — “I Realize It’s Over”
Thandiwe Augustin-Glave — “My Heart”
Stephen M. Benefit — “You & Yours”
Cyndi Birkmeier — “Mom with Love”
Kim Boccia — “The Perfect Shade of Red”
Rose Mary Boehm — “Heimweh is more than a flesh wound”
Dianne Borsenik — “Flower Power”
Jeffrey Bowen — “for the godfather daniel thompson (1935-2004)"
Steve Brightman — “The Full of Eternity”
Christina M. Brooks — “Black River Falls”
Patricia Brodsky — “Almost Home”
Skylark Bruce — “Inside Pressure”
Chad Burrall — “Cold Memories”
Michael Ceraolo — “Mobservation #13”
Kathleen Cerveny — “Rosetta Stone”
Shelley Chernin — “How to Choose Sides in a Circular Argument”
Charles Cicirella — “Resurgence”
Caitlin Cogar — “Blowing Away”
Roger Craik —“Lake Erie Midges”
Subhankar Das — “She Hated Dogs”
Natalie Dickerson ­— “A Gift of Luck in the New Year”
Christine Donofrio — “Looking in the Mirror”
John Dorsey — “Steve Goldberg Death Poem”
Sean Thomas Dougherty — “Surgery”
Robin Wyatt Dunn — “Waiting”
Poetessa Leixyl Kaye Emmerson — “Diorama: The Persistence of Dreams”
Michael Fiala — “For Tamir”
Giselle Fleming — “The Night They Found You”
Diane Vogel Ferri — “Cleveland”
Ethan Fittro — “The Rose That Grew from Concrete”
Luba Gawur — “Kali”
Ken Gradomski — “Dream Driving”
Dana Grant — “Room”
Susan Grimm — “Questions for the Moon or the Moon Like a Shut White Eye”
Zachary Scott Hamilton — “Years in a Seahorse”
Austin Heath — “Yoshimitsu’s Teeth”
Charles Hice — “Ici”
Veronica Hopkins — “1140 West 4th”
Christine Howey — “The Killer Turkey of Malabar Farm”
Preston & Paul Hrisko — “Ode to the Moustache”
Clarissa Jakobsons — “The Morning Wind Whispers”
Azriel Johnson — “Sentinels”
Krysia Jopek — “The City of Z”
Jeremy Jusek — “The Garrettsville Boardwalk”
Janne Karlsson — “Rock Bottom” / “Grim Reaper”
Diane Kendig — “Taking Daniel Thompson into Maximum Security”
Kim, theBwordpoet — “Left”
Ian Koenig — “Temptation”
Leonard Kress — “Jazz Chops”
Tom Kryss — “Cleveland Extension”
Craig Kurtz — “Informer’s Catechism”
Lori Ann Kusterbeck — “Simple Ways”
Geoffrey A. Landis — “Shout”
Jim Lang — “Throat”
Jessica D. Lewis — “My Wrists as an Exit”
Lennart Lundh — “Elegy”
Caitlyn Lux — “The Cantaloupe”
Susan Mallarnee — “spring joggers”
Marc Mannheimer — “The Same Chord”
J.W. Mark — “Expiring”
Molly McCann — “Summer Berry”
Bob McNeil — “A Versified Voyage”
Ray McNiece — “The Sun’s Life Insurance”
Lila McRainey — “Silver Lining”
Philip Metres — “Compline”
Marisa Moks-Unger — “Lanterns over Lido”
Patrick O’Keeffe — “On the Back Page”
Mary O’Malley — “I Sit in Contemplation of Stones”
Ashley Pacholewski — “Ruby Slippers and Kansas”
Renee Pendleton — “The Strength of Weaving”
Tanya Pilumeli — "Ritual"
David S. Pointer – “The Lyrics Really Meant”
Sally Queen — “No One Can Hear Me”
Ben Rader — “Zombieku”
Valentina Ranaldi-Adams — “Irises”
Georgia Reash — “Love Beyond”
Poetess REDD — “Super Glue”
Elizabeth Rees — “Comfortably Numb”
rjs — “we won.”
Amy Rosenbluth — “The Unraveling”
Elizabeth Rudibaugh — “The Soft Wind Blows By”
S. Renay Sanders — “Easter Shoes”
Heather Ann Schmidt —“The Star”
Erika Schoeps — “Shame”
Dennis Shanaberg — “Daylight Returns”
Kevin Frederick Smith — “Error”
Larry Smith — “Two Places at Once”
Steven B. Smith — “Daylight Savings Time”
Vladimir Swirynsky — “Brief History about Nothing in Particular”
Brian Taylor — “Silent Night, 1914”
Joseph Testa — “Why All Alone?”
Steve Thomas — “Heaven”
Jonathan Thorn — “Drifting Light”
Kerry Trautman — “Borrowing Your Shower”
Nick Traenkner — “Midnight. West Park Cleveland. April 16.”
Mary A. Turzillo — “Sonnet 65,000,000 BC”
D.R. Wagner — “Gasping for Breath”
Mary Weems — “Blue Heron Sonnet”
Batya Weinbaum — After the Fight”
Laura Grace Weldon — “Earthbound”
Eva Xanthopoulos —“You Undid My Spiral Galaxy & I’m Still Dizzy”
Shkehlaht Yisrael — “Samot”

Peace, love and poetry,
John Burroughs, editor
Crisis Chronicles Press