Inaugural Toni Morrison Poetry Contest

From our friends at the Lorain Public Library System:
 

Share your gift of writing by entering our inaugural Toni Morrison Poetry Contest! Open to adults, as well as students in grades 6 to 8 and 9 to 12. All entries must be submitted to lorainpoetry@lpls.info by Dec. 19!

Local poets are welcome to perform their original works during our Open Mic Event on Feb. 1 at the Main Library. Prizes are $75 for 1st place, $50 for 2nd place and $25 for 3rd place and will be awarded at a reception at the Main Library on Toni Morrison Day, Feb. 18. You need not attend the open mic event to be considered for a prize.

Urbanshee / Siaara Freeman featured in Cleveland Magazine

Congratulations, Siaara Freeman! Urbanshee is quite the book.

Read the article by Annie Nickoloff at https://clevelandmagazine.com/entertainment/books/articles/cleveland-s-siaara-freeman-to-release-new-poetry-collection.

Pick up your own copy of Urbanshee at https://buttonpoetry.com/product/urbanshee/.

Applications for Ekphrastacy and the next Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate

From our friends at Heights Arts:


Cleveland Heights Poet Laureateship 

Heights Arts is selecting the 11th Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate – to serve between April 2023 and March 2025. The poet laureateship is the longest-running laureateship in the state of Ohio, and will raise your profile in the community; give you experience writing occasional poems; and increase your awareness of Cleveland Heights communities, organizations and individuals you may not have met before. You will have a deep connection with Heights Arts and will collaborate with artists across genres.  

Serving as Poet Laureate may increase your future funding possibilities. Our outgoing poet laureate, Ray McNiece, was awarded a substantial grant from the Academy of American Poets as a direct result of his role as CH poet laureate. Says McNiece of his laureateship, “Serving as The Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate has provided me with the opportunity not only to refocus on my poetry, but more so on my role as a community poet. Writing is often a solitary art, but the laureateship by its very nature engages my art, particularly through the Ekphrastacy series, which provides me and other poets in the community with an opportunity to work with a wider audience.” 

Learn more and apply to be the next Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate 

 

Ekphrastacy: Artists Talk and Poets Respond

The Ekphrastacy literary program is a series of artist talks + poetry readings held regularly in the Heights Arts gallery, in conjunction with our four, yearly exhibitions. Cleveland-area writers are invited to view the installed artworks and respond with poetry. Five weeks after the exhibition opening, the artists talk about their work and the poets read their poems, often resulting in a surprising dialogue. Participating poets receive an honorarium for their participation.  

Learn more and apply to perform in the 2023 Ekphrastacy: Artists Talk and Poets Respond series

Porcelains and Poetry in South Euclid: Rescheduled for Spring 2023

[UPDATE: due to unforeseen circumstances, this event will be be rescheduled for Spring 2023.]

 

On December 10th at 6:30 p.m., twelve area poets will read brand new ekphrastic work to raise funds for a very good cause. Porcelains & Poetry will be hosted by South Euclid Poet Laureate Doc Janning and One South Euclid at the Museum of American Porcelain Art.

From the press release:

"Enjoy readings by a dozen prominent local poets created in response to art at the American Museum of Porcelain Art with musical interludes by a string quartet from Charles F. Brush High School. Hors d'oeuvres and beverages will be served. Proceeds from the fundraising event will support a One South Euclid program that helps senior residents age in place."

Buy your ticket ($55) at https://www.onesoutheuclid.org/event-details/porcelains-poetry.

Participating poets:
Doc Janning
Raja Belle Freeman
John Burroughs
Ray McNiece
Shelley Chernin
Amy Kesegich
Jeremy Jusek
Cat Russell
Russ Vidrick
Barbara Marie Minney
Mimi Plevin-Foust
Abdul Ghani

Museum of American Porcelain Art
4645 Mayfield Road
South Euclid, Ohio 44121

Himalayan Poet to Visit Cleveland; Ray McNiece Leads Poem for Cleveland Project

From Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate Ray McNiece:

Poet Friends, two events upcoming:

One, this Sunday at the Millard Fillmore on Waterloo, world-traveling Himalayan poet Yuyutsu Sharma will perform with the Tongue in Groove Jam band and you can too, bring a poem of gratitude or gray, or gratitude for gray, the palette of Cleveland from November until May for the open mic. [Side note: Yuyutsu will also be leading a workshop, to be followed by open mic, on Monday at G.A.R. Hall in Peninsula.]

On that note, those of you who would like to participate in the Poem for Cleveland Project (and that includes Northeast Ohio) can come to any free workshops listed below.  This Saturday's workshop at the MLK branch of CPL on Stokes Avenue is being covered by a reporter from the Plain Dealer.  It happens, as do all the workshops, from 10:30 till Noon.

World-Renowned Poet Nikki Giovanni visits Cleveland November 12th

World-Renowned Poet Nikki Giovanni Joins Cleveland Public Library for the Grand Opening of the New Hough Campus Next to League Park, on November 12th.

Connections

 Join us in lovely downtown Sandusky for a Celebration of haiku 

and Barbara Sabol and Larry Smith's new book CONNECTIONS. 

We will all be writing and sharing haiku. Come and share. 

Saturday Nov. 19th...1:30 - 3:00

Kan Zaman by Judith Mansour to be released November 5th

Crisis Chronicles Press is thrilled to announce the imminent publication of Kan Zaman, a memoir in poetry and prose by Judith Mansour. Pre-order now for $15 and receive free shipping. Or meet the author at our book release event on November 5th at Beaumont School in Cleveland Heights.

Mansour, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, walks the minefield of grief and nostalgia in her first full-length collection. Soot-covered porches from the once-booming steel industry of the Mahoning Valley are the backdrop for visceral, playful and devastating memories.

The title, Kan Zaman, is Arabic for "a long time ago" — often used to mean once upon a time or way back when. Apropos for this collection born of losing people Mansour loved and who shaped who she is.

"Judith Mansour’s Kan Zaman is an irresistible evocation of the Lebanese household she grew up in. This magical book is both a love poem to her family and an invitation for all of us to revisit our childhood, that paradise to which we can only return through memory. Mansour’s writing, by turns both sensual and hauntingly lyrical, is as welcoming as a warm kitchen on a winter night."
— George Bilgere

You may also pre-order Kan Zaman from our friends at Mac's Backs Books on Coventry in Cleveland Heights.

Judy Garland is Not a Sunrise

Congratulations to Cleveland writer E.F. Schraeder, whose new chapbook just went live for pre-orders from Finishing Line Press. Inspired by the life and work of Amy Winehouse, Judy Garland is Not a Sunrise offers a close look at the passions and perils of creative life through a feminist lens.

Available here: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/judy-garland-is-not-a-sunrise-by-e-f-schraeder/.

In Judy Garland is Not a Sunrise, E. F. Schraeder coaxes Amy Winehouse’s life from somber shadows into a powerful klieg spotlight, with insightful poems that are both dissection and homage. In “Cameras and Ink,” she notes that Winehouse is …swimming in vinegar, a brine of declension; in “Junk,” she observes that Her noose <is a> a microphone / swinging. Schraeder’s concluding poem in the collection, “Twenty Seven,” nails it succinctly: Don’t worry about much / or over commit, / we tell ourselves: / we have time. / And we do / until we don’t. Whether or not you are familiar with Winehouse and her music, these poems are sure to rock you.

— Dianne Borsenik, Raga for What Comes Next (Stubborn Mule Press, 2019)

Judy Garland is Not a Sunrise is a meditation on fame and the horrors and responsibilities that come along with it, for better or worse. This collection gives an honest look into the life and lifestyle of artists and discusses how fans oftentimes marry suffering to the creation of art, all while commenting on mental health, the body, and how the heart processes pain, overstimulation, and the need to constantly produce and survive. A must-read for poets and artists alike.”
— Stephanie M. Wyotovich, Bram Stoker Award® winner

Lyrical and melancholy, Schraeder's Judy Garland is Not a Sunrise is an unfiltered Norma Jean tribute to songstress Amy Winehouse. A small volume with 'velvet insides', this collection comprises exquisite 'fire-kiss' poems that 'sing from the veins' on ashtray-regret themes of self-destruction and addiction. An unsettling and compelling offering from an exceptional voice in horror poetry."
— Lee Murray, USA Today Bestselling author and double Bram Stoker Award® winner


 

 

Lit Youngstown Fall Literary Festival: October 20th through 22nd

Lit Youngstown's 6th annual Fall Literary Festival will be centered around the theme “The Places That Make Us,” a conversation about writing, publishing, teaching, community outreach, and inclusion.

Supported by Ohio Humanities, the conference aims to sustain and enhance discussion on real and imagined literary places that shape our memory, experience and identity.

This year’s featured presenters are film scholar & screenwriter Laura Beadling, fiction writer Kelly Fordon, filmmaker Karla Murthy, children’s author Candace Fleming & poet Joy Priest.

For more information, to register, and to view the full schedule, click here.

Two Area Poets Pair up in New Book of Tanka and Haiku Poetry

 

two area poets pair up in new book 
of tanka and haiku poetry

CONNECTIONS

Morning Dew: Tanka by Larry Smith
and
core & all: haiku by Barbara Sabol

Order online from Bottom Dog Press 

Congratulations to our new Ohio Poet of the Year, Erica Manto Paulson

On October 15th, the Ohio Poetry Association will serve as the virtual host of this year’s Ohio Poetry Day (OPD) celebration. The afternoon will spotlight the 2022 Ohio Poet of the Year, Erica Manto Paulson, for her winning book, Hunger (Finishing Line Press, 2021). We also are inviting OPD contest winners to take part and read their winning poems. To that end, OPA will host a virtual reading using Zoom and broadcast live on the OPA Facebook page.

This event is free and open to the public, but Zoom space is limited. Viewers can also tune into the event on Facebook. Click here to register.

OPD contest winners are invited to share their winning poems during the event. To reserve a spot in the reading, winners should contact the OPA team via email at team@ohiopoetryassn.org.

Registration via Eventbrite on the OPA website: https://www.ohiopoetryassn.org/events#ahejSK.

Registration closes October 14, 2022.

 

 

 

 

Timothy Russell

 Here is a poem and tribute to Ohio 

Working-Class poet Timothy Russell.

Rustbelt Girl Blog

(two clicks to get there, but worth it.)

This week in Kent, Ohio

 From our friends at the Wick Poetry Center:

Join Us This Week for Events and Workshops

We are excited to share this week's events and workshops. Come and celebrate design and poetry with us at the Akron Art Museum this Thursday at 6 pm. A Mapping Akron workshop will follow at 7 pm. On Friday, the Wick students and interns will facilitate our weekly workshop, Wick Weekly, from 1-2 pm in the May Prentice House. Find us on Friday from 3-7 pm at the Black Squirrel Festival at Risman Plaza with fun games and Wick swag. On Saturday, we will host our Market Stanzas project at the Haymaker Farmer's Market. More details are below and on our webpage:

Wick Events and Workshops 2022/23

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the "Celebrating Our Own & Open Mic" event has been rescheduled to Wednesday, September 28!  CELEBRATING OUR OWN & OPEN MIC NEW DATE, SAME LOCATION:  WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 28, 7 P.M. | WICK POETRY CORNER IN THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, 2ND FLOOR   This event will spotlight the 2022 Wick Poetry Center scholarship winners. Each winner will have the opportunity to share their work. An open mic, in which anyone is welcome to read, will follow. Come celebrate poetry with us by sharing your poems and discovering the new voices around you.

More information about this week's event: MARKET STANZAS Saturdays, September 3, 17, 24, and October 22 | from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. | Haymaker Farmers’ Market Market Stanzas is a community arts project created by the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University in partnership with Haymaker Farmers’ Market in celebration of their 30th anniversary. Community members can share memories about the market, its vendors and volunteers, and the important way it serves the Kent community to the online gallery or by visiting the Traveling Stanzas Poetry Makerspace at the market. Each visitor's contribution will add to a growing community poem: haymaker.marketstanzas.com.   Market Stanzas is funded by generous grants from the Kent Rotary Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council.   TRAVELING STANZAS POETRY & DESIGN TALK  Thursday, September 15, 6:00 p.m. | Akron Art Museum (1 S High St, Akron) For 13 years, the Traveling Stanzas project with Wick Poetry Center has translated the creative expression of poets in our community into stunning works of visual art. New posters from this project will be on display starting 9/2. Join us for a conversation between the young poets and the poster designers.   MAPPING AKRON - EXPRESSIVE WRITING WORKSHOP Thursday, September 15, 7:00 p.m. | Akron Art Museum (1 S High St, Akron) Following the presentation about Traveling Stanzas (see above), join Teaching Artists from the Wick Poetry Center for a writing and placemaking workshop from its new initiative “Mapping Akron.” In a yearlong series of creative writing and placemaking workshops with everyday Akronites, the Wick Poetry Center will build an interactive, digital map of Akron, which will explore individuals’ sense of place and home and contribute to the vital artistic ecosystem of the city.   EVERY FRIDAY: WICK WEEKLY POETRY WRITING WORKSHOPS Every Friday, 1:00 p.m. | Wick Poetry Center (in May Prentice House) Starting September 2nd Join the Wick Poetry Center student workers and interns for a free workshop each week. Wick Weekly invites Kent State students and community members to engage in informal writing prompts and activities. No prior writing experience is required.  Wick Weekly follows the Kent State University Academic Calendar, and will not take place on days when the University is closed. No registration is necessary.

We hope to see you at the events. Wick Poetry Center

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2022 Cleveland Book Week Continues

 

Thoreau's Journal

 Thoreau's Journal - August 29, 1859

It is so cool a morning that for the first time I move into the entry to sit in the sun. But in this cooler weather I feel as if the fruit of my summer were hardening and maturing a little, acquiring color and flavor like the corn and other fruits in the field. When the very earliest ripe grapes begin to be scented in the cool nights, then, too, the first cooler airs of autumn begin to waft my sweetness on the desert airs of summer. Now, too, poets nib their pens afresh. I scent their first-fruits in the cool evening air of the year. By the coolness the experience of the summer is condensed and matured, whether our fruits be pumpkins or grapes. Man, too, ripens with the grapes and apples.

Poetry Version

Thoreau's Journal - August 29, 1859

 

It is so cool a morning that

for the first time I move into

the entry to sit in the sun. But

in this cooler weather I feel

as if the fruit of my summer were

hardening and maturing a little,

acquiring color and flavor like the

corn and other fruits in the field.

When the very earliest ripe grapes

begin to be scented in the cool nights,

then, too, the first cooler airs of autumn

begin to waft my sweetness on the

desert airs of summer. Now, too, poets

nib their pens afresh. I scent their

first-fruits in the cool evening air of the year.

By the coolness the experience of the summer

is condensed and matured, whether our fruits

be pumpkins or grapes. Man, too,

ripens with the grapes and apples.

Poetry Rising

Life is full of such ironies...Here's one of mine.

Groundhog

We are reading "The Groundhog,"
when Leroy calls from the
back of the room:
"Them make good eatin,'"
killing my joke about road kill.
I had hit one an hour ago
on West Lake Road, and the mess
is still on my mind and shoes.
Connie's face tells me so as does
the sour smell of dead flesh.
"Ever get one from the road?"
she dares to ask. He turns to me.
"Sure have, if it's fresh," he grins.
"Only way to describe its taste
is to eat it fresh," he says, sending
a shutter up the rows.
"Meat's not as dark as racoon," he adds
for no one's sake. As for me,
class is over and I say so
and begin taking off my shoes,
when he turns at the door,
"Lotsa fat, you know, but never greasy."
I turn my choke into a nod, as he
says again, "Them make good eatin.'"

(Best line of poetry this year.)

Larry

Ray McNiece Awarded Fellowship by Academy of American Poets

Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate Ray McNiece
[photo by Herb Ascherman]

The Academy of American Poets announced that it is awarding a combined total of $1.1 million to its 2022 Poet Laureate Fellows. These 22 individuals, each of whom will receive $50,000, have been named poets laureate of states, cities, and counties, and have made positive contributions to their communities in these roles and beyond. Funds will support their respective public poetry programs in the year ahead as presented in their proposals to the Academy. In addition, the Academy will provide a total of $72,200 to eight local 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations that have agreed to support the Fellows’ proposed projects.

 

Ray McNiece, Poet Laureate Fellow, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 

Ray McNiece is the author of several collections, including Breath Burns Away (Red Giant Press, 2019). The recipient of the Cleveland Arts Prize Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021, he works for both the Ohio Arts Council Arts in Education Residency Artist program and the Center for Arts Inspired Learning of Northeast Ohio. In collaboration with Heights Arts, McNiece will organize the “Poem for Cleveland Project” and create a mosaic of Cleveland voices through intergenerational and multicultural poetry workshops. These will be monthly community-based workshops established with the help of partner organizations that pair youth poets with elders to tell the story of Cleveland. The workshops will feature prompts of place created by youth poets and serve as a template to be shared virtually by the Center for the Book to help other Ohio communities create similar programs. The project will serve as a bridge between cultures, generations, and neighborhoods. It will conclude with an intergenerational reading and celebration at Cleveland Public Library’s main branch, sponsored by the Center for the Book and Heights Arts. An anthology of the work, Poem for Cleveland, will be published by Red Giant Press.

The 2022 Poet Laureate Fellows and the communities they serve are Emanuelee Outspoken Bean (Houston, TX), Cyrus Cassells (Texas), Andru Defeye (Sacramento, CA), Ashanti Files (Urbana, IL), B. K. Fischer (Westchester County, NY), Ashley M. Jones (Alabama), Holly Karapetkova (Arlington, VA), J. Drew Lanham (Edgefield, SC), Julia B. Levine (Davis, CA), Matt Mason (Nebraska), Airea D. Matthews (Philadelphia, PA), Ray McNiece (Cleveland Heights, OH), Huascar Medina (Kansas), KaNikki Jakarta (Alexandria, VA), Gailmarie Pahmeier (Nevada), Catherine Pierce (Mississippi), Rena Priest (Washington), Lynne Thompson (Los Angeles, CA), Emma Trelles (Santa Barbara, CA), Gwen Nell Westerman (Minnesota), Crystal Wilkinson (Kentucky), and Kealoha Wong (Hawaiʻi).