52 Cleveland Haiku (24)

Twelve thousand tons of ore
One man fishing from the deck:
That's some fishing boat!

--Geoffrey A. Landis .

Michelle Obama talks poetry!

Michelle Obama talks poetry: "Poetry helps us connect."

Outsider Art, Underground Poetry

Poetry reading and art show!

Lady K, Mark Kuhar and Steven B. Smith will be reading poetry at the Serafino Gallery in Little Italy Thursday, June 23 at 7:30 pm as part of their current art show reception.'

Please join poet/artists Kathy Smith, Mark S. Kuhar, and Steven B. Smith as well as artist Ralph Solonitz for Outsider Art, Underground Poetry, at Serafino Gallery in Little Italy. View strange works of folk, primitive and art brut; political cartoons, and listen to poetry, cosmic love songs and bongo chants. OUTSIDER ART runs from June 18 through June 30th. The opening reception is from 6-10 p.m. on Thursday, June 23. Click here for a preview.

Serafino Gallery
11917 Mayfield Rd. in Little Italy, Cleveland, OH 44106 · 216.721.1025

Visit Serafino's Facebook page here.
Click here for directions.

52 Cleveland Haiku (23)

Forget the Hall of Fame:
Rock and Roll ought to be in

dingy basement clubs.

--Geoffrey A. Landis

Remembering Loren Weiss

Loren Weiss, once Poet Laureate of Cleveland Heights, died this past week. Though I didn't know him well, I have loved his poetry and will miss him much. Here's a clip of him reading at the Literary Cafe in 2007, recorded by Lit proprietor Andy Timithy:

Read his Plain Dealer obituary here.

Dogzplot Summer Reading Tour Stops In Cleveland This July

The evening of Saturday, July 23rd, Barry Graham and eight other writers are converging on the Morgan stage for flash and mojo mania. Please join us as we celebrate the spoken word with drinks, food and friends from near and abroad at the beautiful gallery for the Cleveland literary tour stop.

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Christopher Bowen is a local culinary student and works full-time in food service. His flash fiction has appeared in over a dozen journals and he has organized or participated in readings in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. He was invited and is scheduled to participate in the fall residency and festival, Val-David, Quebec.

Darren C. Demaree is living in Columbus, OH with his wife and daughter. His poems have appeared, or are scheduled to appear in numerous magazines/journals, including the South Carolina Review, Meridian, Grain, Cottonwood, The Tribeca Poetry Review, and Whiskey Island. Recently, he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Freshwater Poetry Journal.

Author of the forthcoming story collection, Fables of the Deconstruction, Damian Dressick’s stories have appeared in nearly fifty literary journals, including failbetter.com, Barcelona Review, Caketrain, Vestal Review, Smokelong Quarterly and Alimentum. He can be found online at www.damiandressick.com.

Devan Goldstein's writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Collagist, The Good Men Project, Bluestem, and elsewhere. He is Managing Editor of Flywheel Magazine.

Barry Graham is the author of two books, The National Virginity Pledge andNothing or Next to Nothing. look for him online at www.dogzplot.blogspot.com

Aubrey Hirsch's work has appeared in Third Coast, SmokeLong Quarterly, Whiskey Island, Hobart, and others. A Cleveland native, she now lives in Colorado Springs where she is at work on a novel with the support of the Daehler Fellowship.

Steven Casimer Kowalski lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

Brian Oliu is originally from New Jersey and currently lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Work appears/is forthcoming in Hotel Amerika, Ninth Letter, and Puerto del Sol. His collection of Tuscaloosa Missed Connections, 'So You Know It's Me', was released in June 2011 by Tiny Hardcore Press.

Pedro Ponce is the author of Homeland: A Panorama in 50 States, just out from Seven Kitchens Press, the story collection Alien Autopsy, and the chapbook Superstitions of Apartment Life. He lives in Canton, NY.

52 Cleveland Haiku (22)

In the warm spring breeze
cottonwood drifts through the air;
fuzz piles on sidewalk.

--Geoffrey A. Landis .

The Buck Stops Here - and reads with Bilgere, Borsenik, Leatherman, Hemery and Mad Anthony

Poet Chansonette Buck is coming all the way from Berkeley, California, this week to read at two big events on the western fringe of Greater Cleveland: Wednesday June 15th during the final (for now) Lix and Kix Poetry Extravaganza at Bela Dubby (13321 Madison Ave.) in Lakewood and Thursday June 16th during PoetryElyria at Scott M Duncan Photography (120 Middle Ave.) in downtown Elyria. She'll share a completely different set of her work at each venue.

Our other featured poet during June's Lix and Kix will be the renowned George Bilgere, author of The White Museum, winner of a 2010 Lantern Award for best poetry collection from The Lit: Cleveland's Literary Center. The evening will include an open mic emceed by Borsenik and Burroughs, as well as a wall-shaking performance by Cincinnati rock band Mad Anthony.

Joining Dr. Buck during June's PoetryElyria will be three more featured authors: Stacie Leatherman, Mike Hemery and Dianne Borsenik, all of whom have exciting new books out. This event will include an open mic emceed by John Burroughs and (while supplies last) free wine.

To read more about our fine featured authors and these exciting happenings, please visit our Facebook event pages:

Lix and Kix featuring George Bilgere, Chansonette Buck & Mad Anthony
PoetryElyria featuring Buck, Borsenik, Hemery and Leatherman

The Big Big Mess in Akron

Nick Sturm writes to say:

I would like to formally introduce you to Akron's new monthly reading series - THE BIG BIG MESS READING SERIES - hosted at Annabell's Bar & Lounge the first Friday of every month (after this month) from 7-9pm. Attached, please find the flier for the first event, this Friday June 10th, featuring readings by Mary Biddinger, Eric Morris, Cari Gornik, Eliese Goldbach, and Chris Smith. Free books will be given away, sponsored by the Akron Series in Poetry, in a continued effort by THE BIG BIG MESS to support the work of small presses.

THE BIG BIG MESS, named after the DEVO song "Big Mess," was born out of the desire to do something awesome for the Northeast Ohio writing community, and to create a space in Akron for consistent, exciting readings where interested people can come together, be together, and be awesome. Every reading will feature a completely different line-up, including NEOMFA students from all four gateways, and a giveaway of free books from a different small press each month. There is no cover charge - everything is free except the drinks! Here is the Facebook event page.

For future information about THE BIG BIG MESS, please "like" our Facebook page.

52 Cleveland Haiku (21)

Above the valley

concrete span arches over

blooming tulip trees

--Geoffrey A. Landis

Poetry Contests with a Reading Fee should be Abolished

Anis Shivani writes Poetry Book Contests Should be Abolished: Why Contests Are the Stupidest Way to Publish First Books.

Yep. They're abusive.

I was particularly disgusted, reading the Poets and Writers interview with four contest administrators, at the point where one of 'em admitted that sometimes they don't award a prize, they just keep the money.