Thursday, May 31, 2018

The Volume of Our  Incongruity 
by Diane Vogel Ferri

Poetry Chapbook  $14.99

PREORDER SHIPS SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

RESERVE YOUR COPY TODAY

Diane Vogel Ferri taught children with special needs for over thirty years. Her poems can be found in many journals including Plainsongs, Rockford Review, Poet Lore and Rubbertop Review. Diane has essays published by Scene Magazine, Cleveland Christmas Memories, and by Cleveland State University among others. She is the author of a poetry chapbook, Liquid Rubies and a novel, The Desire Path. She is a founding member of Literary Cleveland and a tutor at Seeds of Literacy.

Please mail all orders to the Finishing Line Press or order online at:

or go to www.finishinglinepress.com and type in the name or author.

————————————————————————————————————

Reviews for The Volume of Our Incongruity:
A certain irresistible sincerity marks these poems. They invite us into sacred space, where grace and unapologetic longing reside and rule, where the singular voice we hear is so quiet and prayerful we must lean in to listen. The Volume of Our Incongruity, however, is more than a collection of poems. It’s a narrative, the story of a granddaughter, now recollected as one of eight “graphite markings on [a] basement two-by-four;” a wife, whose “love is a tundra, vast and white;” a mother, a “thirsty woman drinking every last drop of the sea.”   In language that is clear and deceptively simple, Diane Ferri reaches into a life lived deeply and pulls out truth.
–Lou Suarez, author of Ask and Traveler

In The Volume of Our IncongruityDiane Ferri chronicles life-shaping moments by alternately slowing down the kind of speeding landscapes seen from a station wagon window, and zooming in to examine life’s discrepancies up close and in person. These are poems for our times, stirring a compelling swirl where the past intersects with the present, where hope for the future can spring from a single sonogram.
 –Gail Bellamy, author, poet and Cleveland Heights poet laureate, 2009 and 2010

These intimate, powerful poems about family, love, and memory settle on your skin and won’t wash off. Diane Ferri’s voice is every woman’s, grappling with being a wife, mother and individual. In this vividly rendered collection, the specific details of a life become something wondrous.

–Lee Chilcote, author of The Shape of Home

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Hessler Street Fair winners!

image of the cover of the Hessler Street Fair anthology from Writing Knights
Hessler Street Fair Poetry Anthology 2018, from Writing Knights
The Hessler Street Fair poet read on Wednesday night at the Happy Dog, hosted by Master of Ceremonies Azriel Johnson-- an evening of poetry & hot dogs.

The 2018 Hessler Street Fail Poetry Contest winners:
  • First Place: Sy Castells, "Gender Confirmation"
  • Second Place: Ross Martyn Hayes, "The Homonym Garnok"
  • Third Place: Mary A. Turzillo, "Don't Mention You're From Cleveland"
Hessler poems will be performed on the main stage at the Hessler Street Fair on Sunday June 3rd, and broadcast live on WRUW-FM, 91.1 MHz (as well as live over the Internet).
The 2018 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Anthology is available at the Mac's Backs booth at the fair on June 2nd & 3rd, or buy it directly from Mac's Backs.

photo of poet Tam e. Polzer reading
Tam e. Polzer reads her poem "Gotu Kola", as MC Azriel Johnson follows along 
  • If you didn't catch the Hessler reading at Happy Dog, you can see it on video on Youtube at the Writing Knights site.

Friday, May 18, 2018

Celebrating Maj

Maj Ragain, one of Northeastern Ohio's most well-respected, and well loved, poets, died on April 19.

Michael Heaton says of Maj:
Ragain first came to Kent in the summer of 1969. He taught at Kent State University over the past six decades. He worked with a veterans' group through the Wick Poetry Center and Warriors' Journey Home, a healing circle for veterans. 

The Wick Poetry Center at Kent will be celebrating Maj's life and work on the weekend of June 1 to 3.  David Hassler writes:
A Celebration of the Life of Maj Ragain
Join us June 1 to June 3 to celebrate the life and work of the late poet, mentor, teacher, and friend, Maj Ragain. 
Friday, June 1
"HOME TO SARGASSO SEA"
Art Exhibit Opening
Paintings by Jessica Damen & Poems by Maj Ragain
Downtown Gallery, 4-9 pm (Program begins at 7pm)
141 East Main St., Kent, OH

Saturday, June 2
MEMORIAL SERVICE  RECEPTION
Kent United Church of Christ
1pm
1400 E Main St., Kent, OH

Sunday, June 3
COMMUNITY OPEN READING
Venice Cafe, 4pm
Bring a poem by Maj to share
Music by The Numbers Band
163 W Erie St., Kent, OH
Please visit the project website www.hometosargassosea.com:
Home to Sargasso Sea
   In peace and poetry,

Cited...

The poet doesn't invent. He listens. ~Jean Cocteau