Speak of the Devil--

From the Chronicle Telegram:

• Ohio poet laureate Dave Lucas among readers at Lorain's Speak of the Devil, by Carissa Woytach

Valentine's Reading in Sandusky

Saturday Feb. 9th we will feature author Robert Smith and an Open-Mic Valentine's Reading. We have been doing Coffeehouse Readings for about 18 years here in Sandusky, Ohio...sponsored by the Firelands Writing Center and Bottom Dog Press. All are welcome...The writing is celebrated.

Madhouse is coming to Cleveland!

Madhouse, a Michigan-based arts event, is coming to Cleveland at Guide to Kulchur, 5222 Lorain Ave., February 1st @ 7 pm.

Self-described as an artistic spectacle of music, poetry, and mayhem, Madhouse has been a flourishing community series staple in lower Michigan.

The initial Northeast Ohio event features the following performers:

Donora Rihn
Andrew Rihn

Michelle Smolarski

Erika Blakemore

Ray Swaney

Leo Todd Jarret

Barry Graham

John Burroughs



w/ musical guest, Pavlica


Open mic to follow!!!!

• Guide to Kulchur facebook page

Poet Claudia Rankine at Cuyahoga County Public Library

Claudia Rankine will visit the Parma Snow Branch of Cuyahoga County Public Library on January 23 at 7pm.
(2121 Snow Road, Parma, OH  44134)

The event is FREE but registration is required.  Register here.

Claudia Rankine is the author of Citizen: An American Lyric and four previous books, including Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric. A provocative meditation on race, Citizen recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. The book was a finalist for the 2014 National Book Award in Poetry and the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism and has won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry, the NAACP Image Award, L.A. Times Book Prize and PEN Open Book Award.

Rankine is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, the winner of the 2014 Jackson Poetry Prize, and a contributing editor of Poets & Writers. She is also the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry at Yale University.

Rankine will be joined at this event by Ohio Poet Laureate, Dave Lucas. Born and raised in Cleveland, Lucas earned his B.A. (English) at John Carroll University, M.F.A. (Creative Writing) at the University of Virginia, and M.A. and Ph.D. (English Language and Literature) at the University of Michigan. His first book of poems, Weather, received the 2012 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. He has been awarded a Creative Workforce Fellowship from the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture and a 2016 Cleveland Arts Prize. 

Books will be available for purchase and signing courtesy of Mac's Backs - Books on Coventry.

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This event is part of the NEA Big Read and is presented in partnership with The Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities at Case Western Reserve University and The Center for Arts-Inspired Learning.

This program is made possible, in part, by Ohio Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Looking back at Poetry in 2018

Michael Dirda, discussing the Best American Poetry 2018 volume, says that the theme that most characterizes American poetry is "American poetry’s reverence for genuineness, for authenticity":

• How do you define authenticity? A poetry collection explores a modern problem

In the introductory essay, Dana Gioia points out an odd statistic: for years, surveys show that youngest group of adults (ages 18–24) read more poetry than any other segment, and poetry reading is increasing, not decreasing.  He suggests that a huge cultural shift has occurred with literary performance and digital media. Technology has allowed poetry to reconnect with its auditory origins:

"The chief way American poets now reach their audience is through readings, either live or transmitted by radio, television, and internet... Print now coexists with other equally powerful media for poetry."

and Tracy K. Smith, in the New York Times, proclaims "political poetry is hot again".

(but I still hate political poetry*).