Barbara Sabol and Erica Reid named 2024 Ohio Poets of the Year

The Ohio Poetry Day Association has selected Barbara Sabol and Erica Reid as our 2024 Ohio Poets of the Year. Congratulations to these two amazing writers!

Barbara Sabol was selected for her book of poems, WATERMARK: Poems of the Great Johnstown Flood of 1889 (Alternating Current Press, 2023). The poems in WATERMARK follow the path of the “great flood,” from the time prior to the perfect storm of events resulting in the disaster to the devastating aftermath and the reclamation of a bustling industrial city. The book is a poetic testimony of the great flood story through voices of the unidentified victims; their circumstances and lives imagined from morgue entries. The narrative also paints the backdrop of recovery and renewal, in the voices of survivors, telegraphers, aid workers, and historical figures such as Clara Barton. Watermark is a lyric narrative of this country’s largest and most dramatic flood of the 19th century, told from the perspective of those whose lives it claimed and those who lived to tell the tale. 

For more about the book, visit: https://altcurrentpress.com/2023/10/11/watermark/. 

Sabol is the author of six poetry collections, including WATERMARK. Her book, Imagine a Town, won the 2019 poetry manuscript contest by Sheila-Na-Gig Editions. She went on to become the associate editor of the journal, Sheila-Na-Gig online and edited the anthology, Sharing This Delicate Bread, featuring selected poems from the journal. Barbara co-authored a book of Japanese short-form poems with Larry Smith (Bottom Dog Press, 2023.) Her awards include an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council, and she was named the Arts Alive 2024 Literary Artist. Barbara’s work has been nominated for the Pushcart, Best of the Net, and her haibun was short-listed for a Touchstone award. She conducts poetry workshops through Literary Cleveland and the Cuyahoga Falls Library. Barbara lives in Akron, Ohio with her bird artist husband and wonder dog.

Erica Reid was selected for her book of poems, Ghost Man on Second (2024, Autumn House Press), which traces a daughter’s search for her place in the world after estrangement from her parents. Reid writes, “It’s hard to feel at home unless I’m aching.” Growing from this sense of isolation, Reid’s stories create new homes in nature, in mythology, and in poetic forms—including sestinas, sonnets, and golden shovels—containers that create and hold new realizations and vantage points. Reid stands up to members of her family, asking for healing amid dissolving bonds. These poems move through emotional registers, embodying nostalgia, hurt, and hope. Throughout Ghost Man on Second, the poems portray Reid’s active grappling with home and confrontation with the ghosts she finds there. 

For more about the book, visit https://www.autumnhouse.org/books/ghost-man-on-second/.

Erica Reid, M.F.A., is an award-winning writer now based in Colorado. Her debut collection Ghost Man on Second won the 2023 Donald Justice Poetry Prize and was published by Autumn House Press in 2024. Erica’s poems appear in Rattle, Cherry Tree, Colorado Review, and more. Learn more at ericareidpoet.com.

 

 

 

 

As Ohio Poets of the Year, Sabol and Reid join the likes of Mary Oliver, David Baker, Kari Gunter-Seymour, and Maggie Smith.

This year's Ohio Poetry Day celebration will occur on October 18–19 in Springfield, Ohio.

 

OHIO POETRY DAY AGENDA

Friday, October 18, 7–9 PM: Meet and greet, overnight poetry contest prompt, et cetera.

Saturday, October 19, 10 AM–4 PM: Includes a morning workshop, open mic featuring Ohio Poetry Day contest winners, reading by Honorable Mention Neil Carpathios, and keynote reading by Ohio Poet of the Year Barbara Sabol. Registration opens at 9 a.m.

Where:   Christ Church Springfield,
                  409 E. High Street
                  Springfield, OH 45505

Previous Ohio Poets of the Year

1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994	Hallie Cramer Muriel de Chambrun Virginia Moran Evans Cecil Hale Hartzell Celia Dimmette Novella Humphrey Davis Daisy Lee Donaldson Mary Oliver James Magner, Jr. James C. Kilgore no award given Charlotte Mann Richard Hague Michael J. Rosen J. A. Totts Timothy Russell Amy Jo Schoonover Robert Wallace Bonnie Jacobson David Baker Debra Allbery Grace Butcher Frankie Paino David Citino Tom Andrews Michael J. Bugeja	A Sprig of Bittersweet Sudden Soring To Seek the Sun Song on the Anvil Ocean Carry Us Far There Was This Place Surface Fragments Twelve Moons Till No Light Leaps African Violet     --- Grape Pitcher Ripening A Drink at the Mirage Outside the Dream The Possibility of Turning to Salt New & Used Poems The Common Summer Stopping for Time Sweet Home, Saturday Night Walking Distance Child, House, World The Rapture of Matter The Discipline The Hemophiliac's Motorcycle After Oz
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020   2021 2022 2023	Alberta Turner Lou Suarez William Matthews James Cummins Susan Grimm Miriam Vermilya Myrna Stone Pauletta Hansel Deanna Packard Elton Glaser Cathryn Essinger Herbert W. Martin David Hassler Martha Collins William Heyen Stephen Haven Terry Hermsen Will Wells George Looney Linda Ann Schofield Lianne Spidel Dzvinia Orlowsky David Lee Garrison Jeff Gundy Maggie Smith Kathy Fagan Susan Glassmeyer Laura Grace Weldon Kari Gunter-Seymour Quartez Harris Erica Manto Paulson Rikki Santer	Beginning With And Losses of Moment Time & Money Portrait in a Spoon Almost Home Heartwood The Art of Loss Divining ln Dreams We Kiss Ourselves Goodbye Pelican Talks My Dog Does Not Read Plato Escape to the Promised Land Red Kimono, Yellow Barn Blue Front The Confessions of Doc Williams Dust and Bread The River's Daughter Unsettled Accounts Open Between Us Psalms of the Hood What to Tell Joseme Silvertone Playing Bach in the D.C. Metro Somewhere Near Defiance The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison Sycamore Invisible Fish Blackbird A Place So Deep Inside America It Can't Be Seen We Made It to School Alive Hunger Resurrection Letter: Leonora, Her Tarot, and Me

 

Congrats to De’John Hardges!

Congrats to Cleveland's De’John Hardges!

 De’John Hardges, 16, was one of five teen poets selected by a White House committee to the 2015 class of the National Student Poets Program.

left: De’John Hardges; right: Michelle Obama.  First Lady Michelle Obama hosts a poetry reading in honor of the 2015 National Student Poets in the Blue Room of the White House, October 8, 2015. (Photo by Patrick G. Ryan for the National Student Poets Program.)

Check out the news:

• http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/white-house-committee-names-five-teen-poets-for-prestigious-national-student-poets-program-300157066.html
• http://www.wkyc.com/story/news/local/cleveland/2015/10/09/cleveland-teen-receives-prestigious-poetry-honor/73663246 
• http://wavy.com/ap/first-lady-honors-new-class-of-student-poets-for-bravery 
• https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/10/08/remarks-first-lady-national-student-poets-ceremony

Or watch him on YouTube


The National Student Poets Program selects five young writers who show great promise, and invests in the talent of these students through mentorships and workshops on writing and leadership. Each poet is tasked to serve as a literary ambassador with the mission to engage diverse audiences of all ages in the art of poetry by sharing their work, attending events, hosting workshops and leading service projects within their communities. The National Student Poets will next travel to New York City to attend the renowned Poets Forum, presented by the Academy of American Poets.

Congrats to Mary Weems

Congratulations to Cleveland Heights poet Mary Weems for winning the $10,000 2015 Cleveland Arts Prize for Emerging Artist (literature).

The prize will be awarded at the 55th Annual Awards event on Thursday, at the Cleveland Museum of Art, 6:30 to 8pm, with a VIP party before, and an afterparty afterwards from 8-9.

• Ticket info.

Dr. Mary Weems was the first African American Poet Laureate of Cleveland Heights, and has taught at Cleveland State, John Carroll University and Ohio University. Her play Purses was performed at Karamu House, and she’s currently on a national tour performing her one-woman show, Black Notes, in support of her latest book, Blackeyed: Plays and Monologues. She is writing a new play, Gunfight, responding to random gun violence.And she is one of the original members of clevelandpoetics.
 

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• Scene article
• Cleveland.com article
• Interview at examiner.com
• maryeweems.org

Cleveland Heights poet laureate Kathleen Cerveny is the co-winner of...

Cleveland Heights poet laureate Kathleen Cerveny is the co-winner of the Robert P. Bergman award of this years' Cleveland Art's Prize. 

Read her profile in the Plain Dealer this week.

Whoa Three Weeks of Poetry!

i saw this in the margin of blogspot...clicked on the link. pretty wild.

BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- A middle-aged primary school teacher reciting a 1,300-year-old poem could become China's answer to an American Idol-type superstar thanks to on-line voting in a government-sponsored competition.

The 40-year-old from the eastern Anhui Province, Fang Baojiu, was leading the field of 179 performers one week into the three-week poetry recital contest with more than 38,060 votes as of Friday evening.

All the contestants have submitted videos of their recitals to the Ministry of Education, which has organized the competition and posted the performances on the official website, http://songdu.cuconline.cn/.

Since the videos were posted on Nov. 7, the website has attracted an average of 19,933 votes a day and with the daily record of 54,306, including 676 votes from Hong Kong.

"As a Chinese language teacher, I always lead the recital in my class. Maybe that's why I began falling in love with the art of poetry recital," says Fang, in his brief introduction on his video.
He can be seen sitting beside a scenic waterfall near his home at Huangshan while introducing himself. His performance is accompanied by traditional music and footage to match his recital of "Moon-lit River on a Spring Night" written by Zhang Ruoxu who lived circa 660 to 720AD.
Wang Dengfeng, the ministry official in charge of the contest, said the level of public response had been a surprise.

"It was out of my expectation that the on-line voting would draw such attention," Wang said. "We thought young people might have lost interest in classical Chinese literature."
On the website and forums of many colleges and schools, young people had debated the performances and posted supportive messages for their favorites.
"The contestants have become stars," Wang said.

So popular has the contest been that Internet technology firms approached the ministry to host the on-line voting, but the ministry wants to keep the contest non-profit, said Wang.
"To guarantee fair play, we try our best to supervise the voting and prevent any manipulation," he said.

The annual nationwide contest began last year and is intended to raise awareness of traditional literature. The on-line vote, the first of its kind in China, will last till Nov. 30 as part of the preliminary contest. The result of this stage is to be decided by both on-line voting and a panel of judges. The contestants were divided into five groups: students; teachers; students of Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas Chinese; foreign students and non-students. Ten of each group will enter the final and six of each are supposed to win the prizes.

The ministry said they have not decided what the prizes would be but an award is to be granted.
"It is a great pleasure to see more and more young people find an interest in traditional Chinese culture," Wang said.
Editor: Jiang Yuxia

Holy F*** Girl

That was my IM to Patricia Smith - a dear old friend who just happens to be nominated for this year's National Book Award in poetry for her collection Blood Dazzler.

Patricia, four time National Poetry Slam champ, proves that just because you don't read in a monotone and believe an audience at a reading deserves a performance it doesn't mean your work can't stand up on page.

Unlike others who earned success via early participation in Slam, Patricia never turned her back on the genre by bad mouthing the scene or it’s participants as low brow. She has continued her support of the up and coming and it is rumored she is looking to compete again soon.

Congrats to strong and talented woman.

Cat Valente Wins Rhysling

A quick heads up. On Saturday, at ReaderCon in Boston, MA, local author Catherynne M. Valente won the 2008 Rhysling Award for her poem "The Seven Devils of Central California"

From the SFPA site:

The nominees for each year's Rhysling Awards are selected by the membership of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. Each member is allowed to nominate one work in each of the two categories: "Best Long Poem" (50+ lines) and "Best Short Poem" (0-49 lines). All nominated works must have been published during the calendar year for which the present awards are being given. The Rhysling Awards are put to a final vote by the membership of the SFPA using reprints of all the nominated works presented in this voting tool called The Rhysling Anthology. The anthology allows the membership to easily review and consider all nominated works without the necessity of obtaining the diverse number of publications in which the nominated works first appeared. The Rhysling Anthology is also made available to anyone with an interest in this unique compilation of verse from some of the finest poets working in the field of SF/F/Horror poetry. The winning works are regularly reprinted in the Nebula Awards Anthology from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc., and are considered in the SF/F/H/Spec. field to be the equivalent in poetry of the awards given for "prose" work--achievement awards given to poets by the writing peers of their own field of literature.

For more information about Cat and her work, visit her site:
http://www.catherynnemvalente.com/