Thrive on, Doc Janning!

A nice feature on our friend (and Cuyahoga County Poet Laureate) Doc Janning appears in the Winter 2024/25 issue of Thrive: South Euclid Magazine.

 

Find Doc online at facebook.com/drmikej1008. His book Before Today ∞ Beyond Tomorrow [2023, Venetian Spider Press] is available from Mac's Backs and other great booksellers.

July 13th: Jeremy Jusek, Dianne Borsenik & Alissa Sammarco in South Euclid

See poets Dianne Borsenik, Jeremy Jusek and Alissa Sammarco on Saturday the 13th, 2 p.m. at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

Register at https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/10323147. 

About the authors:

Dianne Borsenik is active in the northern and mid-Ohio poetry communities. Recent work has appeared in I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing: Ohio’s Appalachian Voices, Songs of Wild Ohio , and Poem for Cleveland. Raga for What Comes Next, a full-length collection of Borsenik’s poems, was studied as part of the Modern & Contemporary American Poetry course at Muskingum University. Flight of Honey, another full-length collection, was published in May, 2023. Actor Jonathan Frid used three of her poems in his one-man tour Genesis of Evil, Speak of the Devil (Lorain, Ohio) named a cocktail after her, and Lit Youngstown printed her poem “Disco” on their t-shirts, all of which makes her feel like a rock star. Borsenik lives in Elyria, Ohio. Find her on Facebook and at www.dianneborsenik.com.

Once when I was little and very frightened, I was handed a jar of honey and a spoon. I closed my eyes and tasted beams of sun. Dianne Borsenik’s Flight of Honey reveals the bitter sweetness we discover in dark moments and closes its eyes to taste the moments of love we return to comfort in. There’s a new discovery in each taste from this collection. From the stark “Up the Mountain” through the inquisitive romp of the title poem to the introspection of “Knotted Together,” Borsenik sets us on a beeline path through her gracious mind with all of the wry humor and thoughtfulness we expect from this poetic trailblazer. In life, “blood doesn’t always call to blood” but this collection, like honey, beads warm amber and asks you simply to slow and savor.
—Jonie McIntire, Lucas County Poet Laureate, author of Semidomesticated (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2022), winner of Red Flag Poetry’s 2020 Chapbook Contest

 

Jeremy Jusek is the poet laureate of Parma, Ohio. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Arcadia University and chemistry/theatre degrees from Marietta College. He has authored more than a half-dozen plays and three poetry collections: We Grow Tomatoes in Tiny Towns, The Less-Traveled Street, and The Details Will Be Gone Soon. He hosts the Ohio Poetry Association's podcast Poetry Spotlight, runs the West Side Poetry Workshop, teaches through Literary Cleveland, and founded the Flamingo Writers’ Guild. To learn more, please visit www.jeremyjusek.com.

The Details Will Be Gone Soon is a close investigation of the primordial underpinnings behind Alzheimer’s disease and the emotional wreckage left in its wake. This poetry collection follows the speaker and his grandmother, Nana, and the various memories shared between the two. At times, the collection seeks to illustrate the loose word associations, frustrations, and existential cloud cover that darkens dementia’s horizons. Other poems steer toward youth and hope, extolling love, lessons learned, and shared experiences. This dichotomy allows the collection to successfully walk that critical line that families of Alzheimer’s patients often experience: one that straddles between the unfairly diminished, barely-present caricature versus the vibrant, vigor-filled past-selves that close friends and family spent a lifetime loving.

 

Alissa Sammarco uses cinematic imagery to freeze those moments in time and evoke the feeling of revisiting them.  She examines the common in life and relationships to find the extraordinary. Her work has appeared in Sheila-Na-Gig, Black Moon Magazine, Change Seven, Quiet Diamonds, The Main Street Rag, Stone Canoe, VIA: Voices in Italian Americana, Rat’s Ass Review, the 2021 and 2022 Lexington Poetry Month Anthologies, and elsewhere. She is the author of two chapbooks, Beyond the Dawn and I See Them Now.  Alissa lives and practices law in Cincinnati, Ohio. www.AlissaSammarco.com.

Moon Landing Day navigates the trajectories of relationships blasted off course by miscalculations, unmet expectations, abuse, and addiction.  In cinematic imagery, these poems reveal the difficult truths of a young woman, the harm that is passed from generation to generation, and the painful journey of acceptance to forgiveness.  From the total loss of control to the emergent spark of self-awareness, this young woman grapples to break the pattern.  She unravels her life and knits it back together in these poems.  They will hold you in their grip and bring you in for a safe landing.

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/.

Spoken Word Every Last Friday in Akron

Michael DeBenedictis has been hosting a poetry series the last Friday of every month at Nervous Dog Coffee Bar, 1530 W. Market Street in Akron, Ohio. The show often features music in addition to spoken word.

This month's installment (September 28th from 6 to 9 p.m.) features several Cleveland poets including Ray McNiece, Kisha Nicole Foster and John Burroughs.

Smith and Burroughs July 7th at Visible Voice Books in Tremont

Steven B. Smith is the author of Where Never Was Already Is [2018, Crisis Chronicles Press]. John Burroughs is the author of Loss and Foundering [2018, NightBallet Press]. They will read from their new books and more. An open mic will follow, for anyone else who wishes to share. For more info, visit www.visiblevoicebooks.com.

National Poetry Month coming up at the Lakewood Public Library

Lakewood Public Library will present the following 2018 National Poetry Month programs at their Main Library, located at 15425 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood Ohio, 44107.

Poetry Workshops

Tuesdays: April 3, April 10, April 17, April 24 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Multipurpose Room

Writing poetry is about the journey, not the destination. Part of that journey is seeing what you’ll discover, surprising yourself and enjoying the bumps in the road. Leanne Hoppe will be your poet tour guide on this adventure—all abilities and experience levels are welcome. Hoppe, who teaches at Lorain County Community College, received her master’s degree in creative writing from Boston University, and her work appears or is forthcoming in Bayou Magazine, Gravel and Driftwood Press. Her translations of the Italian poet Michela Zanarella were published in 2017 by Bordighera Press. More details.

Coast Line: April Reading

Wednesday, April 4 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium 

Coast Line: Poetry Reading Series is Lakewood Public Library's showcase of our community's poetic talent. Readings by Robert Miltner, D.L. Ware and Catherine Wing. More details.

Documentary: Louder than a Bomb

Tuesday, April 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

Every year, students across Chicago compete in the largest youth poetry slam in the world. From junior high to college age, this event showcases voices from all walks of life in their most honest form. The tournament features an individual poem from each team member and then a group piece performed by four students. Follow the teams and individuals as they prepare and perform original pieces, and tell their stories drawn from experience and hardship. Their poems reveal perspectives to the audience and each other that might otherwise never be heard. This annual event allows young people from all over Chicago to share themselves through spoken art. More details.

Meet the Author: Clouds Pile Up in the North: New & Selected Poems by Major 'Maj' Ragain 

Thursday, April 12 at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

Maj Ragain is the author of seven chapbooks of poetry and five book-length collections, all of which contribute to Clouds Pile Up in the North: New & Selected Poems. Lisa Coffman, author of Less Obvious Gods says, “These poems hold so lightly what can’t be held—old queen asleep in her milkweed chamber, the full Hunter’s moon, Secondhand Rose and February dusk, the dragon’s egg nestled against the breastbone, the lost silver earring among the flowers. You will find in this book thirst and burning air, songs in the key of High Lonesome, truths maybe we were afraid to want, and a top-down fast-ride in the convertible of Delight. Friend, Fellow Traveler, if you wished to know whether there was a place set for you at the banquet, let me point you toward Maj Ragain’s poems. They are sustenance. They are sweet mortal joy.” Ragain has served for more than thirty years as host to open poetry readings, currently at Last Exit Books. Books will be available for sale and signing at this event.

WordStage: d.a. levy

Sunday, April 15 at 2:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

In 1960s Cleveland, poets haunted coffee shops, printed zines with mimeographs and frequently ran into trouble with the law. There were many talented yet troubled writers in Cleveland, but none more infamous than d.a. levy. Though charged with distributing obscene writing in 1966, levy was a strong believer in Buddhism and a champion of justice. levy continued to document Cleveland’s gritty charm and rough interior through his poetry, founding Cleveland’s first underground newspaper, the Buddhist Third-Class Junkmail Oracle. Through that medium, he published scores of powerful poetic voices of the decade. He was a force to be reckoned with in the creative community of the time, and continues to inspire artists from Northeast Ohio and beyond. WordStage is a chamber music reader’s theater, dedicated to the presentation of works with special literary, historical and musical merit.

Russell Atkins: Celebrating the Living Legend

Diane Kendig reports from the East Cleveland Public Library event Russell Atkins: Celebrating the Living Legend.

R.A. with Honorary Doctorate

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Note added May 2015: A long (and horrifying) story about Russell Atkin's involuntary move out of his house, and the loss of his manuscripts, letters, and papers, can be found on Diane Kendig's blog: RUSSELL ATKINS: A Cautionary Tale for Aging Poets and Others

A rare pairing of two NorthCentral Ohio poets

A rare pairing of two NorthCentral Ohio poets...Susan Grimm and Larry Smith.
Larry reading a poem from Lake Winds: Poems

Celebrating the Living Legend: Russell Atkins

Contact: Sheba Marcus-Bey East Cleveland Public Library Phone (216) 541-4128 sheba.marcus-bey@ecpl.lib.oh.us

14101 Euclid Avenue East Cleveland, OH 44112

East Cleveland Public Library

East Cleveland, OH, October 25, 2014:  Four Friends of Russell Atkins, in collaboration with East Cleveland Public Library, is proud to present a program “Celebrating the Living Legend: Russell Atkins” on Saturday, October 25, 2014 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm in the Greg L. Reese Performing Arts Center, 14101 Euclid Avenue, East Cleveland, OH 44112.

The event seeks to pay tribute to Cleveland’s long-standing iconoclast, who has been known as an avant-garde poet, dramatist, musical composer, and editor throughout his lengthy and productive career. The program will feature music, tributes, and readings of Atkins’ poetry. The 88-year-old Atkins will be in attendance. Atkins is the subject of a new book, Russell Atkins: On the Life and Work of an American Master (Pleiades Press), edited by Kevin Prufer, a native Clevelander now at the University of Houston, who will speak at the event.

In 1950, Atkins cofounded Free Lance, which is one of the oldest black-owned literary magazine. Through this publication of avant-garde writing, Atkins contributed to the development of New American poetry. During his career, Atkins corresponded with famous twentieth-century poets Langston Hughes and Marianne Moore.

The event is planned by four writers who have been helping Atkins in his recent transition to a nursing home: Yaseen AsSami, Diane Kendig, Robert McDonough, and Shaheed Mutawaf. “It was a difficult time,” said Kendig, “Much of his life’s work was destroyed in the move.” Their friendships with Atkins go back to creative writing workshops in the 1960s and 70s, and they wanted to rally to his support. “We had a birthday party for him in February,” says Kendig, “and writers came out from all over Cleveland and from out of state in a Northeast Ohio blizzard to be there, with cards pouring in front all over the U.S. He is clearly loved and respected.”

When the group contacted the East Cleveland Public Library for the event, Executive Director Sheba Marcus-Bey quickly responded with the invitation for the library to host the event. “We are happy to offer a venue and resources to celebrate such an esteemed, creative force. We are honored to host this event,” says Marcus-Bey.

Following with the program, there will be a reception and sale of the book. The public is welcome to attend. Further information is available through the East Cleveland Public Library, (216) 541-4128 and Diane Kendig, (330) 479-7132 or Mutawaf Shaheed (216) 272-1509.

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Russel Atkins, On the Life and Work of an American Master:
Reviews:

• Fringe
• Volta
• Verse Daily

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Local Author Fair This Saturday

"Lovers and Killers" a nominee for Stoker award

Mary A Turzillo's recent poetry collection, Lovers and Killers, from Dark Regions Press, has been named a finalist for the Stoker Award for poetry by the Horror Writers Association.  Horray for Mary! The awards will be announced June 13-16, at the World Horror Convention/Bram Stoker Awards® Weekend in New Orleans.

It's been a good spring for Mary-- she also had the book nominated for the Science Fiction Poetry Association's new Elgin award, and she (along with other local poets J.E. Stanley and dan smith) had several poems nominated for the Rhysling award as well.  Congrats, all!

• Lovers and Killers, available from Dark Regions, discount price $4.95 (plus shipping)
• Review in Pedestal magazine

Poetry in the Woods on Thursday

At the risk of too much tooting, I'd like to point out the Poetry Back in the Woods reading, at the Shaker Heights Library, Bertram Woods Branch, coming up this Thursday at 7pm.

Shaker Heights Library Events

It'll be featuring some fine poets, namely Joshua Gage, J.E. Stanley, Mary Turzillo, and dan smith. Plus possibly a surprise reader as well.

Uh, I might point out that the reading is not actually in the middle of a forest (not that there's anything wrong with that.) It will be at:

Shaker Heights Public Library,

Bertram Woods Branch

20600 Fayette Road, Shaker Heights, Ohio

(that's off Warrensville Center Road, just south of Shaker Boulevard-- just to the south of the Rapid station at Warrensville, if you're car-free)

Check out the Facebook page.

Poetry in the Woods, I might point out, has been a long-running series at the Shaker Libraries:

the series was started eleven years ago by poet, college teacher, and environmental activist Barry Zucker. After starting the readings at the Bertram Woods library--"Poetry in the Woods"-- the series also included readings at Horseshoe Lake Park ("Poetry Really in the Woods") and readings at the Main Library ("Poetry Not in the Woods.") The series is funded by the Friends of the Shaker Library and, now that it's back at Bertram Woods, it's (what else?) "Poetry Back in the Woods."

Anyway-- be there!

Bernstein and Andrews

      Nope - Bernstein and Andrews is not some personal injury law firm. They were the features at  a reading I attended at Visible Voice books in Tremont.

Michael Bernstein growls through his set.

    Michael Berstein and Nin Andrews held court in the cozy upstairs reading room for ten or so listeners on a rainy Saturday night. Berstein took the "stage" first dragging a chair up, sitting down, then launching sans prelude into scores of short poems. He flipped through pages stapled in the corner as if he were counting money from a bank heist in some backroom rarely looking up from his page punctuating every word with the same strained intensity. When he did look up he didn't raise his head giving the impression of a center eyeing a nosegaurd right before the snap of the ball.

     Then as abruptly as he started, Bernstein flashed a peace sign growled over and out and he was done. I felt like he was enduring his set as much as delivering a reading. In my opinion Bernstein seemed much more comfortable introducing his fellow feature Nin Andrews than he did presenting his own work.

Nin Andrews at Visible Voice Books

In stark contrast to our first reader Nin began her set  conversationally giving a bit of background info on the subject matter of her first couple pieces. Folksy narratives about  superstition, her father and aunt followed, poignant and humorous read with a smidgen of Southern charm.  She wasn't quite as comfortable when she switched to pieces from a new collection she is working on centered around a fictional island state where the ultimate authority and political power rests in woman's hands.

To paraphrase Nin's introduction - there was certainly worse things one could be doing with their time on a rainy Saturday night and I did not regret my trek.

Canton – ese Poetry

Poetry and Music with Robert Miltner and Erin Vaughn

Poetry, Poetry+Music, and Music::this is a collaboration between Robert and Erin. Open mic at 7pm, the show starts by 7:30. Suggested donation is $5 and bring nonperishable food items to donate to the Stark County Hunger Task Force. Fair Trade coffee will be served.
Unitarian Coffee House
2585 Easton Street NE Canton Ohio
Saturday, October 9 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm

A Dozen Pics From IngenuityFest redux

Poetry @ IngenuityFest 2010

Ingenuity, Cleveland’s Festival of Art and Technology

The Ingenuity Festival returns with a weekend-long celebration of art and technology, designed for audiences of any age and experience, staged in the center of Downtown Cleveland. Prominent international masters present original works alongside the finest of Northeast Ohio’s performing and visual artists. High technology firms and major colleges and universities are presented alongside acclaimed artists to create a dazzling display of exciting and immersive new work! Ingenuity pushes boundaries, creating a unique festival experience that draws and celebrates diversity, and involves the audience as both spectator and participant!

This Year’s Poetry centered events include:

Malikee Ikiru

September 24, 2010 11:45PM - September 25, 2010 12:00AM@ Span Stage - West Concourse - West Side of Bridge

Malikee Ikiru has been active in the urban poetry scene in Cleveland since the early 90s. He combines the hard revolutionary stance of the late 60s with futuristic images military science fiction. Mixing politics, romanticism, spirituality, and a computer generated world to give his art a matrixesque feeling.  He has done hundreds of shows and opened for such acts as Sonia Sanchez, burning spear and krs1. Are you ready for the revolution? The matrix has you!

Midnight Poetry with Dr. McMahon

September 24, 2010 11:45PM - September 25, 2010 12:45AM@ Span Stage - West Concourse - West Side of Bridge

Hosted by Claire McMahon readers will include: Poetry by Eric Alleman,  Eric Anderson, Diane Borsenik,  Miles Budimir, John Burroughs,  Charlotte Mann, Claire McMahon,  Robert Miltner, Michael Salinger,  Theresa (T.M. Gottl), Russ Vidrick.

Poetry Workshop and Performance with Michael Salinger

September 25, 2010 4:00PM - 5:00PM@ West Courtyard Stage

Student workshops led by poet/educator Michael Salinger. Students will write, edit, rehearse and perform their own original works.

Ray McNiece - Haiku Slam

September 25, 2010 5:00PM - 6:00PM@ Span Stage - West Concourse - West Side of Bridge

Whether you participate or observe you will enjoy the fast paced action of Head to Head haiku – a poetry competition based on the rules of Sumo wrestling. Also, add your thoughts to the endless scroll that will be a Cleveland Rengku. Hosted by local haiku master Ray McNiece.

The festival will be held on the subway level of the Veterans Memorial (Detroit Superior) Bridge in Downtown Cleveland.  It can be accessed from the East and West sides of the river and is protected from the weather.

Lix and Kix 5-19-10 Miltner, Brandt, and Shaffer

 

 

CSU 4-1-10 – McDaniel and Dougherty

michael dumanis, director of the csu poetry center introduces jeffrey mcdaniel and sean thomas dougherty

Okay – so even the academic readings don’t start on time in Cleveland. The McDaniel – Dougherty reading was advertised as starting @7:30 and true to Poetic Standard Time things got rolling with Dumanis introducing the readers at around ten ‘til eight. Dougherty kicked things off launching into a rustbelt cinched treatise. Paisley flowered shirt rolled to his elbows showing tattooed forearms a cap that looks like it was plucked from a black and white photo of Ellis Island immigration line dwellers he reminded me more of an eastern bloc uncle than a professor from Case.

His work carried the same sort of unapologetic sensibility as his wardrobe. He himself later said that the pieces he was reading (from a forthcoming manuscript) were an attempt to just say things. “Sometimes things just need to be, said.” Dougherty’s reading style falls somewhere between a beat jazz sing song reminiscent of kinescopes of Kerouac on the Steve Allen show and the hip hop influenced delivery of contemporary slammers.

“this is going to be one of those readings where i really f*** myself up”

Dougherty finished his twenty-five minute set with a couple list poems – one titles Ex and finally a love poem with the refrain “you are…” I enjoyed his set and hope to see more of this  local writer.

McDaniel began his set with an excerpt from a longer piece of fiction, possibly a novel – something he has been working on for a couple years and not quite sure what to do with yet. He clutched the lectern and lowered his head looking as if he was reading in a wind tunnel and there was no warning when the fan might be turned on.

The five minute excerpt  started out with a hilarious rendering of a family cat in heat  swerved into a road trip to Niagra Falls with his father and brothers engaged in close quarter conflict and ending with a drug dependant mom vegetating back at home. McDaniel's work borders on the absurd at times and he uses humor like a knitting needle at a birthday party popping  balloons. I’ve always liked his work and was somewhat disappointed when he confessed that he has probably only written four new poems in the last couple years.  Let’s hope he rectifies this situation.

George Bilgere – Macs Backs 3-30-10

Most academic poets can be dropped into a few convenient categories. You’ve got your inscrutable scribblers who scratch out “experimental” work of obtuse meanings – political militants lecturing to folks who already agree with them – and the subsection of AWP folks whose very existence seems to be to publish each other’s work.

George Bilgere falls into another category – the dangerously clever. Like Billy Collins, Jeffery McDaniel, Marge Piercy and Ted Kooser, Bilgere’s work is deceptively simple. The accessibility that is so often frowned upon by “serious” poetry instructors invites readers into Georges world of cafes where everyday observations take on archetypal importance.


Most of the reading's fodder was plucked from Bilgere’s new collection The White Museum from Pittsburgh's Autumn House Press. George set up his pieces with fairly long introductions. These prologues though, didn’t take away from the works by over explaining but served well as a vehicle of background knowledge that helped the reader enjoy the forthcoming piece. This is a talent that is well appreciated by this listener when it is done well as it was here.




Subject matter ranged from family – a mother who loved crossword puzzles, an aunt who introduced the poet to Europe, a father’s key ring  – amusement parks, laundry chutes, and the ubiquitous appearance of cafes. I think this is where Bilgere is most comfortable and where his work shines – at a small round table with a strong cup of coffee surrounded by well read folks with nothing to prove.




Like the sage fixture of a cafe who has become part of the ambiance, always good for an opinion or good hearted argument over art or baseball - Bilgere’s work (often making appearances on Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac) satisfies the way some desserts do. At first glance it seems a little small but with each bite one realizes the richness of the icing and the complexity of the flavors combine to leave one surprisingly sated – with a cup of coffee on the side of course.