Get Blasted (and more) at PoetryElyria

Cleveland Poetics blog contributor T.M Göttl is also a brilliant poet who has a new chapbook available from Cleveland's Blasted Press. Pick up a copy and hear T.M. read Sunday February 20th 2011 at 1 p.m. during PoetryElyria at Jim's Coffeehouse and Diner, 2 Kerstetter Way in Elyria, Ohio. This event will also feature readings by poets Steve Thomas (of Cleveland) and Tina Puckett (of Stark County). An uncensored open mic will precede the features. Visit Blasted Press at www.blastedpress.com and on Facebook. Jim's Coffeehouse is a beautiful venue and their ownership and staff have been incredibly supportive of poets, even staying open 24 hours a day (with the staff working for nothing but tips) during our recent 150-hour Snoetry poetry marathon. Many thanks to everyone in the literary community who has supported Jim's Coffeehouse back! If you can, please check out these upcoming events: Feb. 20th: We'll feature T.M Göttl, Steve Thomas & Tina Puckett Feb. 27th: Columbus poets Louise Robertson, Paula Lambert, Laraine Seidl March 6th: Grand finale at Jim's Coffeehouse, featuring John Dorsey (Toledo), Zach Ashley (Detroit), Steve Goldberg (Cleveland) & Steve Brightman (another Blasted Press author, from Kent).

Bishop and the New Yorker

The New York Times has a long article about the letters between poet Elizabeth Bishop and the New Yorker.

"A world-class procrastinator and Olympian ditherer, Bishop sometimes didn’t finish a poem for decades."

"At times the politeness of poet and magazine seems that of two countries about to go to war — tactful enough with her editors (though she felt that reading the magazine was like “eating a quilt”), in letters to friends Bishop groused about the revisions proposed. (“They once put 23 commas in a long poem of mine,” she groaned.)"

--and, slyly slid in under the discussions of the editorial processes of the New Yorker, William Logan does get in a swift kick here and there:

"The New Yorker has suffocated at times beneath a mask of wry gentility. For all its glossy reputation, the magazine still turns up its nose at stories and poems that make too many demands on the reader. It’s a middlebrow journal for people who would like to be highbrows — and perhaps for highbrows who love a little slumming. The cartoons, as Biele notes, provide an antiphonal chorus to the reckless consumerism of the ads."

-Ouch! Wonder how many times he's been rejected there?

Astropoetica Winter

The Winter 2011 issue of Astropoetica is now out. Poets have had a fascination with the stars ever since the beginning, and Astropoetica has been a web 'zine devoted to astronomical and science poetry.

With gorgeous pictures, too-- it's as much an art 'zine as a poetry one. Worth checking out. And, if you like science poetry, they also have a nice set of links to other sites about astronomy, poetry, astrophotography and art.

Borders is bankrupt

The bookseller chain Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today.

This is not unexpected-- they've been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy for quite a while now-- but still it's a blow to the small fraction of the public that actually buys books.

Chapter 11 is not quite the same as death; their survival plan is to close 30% of their stores.

Nobody knows what the future of real, brick and shelves bookstores is. I remember Borders back when there were only two of them (one in Ann Arbor, one in East Lansing); back when enormous book superstores were a novel idea. I have to say I love bookstores; I have mixed feelings about Borders and their competitor Barnes&Noble-- I like the way they turned bookstores into destinations, how they were places you could go to be surrounded by more books than you could read in a lifetime; but I've been a bit disconcerted by the way they turned bookselling impersonal, with each neighborhood bookstore not even choosing their own books, but running according to the master plan from a distant headquarters. And the way they very deliberately strangled the independents. (Anybody still remember Booksellers?)

(Financial times suggests that this, their turning into impersonal big-box stores, was exactly their problem.)

Still, problems with one of the chain bookstores will not mean a return to the (mostly imaginary) days of small intimate bookstores; it is a oracle sign of the severe problems faced by all bookstores, and when the world has fewer bookstores, it is, in a small way, a less wonderful place.

(Independent bookstores do still survive; check them out here.)

--I wonder what this will do to the Deep Cleveland Poetry Hour, a long-running reading series that happens every second Friday at the Borders in Strongsville (I suppose that may depend on whether the Strongsville store is one of the 194 stores that are being closed.)

Get your Lix & Kix in the 216 on Wed. 2/16

Visit our event page on Facebook.
See also http://wendyshaffer.com

52 Cleveland Haiku (4)

Slick ice-covered roads
Work is closed; a perfect day
to write poetry

52 Cleveland Haiku (3)

Groundhog day report

falling snowflakes dance,
a sheen of ice covers snow:
no groundhogs in sight.

Whatcha doing for Superbowl Sunday?

Superbowl Sunday:
got no TV
at Snoetry--
got poetry
instead.

Oprah goes for rights grab

I'm a great fan of Oprah Winfrey, a celebrity who has consistently been on the side of writers, and a strong advocate for reading, Which is why I'm so terribly disappointed to see name associated with a clear grab-- very nearly theft-- of writer's rights.

Writers beware!

It looks so innocent-- she's asking for poets to submit their poems. How can that be bad? Maybe, just maybe, she'll make them famous. Well, she's taking advantage of the hopes and dreams of gullible writers here. It's a scam.

Read the fine print. It says that anything you submit, whether they publish it or not, belongs to them. Submit, and she owns all rights forever!

"Harpo shall exclusively own all known or later existing rights to the Submissions worldwide with the unrestricted right to use the Submissions for any purpose in all media now known or hereafter discovered without compensation to the provider of such Submissions."

Not merely all rights, forever, but they're even demanding rights that haven't been thought of yet! It's probably not even legal (they're not offering to pay for the rights)-- but don't count on the terms not being enforced.

Don't just walk away from this one: run!

Poets hold longest reading on record in Elyria

[Click here to watch Snoetry live from the warmth of your home or wherever else you like. Live broadcast begins at 4 pm on 2/2/2011.]

First it was Cincinnati, then it was Seattle, and then in 2010 Prospero's Books in Kansas City claimed the distinction of having hosted the longest poetry reading on record: 120 hours straight. Now northern Ohio, with its growing reputation as a hotbed of great poetry, is poised to seize that distinction. Beginning on Wednesday February 2nd at 5 p.m., poets from several states and as far away as Nepal, led by many of northern Ohio's finest, will overrun Jim's Coffeehouse in Elyria to hold a 150-hour poetry reading billed as Snoetry 2: A World Record Winter Wordfest. The marathon is scheduled to wrap up on Tuesday February 8th at 11 p.m. If you're interested in a 30-minute featured reader slot for Snoetry 2, contact John Burroughs ASAP at jc@crisischronicles.com or on Facebook. For other queries, contact Dianne Borsenik at dborsenik@gmail.com or on Facebook.

For a constantly updating list of scheduled readers and open slots, click here. Visit Snoetry 2's Facebook event page here. And for blow by blow updates from Snoetry 2, follow @ElyriaPoetry on Twitter.

Jim's Coffeehouse and Diner is located at 2 Kerstetter Way (formerly Lake Avenue) in downtown Elyria, Ohio. Click here for directions.

Snoetry 2 is a Lix and Kix Poetry production, in association with PoetryElyria, Poets of Lorain County, Main Street Elyria, and the Ohio Poetry Association. Thanks to the generous support of the Nordson Corporation Foundation, Snoetry 2 will be streamed live over the internet, both here at Cleveland Poetics and at John Burroughs' Crisis Chronicles.

Peace and poetry,
Lix and Kix (a.k.a John and Dianne)

52 Cleveland Haiku (2)

snowflakes

glistening

paint the shape of air

Landis, de Blas & Sharma do PoetryElyria 1/30

Award winning poet and science fiction author Geoffrey Landis (who's also a regular contributor to Cleveland Poetics - The Blog) will be a featured reader this Sunday, January 30th, during PoetryElyria at Jim's Coffeehouse and Diner, 2 Kerstetter Way in Elyria, Ohio. Art Books Cleveland's Bonné de Blas and globetrotting Nepali poet Yuyutsu R.D. Sharma will be featured as well. The festivities will begin at 1 p.m. with an open mic emceed by Elyria poet John Burroughs. Hope to see you there!

Follow PoetryElyria on Twitter.

Poetry & Performing Arts Extravaganza on 1/28/11

On January 28th at the 737 Gallery in Lorain, Ohio, the Lorain Arts Council, Poets of Lorain County and the Lix and Kix Poetry Extravaganza will present In Verse Lorain: A Poetry and Performing Arts Extravaganza, featuring performances by Yuyutsu R.D. Sharma, Robert Miltner, Trenchcoat Manifesto, Elise Geither, Eric Anderson, La Mariposa and Michael McNamara, John Burroughs, Dianne Borsenik, Shelley Chernin, Julissa Reyes, Marilyn Olivares de Ortiz and Manancique. Corresponding with this event will be an exhibition of art works in a variety of media (including acrylic, oil, and watercolor paintings; sculpture; wood-work; metal-work; photography; mixed-media work; and Ukranian eggs) by Lorain Arts Council members.

Visit our Facebook event page here.

52 Cleveland Haiku

Sparkling whiteness
the city renewed in snow--
far-off plows rumble

Elyria, Bernstein & Grover - oh my! - Jan 23rd

Michael Bernstein of Cleveland Heights and Michael Grover of Toledo will be our featured poets on Sunday January 23rd from 1 to 3 pm during PoetryElyria at Jim's Coffeehouse and Diner, 2 Kerstetter Way in downtown Elyria. The event will begin with an open mic emceed by John Burroughs.

Exhibit/Reading tonight (1/21) at Zygote Press

From Claire McMahon: "Please come to the opening of Intersections tonight. The opening begins at 7pm, and at 8pm, the poetry reading will begin. Poets will read from poems that have been chosen for the show.

Poets involved are : Eric Anderson, John Donoghue, Thomas Dukes, Sarah Gridley, Susan Grimm, Claire McMahon, Ray McNiece, Phil Metres, and Lou Suarez. Come down to see the visual/verbal displays!"

Zygote Press Fine Art Print Making

1410 East 30th Street, Cleveland, OH 44114

(216) 621-2900

Event page on Facebook

Avon Lake Poetry series launches tonight (1/20)!

Event will begin with an open mic. Bring your poems, munchies, soft drinks. Visit our Facebook event page here.

More Robert Miltner: www.wix.com/robertmiltner/2011
More John Burroughs: www.crisischronicles.com
Directions to the library: www.alpl.org/directions.asp

January 2011 Lix & Kix Poetry Extravaganza

Wednesday January 19th from 7 to 10pm, The Lix and Kix Poetry Extravaganza will present featured poetry by RA Washington, Mark Jordan, LS Royal, and Marilyn Oliveras de Ortiz. As an added bonus, Rafael Rivera and Manancique will perform bomba y plena, Afro-Caribbean song and dance, after which there will be an open mic emceed by Dianne Borsenik and John Burroughs. The whole shebang will happen at Bela Dubby Art Gallery and Beer Cafe, 13321 Madison Avenue in Lakewood, Ohio.

Visit our Facebook event page here.

Shaffer & Odum to perform 1/16 at PoetryElyria

Visit our Facebook event page here.
More Wendy Shaffer at www.wendyshaffer.com.
More Eric Odum at http://verbsnotebook.wordpress.com.
Follow PoetryElyria at http://twitter.com/elyriapoetry.

Poet's Haven presents Rollins & Chernin on 1/15

Facebook event page here.

January Poetry Back in the Woods

Salinger and Holbrook rock Carolina

Michael Salinger and Sara Holbrook rock! You knew that already, of course. But there's a nice article about their visit to East Aiken Elementary School classrooms in the Aiken Standard:

"Not just rhyme time: Authors bring poetry to area classrooms."

According to fourth-grader Allison McGarry:

"Poems are a fun way to talk to people."

Canton and Detroit poets invade Elyria Sunday 1/9

Andrew Rihn and Christina Brooks will be our featured poets on Sunday January 9th 2011 from 1 to 3 p.m. during PoetryElyria at Jim's Coffeehouse and Diner, 2 Kerstetter Way in downtown Elyria (a mere 25 miles west of Cleveland). This event will include an open mic emceed by John Burroughs.

For more details, please visit our Facebook event page.

Beavis & Butt-Head at a Poetry Reading

Chernin & McMillen Ring in the New Year on 1/2

Sunday January 2nd from 1 to 3 p.m. at Jim's Coffeehouse & Diner, 2 Kerstetter Way in downtown Elyria, Ohio, join us for an open mic followed by performances by these two featured poets:

Shelley Chernin is a freelance researcher, writer, and editor of legal reference books who writes poetry to maintain her insanity. Her poems have appeared in Scrivener Creative Review, Rhapsoidia, What I Knew Before I Knew: Poems from the Pudding House Salon-Cleveland, the Heights Observer, and the 2010 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Anthology. The Akron Art Museum awarded her Honorable Mentions in its New Words Poetry Contest in 2009 and 2010. She recently moved from eastern Cuyahoga to Lorain County, where she's enjoying the measurement of snowfall in inches rather than feet.

Anne says: "My full name is Anne McMillen, I'm 29 and was born in Elyria Ohio. I went to college for several semesters at LCCC and then on to Bowling Green State University until I dropped out to focus on writing. During those years I traveled the U.S. and eventually moved to San Francisco for 5 years. My first published work was at unlikelystories.org when I was 18 years old. I currently have five published books of poems and am working on my first full length novel. My writing focuses on the dysfunctional home life I endured as well as the sociological problems and issues I observe daily. For a living I work as an optician in a welfare clinic and help people who are disadvantaged obtain a better quality of life. I'm queer and unconventional and reside now in Cleveland with my partners whom I love dearly and care for immensely. I spend a lot of time doing outreach with young queers, organizing speakers and entertainment from out of state to come and spread the good word. Right now my life is better than it ever has been and coming from extreme poverty I consider myself a success even if financially I'm not much better off than I was as a child, but I have a very rich life filled with love, friends and a great community."

John Burroughs of Lix and Kix will emcee. Upcoming features at Jim's Coffeehouse and Diner include:

January 9th: Christina Books (Detroit) & Andrew Rihn (Canton)
January 16th: Wendy Shaffer (Cleveland) & Eric Odum (Cleveland)
January 23rd: Michael Grover (Toledo) & Michael Bernstein (Cleveland Heights)
January 30th: Geoffrey Landis (Berea), Bonné de Blas (Cleveland Heights) and Yuyutsu R.D. Sharma (Kathmandu, Nepal)

Follow PoetryElyria on Twitter: http://twitter.com/elyriapoetry