50 years after d.a. levy’s death....

Read this piece by Mark S Kuhar at cleveland.com.

Then join us for a poetry reading at levy's grave on November 24th at noon.

New LCCC Radio Interview Tuesday 11/13

I look forward to talking with Ryan Sagert about poetry Tuesday 11/13 at 10 a.m. on Lorain County Community College radio. You can listen in at https://www.lcccradio.com/.

My 1st Reading in the Heart of NYC Will Be on 29 November

Finally home after a fine three-day mini trip (Pittsburgh, PA; Richwood, WV; Pomeroy, OH). I have one more reading scheduled for this year and it's bucket list caliber - my first ever in the heart of New York City, at the KGB Bar's Red Room with Kat Georges and Matthew Hupert. So looking forward to this!

"Dish Work" and more live in Oakland on 7/19/2017

Reading at the Octopus, 1/19/17, photo by PCR

Last year I drove cross country to the west coast for the first (and so far only) time and it was one of the highlights of my life. So many good memories made!  One of the best was having the opportunity to read with D.R. Wagner, M.J. Arcangelini and Matt Cook at the Octopus Literary Salon in Oakland, California, on July 19th. I am grateful to Paul Corman-Roberts for making it happen—as well as emceeing, snapping pics and videoing random bits of the proceedings.
 

There are two clips of me that I meant to link to on this blog last year—but then I got behind and it hasn't happened until now. You can check them out here:

facebook.com/events/1562616010436560/permalink/1576457895719038/

One clip features "Dish Work," a poem inspired by Columbia Hills Country Club, where I worked as a dishwasher from around September 1986 to January 1987. It's also where I first met Geri, who was a waitress there at the time. The second clip catches me reading the first part of my poem "From Genesis to Exodus," a tribute to Prince.

"Dish Work" appears in my chapbook Water Works, first published in 2012 by recycled karma press and reissued in early 2017 as part of the Poets Haven Archive Series. "From Genesis to Exodus" was first published in Delirious: A Poetic Celebration of Prince (2016, NightBallet Press) and now also appears in my chapbook Loss and Foundering (2018, NightBallet Press).

See you in Pittsburgh Sunday 11/4

Pittsburgh is one of my favorite places to travel for poetry, and the last time I read there was August 2016. In other words, it has been far too long.

This Sunday from 2 to 4, I'll have the honor of reading with Alyssa Herron, Bob Walicki, Kara Knickerbocker, Nicole Onda Grynd, Joshua Tarquinio and Sarah Washburn Thornton for the Hell's Lid Reading Series hosted by Miss Macross at the Full Pint Wild Side Pub, 5310 Butler Street, 15201.

My penultimate reading of the year!

"John Cage" live at Backyard Social in Portland, Oregon - 7/15/2017

I'm finally trying to catch up on posting assorted video clips from recent years on my blog. This one is from one of the more memorable poetry festivals I've participated in, Kleft Jaw & TRUST Art Collective Present: Contronym (A Fugue in E Minor), hosted by Kleft Jaw Press last summer in Portland, Oregon.

In this clip, recorded the same day I saw the Pacific Ocean in person for my first time ever, I recite my signature poem, "John Cage Engaged and Uncaged." I forget who recorded it, but will update this when I find out.

Video permalink: https://youtu.be/q976VKz-87A.

"No Other" live in Kansas City with River Cow Orchestra - 10/13/2018

https://youtu.be/hGKlK-u_vdQ

Here I perform my poem "No Other" accompanied by the River Cow Orchestra during Fountainverse: KC Small Press Poetry Festival on 13 October 2018 at La Esquina in Kansas City, Missouri. Video recorded by Jason Preu (thank you!).

I wrote "No Other" on 30 March 2018 - inspired by Tony Ingrisano's "Far Enemy" - for an Ekphrastacy program at Heights Arts in Cleveland Heights. The poem first appeared in print in The Gasconade Review Presents: Missouri Is a Ghost Shaped Thing, edited by John Dorsey and Jason Ryberg for Spartan Press.

No Other
after Far Enemy by Tony Ingrisano

A wide web of geometry and pixelation
looms over my brick suburban bungalow.

The colors warm and entice me
with creeping florescent sophistication.

I feel them drawing me up and in
while equally I am drawing them inside.

It’s a network of jasmine attraction
bringing untoward craving and resentment,

hate and cruelty from America the beautiful,
Russian bots, unacknowledged racists,

television networks, Amazon.com, nihilism
proponents, penile enhancement specialists,

trolls, moles, sexist pols and ad-mongers,
while the colors of it all bleed into pools

of need and reaction, stupefaction,
failure to listen disguised as debate,

hasty action, dystopian dissatisfaction,
snark disguised as lark and warring factions.

This poem began as an expression of appreciation
for a wide web of precious colors and pixelation

before I met the so-called far enemies
in my bathroom mirror and hardly

recognized them as something other
than other.

Gratitude to Gramercy

Anna and I sign books

If you're in the Columbus area, you can pick up some books of mine - including Oct Tongue and Loss and Foundering - at Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio Thanks to Linda Kass for being the perfect host, and also for these photos from my reading with Anna Soter there on Friday evening. 

https://www.gramercybooksbexley.com/

I lean into my reading

I love a packed house

Last readings I have scheduled (2018-2019)

I only have three more readings scheduled for this year and one is Friday night, 10/26, at Gramercy Books Bexley, near Columbus, Ohio, with the incomparable Anna Soter.

The others are 11/4 for the Hell's Lid Reading Series in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and 11/29 at the KGB Bar's Red Room in New York City. I'd love to see you at one of these!

So far I’m resisting planning many events in 2019, although I look forward to the handful I already have scheduled. I expect to have a new book out at some point during the course of the year, however, and will likely set up more events when I have a clearer idea of when that is happening.  

Saturday 23 February in Euclid, Ohio 

The Lake Erie Folk Fest at the Shore Cultural Centre, 291 E. 222nd Street, 44123. 

Sunday 10 March at 3 p.m. in South Euclid, Ohio 

Second Sunday Poets featuring John Burroughs, hosted by Doc Janning at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch of Cuyahoga County Public Library, 1876 S. Green Road, 44121. 

Thursday 14 March in Clarion, Pennsylvania 

More details forthcoming. 

Sunday 17 March in Columbus, Ohio 

Peripatetic Poets, hosted by Doug Rutledge at the St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and University Center, 30 W. Woodruff Avenue, 43210.

30 August through 1 September in New Hartford, Connecticut 
National Beat Poetry Festival. More details forthcoming.

Keep checking back here for updates.

Recalling Ataraxis, 4/22/2018

I've been meaning to post a link to this video for awhile, but other things kept coming up. This clip catches me on 22 April 2018 in the middle of reading my poem "Ataraxis" during the Tongue-in-Groove Poetry Jam hosted by Ray McNiece at the Millard Fillmore Presidential Library in Cleveland's Waterloo district.

View here:
https://www.facebook.com/KleftJaw/videos/1672397019512347/

It was recorded by Frankie Metro of Kleft Jaw Press. Musical accompaniment is by Ray McNiece's Tongue-in-Groove band. I wrote "Ataraxis" in early April 2018 for an Ekphrastacy program at Heights Arts in Cleveland Heights. It was inspired by a work of art by Dana Oldfather entitled Equanimity. The poem was finally published this summer in The Gasconade Review Presents: Missouri Is a Ghost-Shaped Thing by Spartan Press.