Crisis Chronicles Press reissues Matilda's Battle Waltz by Tracie Morell as a free e-book

In 2015, Crisis Chronicles Press had the honor of publishing poet Tracie Morell's Matilda's Battle Waltz (CC#70) in paperback. For some time recently, it has been sold out and unavailable. But now, at the author's request, we are happy to re-release this marvelous series of poems (with illustrations by Kris Risto) as a free e-book. Read Matilda's Battle Waltz on Issuu or email jc@crisischronicles.com for a pdf copy.

“Tracie Morell’s work exhibits a lyrical acuity which illuminates and devastates. She leads us on a harrowing and electrifying journey through the life of Matilda, a being who dances on the brink of existence between what is marginalized and what has risen above to live in rarified air. Morell has no fear; our eyes blaze and dilate with Matilda, as we bear witness to our collective ruin. Morell’s poems celebrate the connections between the interior and exterior world and in doing so, take us closer to both.”
     —Kelly Boyker, Poetry Editor at Menacing Hedge

My 2015 in the rear view mirror - and a hint of a 2016 preview

I don't have the time or patience to write something really good about a difficult year, so I'm just  gonna share some random stuff from my personal world.

Geri and I completed our 3rd year living in Cleveland.

As stated in my last blog entry, I read 124 books in 2015, most of them short poetry books from Ohio small presses.  In number of titles (but not number of pages), this is the most I've ever read in a year.

I published 15 books via Crisis Chronicles Press in 2015.  You can get the whole bunch (a $100+ value) for $75 . They are:

• CC058 - Poems for Explosion by John G Hall
• CC059 - Ohio Triangle by Alex Gildzen
• CC063 - #ThisIsCLE: An Anthology of the 2014 Best Cleveland Poem Competition
• CC064 - Be Closer for My Burn by Robin Wyatt Dunn
• CC065 - Cutting the Möbius by Jonathan Thorn
• CC066 - Thunderclap Amen by Dianne Borsenik
• CC067 - Bookmobile: From the Library of Jesus Crisis by David S Pointer
• CC068 - Balefire by Susan Sheppard
• CC069 - 2015 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Anthology by 104 poets
• CC070 - Matilda's Battle Waltz by Tracie Morell
• CC071 - Readings / The Road: Two Poems from Euclid Creek Book Three by Michael Ceraolo
• CC072 - Ghost on the Inside by John Dorsey
• CC073 - Contents Under Pressure by Kevin Ridgeway
• CC074 - Drink Drank Drunk by Bradford Middleton
• CC075 - This Frankenstein Union by Esteban Colon

I co-hosted the almost annual Snoetry: Winter Wordfest in January at the Avalon Hotel in Erie, Pennsylvania.  I served as the primary host of the monthly Monday at Mahall's Poetry & Prose Series in Lakewood, Ohio through August of 2015 before permanently handing off hosting duties to Terry Provost and making up my mind not to host any more events for the near future.  This was far fewer events than I've hosted in any given year since 2008.  And I have no plans to host any in 2016.  But Snoetry will return in 2017.

I gave 15 featured poetry readings in 2015, also fewer than I had in any previous year since 2008. They were:

• January 24 - Snoetry 5 at the Avalon Hotel (Erie. PA)
• April 18 - Artomatic 419 festival (Toledo, OH)
• April 18 - SOUL Collective of Collaborative Arts (Farmington, MI)
• June 6 - Lake Effect Poetry fundraiser at the Barberton Gallery of Fine Arts (Barberton, OH)
• June 27 - West Toledo Branch Library (Toledo, OH)
• August 1 - Expedition: SPACES!!! A Journey of Words, Sights & Sounds (Cleveland)
• August 4 - Words & Wine at Your Vine or Mine (Painesville, OH)
• August 8 - SOUL Community House (Farmington, MI)
• September 2 - M.J. Arcangelini and friends at the Happy Dog east (Cleveland)
• September 19 - accompanied by trumpeter Étienne Massicotte during BeatStreet Cleveland at the Barking Spider (Cleveland)
• October 1 - Literary Cafe (Cleveland)
• October 15 - Third Thursday poetry at the Root Cafe (Cuyahoga  Falls, OH)
• October 23 - accompanied by trumpeter Étienne Massicotte at Severance Hall (Cleveland)
• November 7 - Ultimate Artist Extravaganza at SOUL (Farmington, MI)
• November 21 - Soul Speak at the Lorain Arts Council (Lorain, OH)

And I represented Crisis Chronicles Press at four other events in 2015:

• March 7 - Indie Author Conference & Showcase at the Cuyahoga County Public Library, Parma-Snow Branch (Parma, OH)
• May 13 - Hessler Street Fair Poetry Competition at Ensemble Theatre (Cleveland Heights, OH)
• October 31 - Poet's Haven Halloween Jubilee (Massillon, OH)
• November 7 - Meet the Presses at Sanger Branch Library (Toledo, OH)

I competed in one poetry slam this year and ended up winning a slot on Lake Effect Poetry's 2015 Rustbelt Regional slam team (and a trip to Rockford, Illinois to compete).  However....

Sadly, due to serious family health issues, I had to cancel plans to participate in an unprecedented 5 events in 2015.  They were:

AWP in Minneapolis, MN
Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam in Rockford, IL
April 28 reading at Sips Coffee House in Mount Vernon, OH
June 12 book release at PACA in Erie, PA
July 28 Mad Sing You 3 poetry/music fest in Cleveland

So I've still never been west of Indiana.  But maybe I'll make it in 2016, when I have only 12 events scheduled (one of them is in Kansas City).  My 2016 events (so far) will be:

• February 27 - John Burroughs, Dianne Borsenik, Jason Ryberg, Shawn Pavey and Jameson Bayles at Mac's Backs in Cleveland Heights, OH
• February 28 - John Burroughs, Dianne Borsenik, Jason Ryberg, Shawn Pavey and Jameson Bayles at Guide to Kulchur in Cleveland, OH
• March 21 - John Burroughs & Mindi Kirchner-Greenway at Cultured Coffee & Waffles in Canton, OH
• April 8 - Burroughs, Christine Howey, Dan Smith & Leonard Kress for the Kozo Reading Series at the Morgan Conservatory  in Cleveland, OH
• April 15-17 - Poets from across the country at Prospero's Books in Kansas City, MO
• April 21 - Burroughs, Theresa Gottl Brightman, Mary Turzillo and musical guest Zaqi for Stark Knights at Buzzbin Art & Music in Canton, OH
• April 27 - Poetry at the Lorain Arts Council in Lorain, OH
• May 4 - Burroughs, Borsenik  and Matthew Minicucci at Suzie's Dogs & Drafts in Youngstown, OH
• May 7 - Hessler Street Fair Poetry Anthology/Contest reading at the Barking Spider in Cleveland, OH
• September 6 - Words and Wine featuring John Burroughs at Your Vine or Mine in Painesville, OH 
• October 14-15 - Indie Lit Fest at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, MD
• December 17 - George Wallace, Russ Green, Dianne Borsenik and John Burroughs at Classic Lines in Pittsburgh, PA

The aforementioned family health problems led to a lot of time spent in hospitals and doctor's offices, which helps explain why I was able to read 124 books and still fell behind on my Crisis Chronicles Press publishing commitments.

My wife retired from working this year, so I picked up more odd jobs ranging from freelance book editing to landscaping and deck painting.  My great Aunt Macel died at age 91 and great nephew Lucas Meinke died at age 2 and a half months.  And my car went a whole calendar year without being hit or getting into an accident.

I've started out each of the past several  years with a wish and intention to get caught up on Crisis Chronicles publishing commitments, only to find by the end of each year that my plan was more ambitious than the unanticipated twists and turns of life would allow.  In 2012 I planned to publish 24 titles and only published 18.  In 2013, I planned on 24 and only published 14.  In 2014 I planned on 24 and only got out 11.  And this year (2015) I came up with what I thought was a better-than-ever plan to publish 24 books, but still ended up publishing only 15.  So I've fallen further and further behind. 

You'd think I'd learn my lesson after this.  But I'm also slowly and steadily catching up, and I still have 24 books in the queue that I'm committed to (and excited about) publishing.  So here I am again planning to release two dozen books in 2016.  They include the long-awaited Oct Tongue 2, the 2016 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Anthology, and books by Alinda Wasner, Meg Harris, Heather Ann Schmidt, Austin Roye, Helen Shepard, Christopher Franke, Juliet Cook, Richard O'Donnell, Azriel Johnson, William Merricle, Christopher Willard, Carolyn Srygley-Moore, John Greiner, Lisa Cihlar, Jennifer MacBain-Stephens, Luba Gawur, Elliot Nicely, Michael Estabrook, Lana Bella, Christopher Mulrooney, Dion Farquhar, Steven B. Smith, and Chansonette Buck.  The fact that I'm hosting no events and giving far fewer featured readings this year than usual should help.  I plan to post a tentative Crisis Chronicles Press publication schedule soon.

But what about my own poetry?  Well, I haven't written a whole lot this year, and I submitted even less, but I did get a few things published.

My latest chapbook, Beat Attitude, was released on my 49th birthday (September 17) by NightBallet Press.  The editor nominated my poem "In Due Season" from it for a Pushcart Prize.

My writing has also appeared in the following 2015 publications:

• 2 poems in A Case for Ascension: A collaborative sample reader [Asinimali Publications]
• 1 poem in Rubicon: Words and Art Inspired by Oscar Wilde's De Profundis [Sybaritic Press]
• 5 poems in Lake Effect Poetry 2014 & 2015 Team Anthology [The Poet's Haven]
• 1 poem published online for Read + Write: 30 Days of Poetry by the Cuyahoga County Public Library.
• 1 poem mailed out in the May 2015 monthly digest by Green Panda Press
• 10 poems in The Poetry of S.O.U.L.: An Anthology of Selected Works by Poets from Around the World [The SOUL Collective of Collaborative Arts]

Still, 2015 was about a whole lot more than all that for me.  And 2016 will be about a lot more too.  But I've gone on long enough for one year.  Time to turn a few pages....

[Please note: my list of 2016 events was updated on 5 March 2016 to reflect additional gigs I've scheduled.]

Breakdown of books I read in 2015

In 2014, I read 75 books, which at the time tied 1994 for the year I read the most books.  This year, I planned to exceed that by reading 100, which I knew was attainable because I planned to read smaller books.  Well, by the end of 2015 I will have finished reading 124.  Of course I've read more than that. But the 124 does not include books that I abandoned in midstream or am still somewhere in the middle of reading.  

In the past, I read a lot more in different genres.  But recently, and especially in 2015, I have focused more on poetry, especially by small presses, and much of it local.  I find myself curious as to how it breaks down, so here are a few statistics on this year's finished books.

110 were print books
14 were e-books

115 were poetry books
9 were other genres

114 were published by small presses
10 were by big presses

73 were published in Ohio:
30 by NightBallet Press
14 by Crisis Chronicles Press
5 by Writing Knights Press
4 by Blood Pudding Press
4 by The Poet's Haven
1 or 2 each (16 in all) by other Ohio presses

56 were written either a) by Ohioans (loosely defined) or b) by multiple authors including Ohioans prominently

50 were published in 2015
18 were published in 2014
56 were published in earlier years

69 were written by men
43 were written by women
12 were collaborative works by both men and women

The last statistics surprised me, because I was fairly certain I read at least as many books by women as by men.

I'm sleepy, and tired or counting, so I guess that's enough for now.  You can check out the full list of books I finished in 2015 at Goodreads, if you wish.

Meanwhile,  I still have stacks and stacks of books I want to read and haven't yet.  So let's keep reading!  And I'll be back soon.

Crisis Chronicles Press publishes This Frankenstein Union by Esteban Colon

Crisis Chronicles Press is thrilled to announce the publication of Esteban Colon's latest poetry chapbook, This Frankenstein Union,  on 30 November 2015. It is the latest release in our Ninesense series of 9-poem chapbooks by writers you ought to know.

Colon's work is dark, funny, sexy, heavy in all the right places and unflinchingly truthful. This cycle of poems pulls love and passion through seductive fire. Come close, get hot, combust, and then remember it warmly.

Where do you want it?

North America $4.99 USD Elsewhere $7.99 USD

This Frankenstein Union is 16 pages, hand assembled and saddle stapled, 8.5 x 5.5", laser printed on white pages with kelly green card stock endpapers wrapped in white cover stock. Front artwork by Kevin Eberhardt. ISBN 978-1-940996-27-1. Limited edition of 99 copies, each available for a mere $4.99.

Esteban Colon is a Pushcart nominated writer and experiential educator from Kenosha. His work has found print in a variety of journals and anthologies. He is also the author of chapbooks Edgar Avenue (Naked Mannequin Press) and Between Blue Lines (Exact Change Press), along with his full length collection Things I Learned the Hard Way (Plain View Press).

Crisis Chronicles Press publishes Bradford Middleton's Drink Drank Drunk

Cover photo by Chandra Alderman

We are thrilled to announce the publication of intoxicating new work by UK poet Bradford Middleton on 14 November 2015. Drink Drank Drunk is a pamphlet of poems on the joys or otherwise of drinking, the latest release in Crisis Chronicles' NineSense series of 9 poem chapbooks by writers you ought to know.  Available for a mere $4.99 in the USA (a few dollars more for overseas orders).

Choose Your Location

North America $4.99 USD Europe/Elsewhere $7.99 USD

Drink Drank Drunk is hand assembled and saddle stapled, 8.5 x 5.5 inches, laser printed on white pages with black card stock endpapers wrapped in white cover stock emblazoned with Honeydew bourbon art. ISBN 978-1940996264.

Click here to rate/review at Goodreads.

Bradford Middleton was born in southeast London in 1971. He spent the next 30 years desperate to either get to the middle or get out, he could never decide, and eventually landed above a pseudo-legendary punk record shop in Croydon. After six years it became too much and he moved back deeper into south London and somehow landed a job. He went back to university and then aged 34 he finally got the chance to go away to university to study at postgraduate level in something interesting but not exactly vocational. Within a year he landed in Brighton and began writing crazy stories and poems of outrage and insanity. At the age of 38 he finally decided to show someone his work, and a series of editors received strange tales and bizarre poetry as he eschewed the influence of his friends. Just before his 40th birthday the Mad Swirl, those glorious souls from Dallas, USA, published his first poem, a joyous ode to losing your mind. That is not included here, so you’ll have to go find it online. He has, as of 2015, accumulated over 100 unique publications in various places including Empty Mirror; Zygote in My Coffee; Ppigpenn; Word Riot; Rolling Thunder Quarterly; The Camel Saloon; Fuck Art, Let’s Dance; Dead Snakes; The Weekenders; and Electric Windmill Press, as well as some others. His debut novel, DIVE, is now available from New Pulp Press. Follow him @beatnikbraduk on Twitter.

Tracie Morell: Best Erie Poet 2015

Congratulations to Tracie Morell on being selected Best Poet in the Erie Reader's Best of Erie 2015.  Crisis Chronicles Press had the honor of publishing her book Matilda's Battle Waltz this summer.

Crisis Chronicles publishes Kevin Ridgeway's new chapbook Contents Under Pressure

Kevin Ridgeway's new poetry chapbook, Contents Under Pressure, took me on a Kerouacian trip through broken appliances, drunken charades, fallen angels, kissing couples, hip-high grasses, mind fucks and sinister grooves with a keen eye and ear. When it was done, all I could say was "Amen!"— and "Again!" So I had to publish it.

Please choose US or International

US Orders $7.00 USD International $10.00 USD

Available 22 October 2015, Contents Under Pressure features 16 poems on 28 pages, is hand assembled and saddle stitch bound with textured ivory card stock cover, kelly green card stock end papers and white pages. 5.5 x 8.5". Cover image by Steven B. Smith. 

Only $7 (plus p+h) from Crisis Chronicles Press, 3344 W. 105th Street #4, Cleveland, Ohio 44111 USA. ISBN: 978-1-940996-25-7.

Kevin Ridgeway lives and writes in Long Beach, California. His work has been published widely in the small press, with recent poems that can be found or are forthcoming in Chiron Review, Nerve Cowboy, Lummox, San Pedro River Review, Misfit Magazine, Right Hand Pointing, Bicycle Review, American Mustard and The Mas Tequila Review, among others. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Contents Under Pressure is his sixth chapbook of poetry.

Crisis Chronicles Press publishes Susan Sheppard's hauntingly good Balefire

Crisis Chronicles Press is thrilled to announce the publication of Susan Sheppard's long-awaited Balefire, a winner of our most recent poetry chapbook competition.  I absolutely love these poems!

“From the first poem’s first line, Evening is the monster we swim in, a compulsion gripped me to read straight through to the last line of the last poem. It’s as if Sheppard is a dark angel who clasped my hand and floated me through haunting poems of ‘chrome moon’ and ‘autumn’s sorcery.’ Balefire will chill you, thrill you, and fill holes you didn’t know were there.”
          —Dianne Borsenik, publisher at NightBallet Press

Balefire is 32 pages, hand crafted and saddle stabled with textured ivory card stock cover, black endpapers, and cottonwood fiber pages.  Laser printed, 5.5 x 8.5", with cover art by Susan Sheppard. ISBN 978-1-940996-24-0.  Only $7 (plus p+h) from Crisis Chronicles Press, 3344 W. 105th Street #4, Cleveland, Ohio 44111 USA.

Please choose US or International

US Orders $7.00 USD International $10.00 USD

Susan Sheppard of Parkersburg, West Virginia, has poetry published in over 100 magazines and has been writing poetry for more than 30 years. She is descended from the Blackfoot-Saponi and Lenape-Shawnee tribes of her region. In 1998, she was awarded a Poetry Fellowship from West Virginia Arts & Humanities. Sheppard is the author of a number of books, including four non-fiction and one novel. She teaches poetry every Thursday at Sacred Way Arts in downtown Parkersburg. Her seasonal ghost tour, the Haunted Parkersburg Ghost Tours, is rated the #8 most popular ghost tour in the nation.

My Beat Attitude Chapbook Released by NightBallet

My new book, Beat Attitude, was released on September 17th, my 49th birthday, by NightBallet Press, and made its public debut Saturday the 19th during BeatStreet Cleveland. I'm thrilled with how artfully editor Dianne Borsenik put it together. Beat Attitude is 32 pages and features 23 poems, bound with a pale ivory cover emblazoned with Kevin Eberhardt art and a burnt orange card stock insert. And it's only 5 dollars!

In response to it, Tom Kryss says, "Burroughs takes up the sledgehammer lying at the base of the wall, and like a tray of glassware hurtling down an elevator shaft, centrifugally levitated, romances blown sunflowers forever drawn to the guard rails."

I began a few of these poems as early as 1997, the year William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg passed away. Most were written much more recently. All were either inspired by the Beats and their contemporaries or have a related heartbeat.

I hope you'll order a copy online or see me and pick one up at one of these upcoming events:

10/1/2015 - Caryl Pagel & John Burroughs read at the Literary Cafe in Cleveland.

10/15/2015 - Dianne Borsenik & John Burroughs read at the Root Cafe in Cuyahoga Falls.

10/31/2015 - Poet's Haven Halloween Jubilee at Oak Knoll Park in Massillon.

11/7/2015 - Meet the Presses at the Sigmond Sanger Branch Library in Toledo.

Poems included in Beat Attitude are:

Divided, We Fall Together
Unfinished
Allen Ginsberg Wants You
Orlovsky
Magnetic Repulsion
Hopper
Primacy
Pullet
Inner Expedition
Holy Sheet
Call of Poetry
A Cross Tic
To a Fruit
Reapetition
In Due Season
Aye, Pod
Baloney
LadySings
From BS to BA
More, Man
Mastering Ascension
Cannot Believe William S. Burroughs Is Dead
Invocation

*

Meet the Presses - November 7th in Toledo

Release from the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library:

Come to Meet the Presses to meet and speak with various small and independent literary presses from the greater northeast Ohio metropolitan area. Speakers from Writing Knights Press (Canton, OH), NightBallet Press (Cleveland, OH), Crisis Chronicles Press (Cleveland, OH), The Poet's Haven (Massillon, OH), and Blood Pudding Press (Medina, OH) will share their works and give advice on how to get published. Refreshments will be provided. All are welcome to attend.

Saturday November 7th
2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Sanger Branch
3030 W. Central Ave.
Toledo, Ohio 43606
Phone: 419.259.5370

Barking Spider Diddley Groove Uncaged

Don't worry, it goes right side up in about 7 seconds.  This is me spewing an incomplete version of my poem "John Cage Engaged and Uncaged" to the accompaniment of Ray McNiece's Tongue-in-Groove band on 16 May 2015 at the Barking Spider Tavern in Cleveland during the Hessler Street Fair.  Thanks to Dianne Borsenik for recording it.  I promise no microphones were harmed in the making of this video.

Diarrhea of the Mind by Burroughs

Now on exhibit at SPACES! Thanks to artist Ward Shelley for creating The Last Library and including my title. Go check it out while you have a chance.  And submit your own titles!

Next

Crisis Chronicles Press work is kinda on hold for the next week or two while I'm out of town taking care of family business. But then we hope to get out some great books between when I get home and the end of September, including: 

When You Don't Know Who You Are by Alinda Wasner

Balefire by Susan A Sheppard

Contents Under Pressure by Kevin Ridgeway

Special Watch by Richard M. O'Donnell

Oct Tongue 2 by Eric Anderson, Margaret Bashaar, Dianne Borsenik, Kathleen Cerveny, Juliet Cook, Mark Sebastian Jordan, Lyn Lifshin, and George Wallace

Inquiry into Loneliness by Meg Harris

god save your mad parade by Austen Roye

Fractured Fairy Tales by William Merricle

Ship of Theseus by Christopher Willard

Of Friends & Liars & Intelligent Crows by Carolyn Srygley-Moore

Desire Doesn't Work Here by Lisa Cihlar

Turnstile Burlesque by John Greiner

Of course, as always, a lot depends on a lot.

You, Sirs

To You, Sirs

if you can't
be kind
count on me
to decline

*

Crisis Chronicles Press publishes Ghost on the Inside by John Dorsey!

Crisis Chronicles Press is pleased to present Ghost on the Inside, a new chapbook by John Dorsey published 27 June 2015.  It features the poems "steel city rope-a-dope," "icarus revisited," "sheboygan sean," "brian on n. 6th  street," "sheboygan 1," "sheboygan 2," "at 37: for mikey west," "harry’s diner poem: for mj taylor," "in his 60's," "on oak street: for everette maddox," "steve goldberg death poem" and "poem for christian o’keeffe."  As D.R. Wagner has said of John Dorsey, "Boy, this guy means it. What a fine poet, ladies and gentlemen."

Ghost on the Inside is 5.5" x 8.5", hand assembled, saddle stapled, with cover image by Steven B. Smith on white cover stock with black card stock endpapers and the poems printed on pale cottonwood paper.  Only $6 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 3344 W. 105th Street #4, Cleveland, Ohio 44111 USA.

Please choose US or International

US Orders $6.00 USD International $10.00 USD

John Dorsey is the author of several collections of poetry, including Teaching the Dead to Sing: The Outlaw’s Prayer (Rose of Sharon Press, 2006), Sodomy is a City in New Jersey (American Mettle Books, 2010), Tombstone Factory (Epic Rites Press, 2013), Natural Selection: Early Poems (Kilmog Press, 2014) and Imaginary Foxholes (Rusty Truck Press, 2015). His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He may be reached at archerevans@yahoo.com.

Join us for the official release celebration on 27 June 2015 during Sylvania Avenue Performances in front of the West Toledo Library.

Everyone's Uh

Everyone's Uh

hypercritical
hypocritical
and everything
in between

 

Crisis Chronicles Press celebrates Matilda's Battle Waltz by Tracie Morell

Matilda's Battle Waltz is a powerful new collection of poems by Tracie Morell, illustrated by Kris Risto, featuring wraparound cover art by Ken Paul Johnson. Perfect bound, 5.5" x 8.5", 89 pages, ISBN 978-1-940996-22-6.  Available for $10 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 3344 W. 105th Street #4, Cleveland, Ohio 44111 USA.

“Tracie Morell’s work exhibits a lyrical acuity which illuminates and devastates. She leads us on a harrowing and electrifying journey through the life of Matilda, a being who dances on the brink of existence between what is marginalized and what has risen above to live in rarified air. Morell has no fear; our eyes blaze and dilate with Matilda, as we bear witness to our collective ruin. Morell’s poems celebrate the connections between the interior and exterior world and in doing so, take us closer to both.”

     —Kelly Boyker, Poetry Editor at Menacing Hedge 

“Tracie Morell is the patron saint of every woman that is tough, beautiful...and pissed off. The thing I admire about her the most is, she doesn't bitch about life's short comings, she resolves conflict with a love that is bulletproof. Matilda's Battle is her recent attempt at reminding the world that if you want to be happy...you better ask questions.”
     —Danny Klecko, author of Houdini in St. Paul

These are not to be read with eyes — it takes but a few lines before you feel her words writing themselves into you, burning the beauty and the pain on the insides of your eyelids and the long bones of your ribcage. Tracie's poems are scrimshaw and snowflakes: permanent, yet glittering."
     —Amanda Gowin, author of Radium Girls 

"Reading Matilda’s Battle Waltz is succumbing to a mesmerizing liturgy of literary moves that includes Matilda’s pontifications, navigations, poetic landscapes, work woes, and foreign loves. The reader travels the path of a most beautiful way of living that does not deny or distinguish between the glorious and the seedy, but sees each poem as a song, a part of the poetic whole. Indeed, the roots of Matilda’s experience grow with you upon every read and you find yourself tapping your foot to her poetic rhythms as the highs and lows pull you into her life’s dance."

     —Kathleen D. Gallagher, author of I See Things are Falling

Tracie Morell — by Kris Risto

Tracie Morell was raised on the savannah by a pack of feral gazelles. At a young age, she learned to bend iron bars with naught but her teeth and sheer determination. During her school years, she consistently wowed her teachers and mentors with her ability to dodge skepticism while performing feats of whimsical magic. In adulthood, she has birthed miniscule acrobats who assist her in her day-to-day tasks of smashing the banality of various poverties. In her spare time, she enjoys semaphore, scrimshaw, collecting rejection letters, and working on cars for the love of artistry and craftsmanship, despite her loathing of vehicular landscapes and the smell of ethanol. She resides in a land beyond your reach. Only Ben Frasier knows how to find her.  

Join us for the official book launch for Matilda's Battle Waltz on Friday June 12th 2015 at 5:30 p.m. during Poets and Painters at PACA, 1505 State Street in Erie, Pennsylvania.  

The launch event will feature poetry readings by Marisa Moks-Unger (whose chapbook, Mud and Stars, will be released that night by NightBallet Press), Tracie Morell, Shawn King, Veronica Hopkins, Juliet Cook, Dianne Borsenik and John Burroughs - plus music by Rodger Montgomery and an exhibition of work by Kris Risto and Ken Paul Johnson.  Not to be missed!

May 4th Monday at Mahall's will feature Stephen Haven & Kathleen Cerveny, plus the final 2015 Lake Effect Poetry team selection slam

On 5/4/2015 at 7:30 pm, the Monday at Mahall's poetry series will present readings by featured authors Stephen Haven and Kathleen Cerveny.

Stephen Haven [photo by Celia Olsen]

Stephen Haven is the author of The Last Sacred Place in North America, selected by T.R. Hummer as winner of the 2010 New American Press Poetry Prize. He has published two previous collections of poetry, Dust and Bread (Turning Point, 2008), for which he was named 2009 Ohio Poet of the Year, and The Long Silence of the Mohawk Carpet Smokestacks (University of New Mexico/West End Press, 2004). He is also the author of the memoir, The River Lock: One Boy’s Life along the Mohawk (Syracuse University Press, 2008). He spent two years as a Fulbright Professor of American literature at universities in Beijing and has published many collaborative translations of contemporary Chinese poetry. Haven's poems have appeared in Salmagundi, Parnassus, American Poetry Review, Guernica, The Southern Review, The Common, Poetry New Zealand, Literary Imagination, World Literature (Beijing), Image, Crazyhorse and in many other journals. He has a Ph.D. in American civilization (literature, intellectual history and American painting) from New York University, where he wrote his dissertation under the direction of Harold Bloom, and a Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the University of Iowa. He is Professor of English and director of the Ashland University MFA Program, where he also directs the Ashland Poetry Press.

Kathleen Cerveny [photo by John Burroughs]

Kathleen Cerveny is a poet and visual artist, a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art (BFA) and of the University of Southern Maine Stonecoast Creative Writing Program (MFA). During the 1970s and ‘80s Kathleen exhibited her ceramics locally and nationally. From 1987-90 she was Cleveland Public Radio’s first producer and broadcast journalist for the arts, winning more than 15 top awards and producing many features for National Public Radio. Since 1991 Kathleen has been the Director of Arts Initiatives for the Cleveland Foundation, the country’s first community foundation. Her poems have appeared in the Southern New Hampshire University journal Amoskeag, the e-journal Shaking Like a Mountain, and in journals published by Pudding House Press, among others. A poem of Kathleen’s was selected for inclusion in an anthology published by Future Cycle Press, Poems for Malala Yousafzai, and NightBallet Press published a chapbook of her poems, Coming to Terms. in April 2015. Kathleen is the 2014 recipient of the Robert Bergman Award from the Cleveland Arts Prize and served as the 2013-15 Poet Laureate of Cleveland Heights.

After the features, there will be an open mic emceed by John Burroughs. Beer, bowling, and balderdash optional, as always.

Concluding the show, a slam will be held in which the winner will claim a spot on Lake Effect Poetry's 2015 team and compete at the Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam in Rockford, Illinois, over Summer Solstice weekend. Vertigo Xavier will emcee this portion of the evening. This is the FINAL of four slams scheduled to determine LEP's 2015 team roster. Poets may compete in as many of these slams as they wish, however a NO REPEAT rule will be in effect. Repeating a poem used in a previous slam will result in an automatic score of 0. Once a poet has won a slam, they can still compete at later events but will not be in contention for a second spot on the team. (There's only one of you and we need four poets to fill the team roster.) Each slam will have a 3 minute rule, with a 10 second grace period and then one-half point deducted from the score every 10 seconds. No props, no costumes, no musical instruments, and must be your own material. All the regular rules. Every effort will be made to have five judges for each slam, but if unbiased judges are in short supply we will make due with just three. For more details on Lake Effect Poetry and information about the other three Team Selection Slams, visit www.lakeeffectpoetry.com.  

Not Beat Yet - But Soon

Because of family needs I didn't get to read in Mount Vernon last night after all.  I'm sorry to have missed seeing co-features Lennart Lundh and Andy Roberts but happy that Dianne Borsenik was able at the last minute to fill in for me and promote her new Crisis Chronicles Press chapbook Thunderclap Amen.  Hopefully I'll have another opportunity to read down there soon, maybe after NightBallet Press publishes my new chapbook, Beat Attitude, in the fall to correspond with BeatStreet Cleveland 2015.

Sip This!

I have the privilege and pleasure of reading this Tuesday, April 28th, 6:30 p.m. at Sips Coffee House, 101 S. Main Street in Mount Vernon, Ohio.  The other featured poets will be Ohio's Andy Roberts and Illinois' Lennart Lundh.  David Kender will be the evening's featured musical performer.  Ohio Poetry Association Vice President Mark Hersman will host.  For more information, please click here.