Porcelains and Poetry in South Euclid: Rescheduled for Spring 2023

[UPDATE: due to unforeseen circumstances, this event will be be rescheduled for Spring 2023.]

On December 10th at 6:30 p.m., I'll have the privilege of being one of twelve area poets reading brand new ekphrastic work to raise funds for a very good cause. Porcelains & Poetry will be hosted by South Euclid Poet Laureate Doc Janning and One South Euclid at the Museum of American Porcelain Art.

From the press release:

"Enjoy readings by a dozen prominent local poets created in response to art at the American Museum of Porcelain Art with musical interludes by a string quartet from Charles F. Brush High School. Hors d'oeuvres and beverages will be served. Proceeds from the fundraising event will support a One South Euclid program that helps senior residents age in place."

Buy your ticket at https://www.onesoutheuclid.org/event-details/porcelains-poetry.

Participating poets:

Doc Janning
Raja Belle Freeman
John Burroughs
Ray McNiece
Shelley Chernin
Amy Kesegich
Jeremy Jusek
Cat Russell
Russ Vidrick
Barbara Marie Minney
Mimi Plevin-Foust
Abdul Ghani

Museum of American Porcelain Art
4645 Mayfield Road
South Euclid, Ohio 44121

Join us for Poetry in the Park, Cleveland Heights, 9/10/2021

I will have the pleasure of reading with some fine poets on Friday September 10th at 5:30 p.m. Eastern at Harvey Pekar Park, near the corner of Coventry Road and Euclid Heights Boulevard in Cleveland Heights. This is an outdoor event. The authors' books will available for sale right down the street at Mac's Backs Books on Coventry. Hope to see you there! For more info and to RSVP, click the image.

Lineup:

Cat  Russell
John Burroughs
Doc Janning
Sara Minges (all the way from Nashville, TN)
Shelley Chernin
Barbara Marie Minney

Moderating Cleveland Poetics and an Interview with Cat Russell

Michael Salinger created the Cleveland Poetics blog in 2008 and invited a bunch of local poets to be regular contributors. I was fortunate to be one of them, although life and other pursuits prevented me from contributing as much as I would have liked over the years. At some point a decade or so ago, Michael handed off his role of blog moderator to Geoffrey Landis. Our region owes both of these men an immense debt of gratitude for their generous and indispensable service to the project.

You probably know that Cleveland Poetics is also home to the Northeast Ohio Literary Calendar. Michael created that too. And though I did not contribute as much as I might have liked to the blog, I did early on embrace the role of the primary person responsible for maintaining the online calendar and keeping it as comprehensive as possible. Fortunately, I have had some help from others in the community who have admin rights and can add their own events. Cat Russell, for example, has been particularly helpful in recent months, having agreed to ensure that all of Literary Cleveland's events are included.

But back to the blog. A couple of months ago, Geoffrey Landis decided to hand off his moderator role and offered it to me. Now that I'm no longer as busy with caring for ill family members, publishing, event hosting, and so on, I have a bit more discretionary time and so happily accepted the task. That means I will be sharing more there. I also hope to recruit some more regular contributors.

One of my first posts in my new role there is an interview with the aforementioned Cat Russell about her new book, An Optimist's Journal of the End of Days and Other Stories. [2020, Venetian Spider Press]. I hope you'll check it out. And while you're at the Cleveland Poetics blog, give us your email address (you'll find "Follow by Email" in the right sidebar) so you can stay up to date on future developments, both on the site and around our northeast Ohio literary community. Finally, if you would like to contribute to the blog, feel free to reach out and let me know. 

Cat Russell and the End of Days: An Interview / www.clevelandpoetry.com

Burroughs and Chernin to Read in Wadsworth this Saturday 1/18

I will have the honor of reading with Shelley Chernin again this Saturday at Manic on Main in Wadsworth, Ohio. Many thanks to Cat Russell and Kristin LeFever Beck for putting this special event together!  I have fond memories of Wadsworth from visiting family there on lots of weekends as I was growing up.

This will be part of my ongoing Rattle and Numb poetry tour. We'll also be celebrating the fact that my Crisis Chronicles Press has just reprinted Shelley's chapbook, The Vigil. 

Poetry Night & Open Mic
featuring John Burroughs & Shelley Chernin
Saturday 18 January 2020 at 7 p.m.

Manic on Main
136 Main Street
Wadsworth, Ohio 44281
www.maniconmain.com
(330) 245-6751

NightBallet & Crisis Chronicles Presses present Streelight Imaginations 11/23

Crisis Chronicles and NightBallet Presses Present

Streetlight Imaginations — Poets Read from Recent Books

South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch
Cuyahoga County Public Library
Meeting Room 162 (20)
1876 South Green Road
South Euclid, Ohio 44121

Saturday November 23rd at 2 p.m., join us for an afternoon of vital poetry. Hear from eight poets, all with recent books published by Crisis Chronicles Press and NightBallet Press.

Crisis Chronicles Press poets:

• Nick Gardner, So Marvelously Far (2019)
• Nicole Hennessy, Gypsy Queen (2019)
• Cat Russell, Soul Picked Clean (2019)
• Elaine Schleiffer, Our house on the sand (2019)
  
  

NightBallet Press poets:

• Karen Schubert, Dear Youngstown (2019)
• Lisa M. and Sean Thomas Dougherty, The Answer Is Not Here (2019)
• Julio Montalvo Valentin, Those Who Pray to Rice (2019)

Refreshments provided. Books will be available for purchase and signing, courtesy of the publishers.

Free event! Please register here: https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/2454819.

Registration is not required, but is helpful to the library in setting up for the event.
 

What's Up with Crisis Chronicles Press?

People keep asking me what's up with Crisis Chronicles Press. Here's the short answer:

Our 2019 titles so far

1) EVENTS: A) We'll be in Kansas City this weekend (October 11-13) for Fountainverse: KC Small Press Poetry Fest. B) On November 23rd, we will team up with NightBallet Press to present readings by our Class of 2019 authors during Streetlight Imaginations with Crisis Chronicles & NightBallet at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library. C) I am also hosting (at least through March 2020) the Poetry+ reading series on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at Art on Madison in Lakewood, Ohio.

2) BOOKS: It's hard to believe we published 5 wonderful books (by John Dorsey, Mindi Kirchner-Greenway, Elaine Schleiffer, Cat Russell and Nicole Hennessy) in the first four months of 2019 and we haven't published a new one since (I've been too busy with a million things). But over the summer several of our recent titles did go into second printings. We still have eight books in our committed-to-publishing queue. We intend to publish three of them (So Marvelously Far by Nick Gardner, Ode to Horatio and Other Saviors by Carolyn Srygley-Moore and Alex in Movieland by Alex Gildzen) by the end of 2019. We'll space the final five out over the course of 2020.

3) SUBMISSIONS: In the past week I've written to dozens of people declining their unsolicited submissions. Technically we haven't even been open for submissions in years, though I sometimes bent that policy for a project I just couldn't pass up. For a while (years?) I flirted with (and at times seriously considered) the idea of reopening submissions after I got caught up. But I never caught up. Now I'm becoming more and more inclined just to wrap up the press for good after I complete my current commitments.

It's been an incredible ride. I've had the honor and privilege of working with some fantastic writers and people. And it's not over yet. Eight phenomenal books are coming. I hope you love them as much as I do.

Meanwhile, there's still time to complete your collection at http://ccpress.blogspot.com/.

Gratefully yours,
John

So Much to See and Hear in the Next Few Weeks

Some upcoming events featuring Crisis Chronicles Press and/or our authors:

4/22 in Barberton, OH - Cat Russell author talk with music by Ed Amann at the Barberton Public Library.

4/23 in Cleveland Heights, OH - CLE Uncorked Performers Showcase featuring John Burroughs and more at CLE Urban Winery.

4/24 in Palm Springs, CA - A Night of Poetry and Art with Alex Gildzen.

4/25 in Marietta, OH - David Dodd Lee & Athens Poet Laureate: Kari Gunter-Seymour at WSCC (https://www.wscc.edu/event/poetry-reading/)

4/27 in Columbus, OH - 2019 Ohioana Book Festival

4/28 in Old Brooklyn, OH - National Poetry Month Book Fair

4/30 in Worthington, OH - Rikki Santer & Jennifer Hambrick at The Light of Seven Matchsticks.

5/4 in Lakewood, OH - Vision of the Gypsy Queen featuring Nicole Hennessy's book launch.

More, More, More

Some great events either Crisis Chronicles Press, recent CCP authors, or I personally am/are involved in through the next few weeks of National Poetry Month include:

4/11 in Canton, OH - Cat Russell reads at Dorrie's Booktique (6:30pm).

4/12 in Canton OH - Cat Russell and others will compete in Writing Knights sWord Fight Showcase & Feature.

4/13 in South Euclid OH - Rikki Santer will read and Shelley Chernin will represent CCP during Publishing Poetry in Northeast Ohio (http://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/1408538).

4/13 in Massillon OH - Cat Russell will participate in Local Author Fair.

4/14 in Cleveland OH - Tongue in Groove Poetry Jam hosted by Raymond McNiece and featuring Dianne Borsenik at The Millard Fillmore Presidential Library.

4/17 in Cleveland OH - The Queer Community Read will feature me, Elaine Schleiffer and a whole lot more.

4/19 in Canton OH - Poetry and Art: Poet Cat Russell with artist Jim Meador.

4/22 in Barberton OH - Cat Russell and Ed Amann Author Talk at the Barberton Public Library.

4/24 in Palm Springs CA - A Night of Poetry and Art with Alex Gildzen.

4/27 in Columbus OH - 2019 Ohioana Book Festival.

4/28 in Old Brooklyn OH - National Poetry Month Book Fair.

I can barely keep all this and so many other great area events in my head, so I probably missed something.

Also, stay tuned for a very important announcement about a fantastic new release in May!

Cat Russell Book Launch and Review

From the Akron Beacon Journal (3/20/2019):

Everyday life is the source for the poetry in Cat Russell’s collection Soul Picked Clean. The provocative title of her opening poem “Why I Can’t Tell You About My First Time” refers to her first library visit, which Russell can’t recall but which instilled in her a lifelong love of reading, leading to visits to high school and college libraries. The delicate “Urn” depicts the poet’s mother seated in her “tastefully decorated office” selecting a cloisonné urn to contain the ashes of her husband, to keep him close by.

“Panic” ably describes the uncontrollability of a panic attack and how it feeds on itself, and “Gathering” the prosaic childhood memory of Russell’s father and his friends relaxing poolside with beer and chips.

Some of the poems were previously published.

Soul Picked Clean (89 pages, softcover) costs $12 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 3431 George Ave., Parma 44134.

Cat Russell will be joined by Pittsburgh poets Jen Ashburn (The Light on the Wall) and Jason Irwin (A Blister of Stars) at 7 p.m. Saturday [3/30/2019] at Mac’s Backs, 1820 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights.

https://www.ohio.com/entertainmentlife/20190320/local-books-stories-of-world-war-ii-poetry-about-everyday-life-events-and-signings

Crisis Chronicles Press to publish Soul Picked Clean by Cat Russell

Crisis Chronicles Press is pleased to announce the publication of Soul Picked Clean, the debut poetry collection by Ohio writer Cat Russell.

"In Soul Picked Clean Cat Russell provides a thoughtful and hopeful collection of sharp-edged, personal poems that balance themes of “cosmic coincidence” (“Dice”) with close observations of daily life and family. Knitting together comfort and struggle, Russell’s poems build a sense of alienation filled with tense urgency. In poems like “Serial Killer at the Laundromat” she brings to focus measured risks, remaining “acutely conscious of / how alone I am” and “Balloon,” which imagines the growth and deflation of memory and life through “the events / that would shape and fill me.” If “Children see the things adults turn away from” ("2 a.m."), they are also evident in the honest insights of Russell’s debut collection."

—E F Schraeder, author of Chapter Eleven

Your location?

United States $12.00 USD Elsewhere $15.00 USD

Soul Picked Clean is around 100 pages, perfect bound, 5.5 x 8.5". ISBN: 978-1-64092-978-4. Front cover photo by Chandra Alderman. Available in March 2019 for only $12 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 3431 George Avenue, Parma, Ohio 44134 USA. 

Meet the author at these special events:

3/30 (7pm) - Book launch party at Mac's Backs, 1820 Coventry Rd, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118. Cat Russell and Pittsburgh-area poets Jason Irwin and Jen Ashburn will read.

4/12 - Aztilude - sWord Fight Tournament in Canton, Ohio. More details forthcoming.

4/13 (11am-2pm) - Local Author Fair at Massillon Public Library, 208 Lincoln Way E, Massillon, Ohio 44646.

Cat Russell shares her life with her high school sweetheart, their son, and other ferocious creatures in the wilds of Ohio while composing poetry, writing short stories, and learning more about the craft every day. Her work has been published in Flash Me magazine, Metro Fiction, Beyond Centauri, and the Best of Friday Flash – Volume One and -Volume Two anthologies, as well as Poetry Quarterly and Three Line Poetry. More of her writing can be found on her blog at ganymeder.com.