Named Literary Artist of The Month by Heights Arts

Some good news in the midst of this pandemic: I am honored and grateful to have been selected as Heights Arts' Literary Artist of the Month for May 2020!

https://www.heightsarts.org/artist-of-month/artist-of-the-month-literary-7

Ekphrastacy: Artists Speak + Poets Respond (2/13 at Heights Arts)

Me reading at a previous Ekphrastacy in 2018
(photo courtesy of Heights Arts)

This Thursday, 13 February at 7 p.m. I will be one of four poets sharing new work in response to Heights Arts' new Point-Line-Pattern-Plane exhibition. The others will be Ray McNiece, Carson Evans and Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate Damien McClendon.

From the Heights Arts website:

"An exhibition of textile art curated by Janice Lessman-Moss, [Point-Line-Pattern-Plane] highlights a range of work being done by artists in NE Ohio using the distinctive materiality and processes associated with the medium of Fibers.  Although building on a foundation of traditional techniques, all the artists use the language of textiles to create objects of beauty and meaning, reflecting the sensibilities of our time.  Processes such as weaving, stitching and dyeing are used to develop form and surface, while repetition, accumulation, color and pattern are mined for content and character."

Artists featured in the exhibition are Laurie Addis, Elena Brebenel, Si-Yun Chang, Rebecca Cross, Hildur Asgeirsdottir Jonsson, Andrea Myers, Jessica Pinsky, and Katlin Shae.

Ekphrastacy: Artists Speak + Poets Respond

Heights Arts
2175 Lee Road
Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118
https://www.heightsarts.org/

John Burroughs’ 2020 Poetry Events (Scheduled So Far)

I'm starting to put together my 2020 Poetry calendar and I'd love to read for/with you if we can make it happen. Still touring behind my latest book, Rattle & Numb: Selected & New Poems, 1992-2019 [Venetian Spider Press], I’ll read at your bar, festival, living room, bookstore, gallery, university or spacecraft - especially if you’re in Ohio (since I’ll still be the Beat Poet Laureate for our fair state through 2021), though I’m always open to travel for the right gig. For booking, please email jc@crisischronicles.com.

Saturday 4 January at 1 p.m. in Upper Sandusky, Ohio
Poetry reading and discussion with John Burroughs at Riddlehaven.

Monday 6 January at 8 p.m. in Lakewood, Ohio
Bowled Over by Holbrook/Burroughs, hosted by Terry Provost at Mahall’s 20 Lanes, 13200 Madison Avenue, 44107.

Wednesday 8 January at 7 p.m. in Youngstown, Ohio
Lit Youngstown presents John Burroughs & Shelley Chernin at The Soap Gallery, 117 S. Champion Street, 44503.

Saturday 18 January at 7 p.m. in Wadsworth, Ohio
Poetry Night and Open Mic featuring John Burroughs & Shelley Chernin at Manic on Main, 136 Main Street, 44281. 

Sunday 19 January at 2 p.m. in Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie County Poet Laureate Chuck Joy presents a staged reading of Spoon River Anthology, Selected Poems (including John Burroughs in the role of Theodore the Poet) at the Erie County Public Library 160 E Front Street, 16507.

Tuesday 21 January at 7 p.m. in Lakewood, Ohio
Poetry+ featuring Chuck Salmons and Renay Sanders plus open mic, emceed by John Burroughs at Art on Madison, 14203 Madison Avenue, 44107.

Thursday 13 February at 7 p.m. in Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Ekphrastacy: Artists Speak + Poets Respond (to the Point Line Pattern Plane exhibit) featuring Ray McNiece, John Burroughs and Carson Evans at Heights Arts, 2175 Lee Road, 44118.

Tuesday 18 February at 7 p.m. in Lakewood, Ohio
Poetry+ featuring Bill Yarrow & Laura Grace Weldon plus open mic, emceed by John Burroughs at Art on Madison, 14203 Madison Avenue, 44107.

Sunday 8 March at 6 p.m. in Toledo, Ohio
Uncloistered Poetry featuring John Burroughs, Sam Wright and Sandra Gill at Calvino’s Restaurant & Wine Bar, 3143 W Central Avenue, 43606.

Tuesday 17 March at 7 p.m. in Lakewood, Ohio
Poetry+ featuring Leah Mueller and Rikki Santer plus open mic, emceed by John Burroughs at Art on Madison, 14203 Madison Avenue, 44107.

Thursday 9 April at 7 p.m. in Lakewood, Ohio

Meet the Author featuring John Burroughs at the Lakewood Public Library, 15425 Detroit Avenue, 44107.

Friday 10 April at 7 p.m. in Buffalo, New York
Second Stage Writers at Grindhaus, 160 Allen Street, 14201. More info forthcoming.

Friday 17 April at 6:30 p.m. in Pomeroy, Ohio
Poetry at the Brickhouse: Kari Gunter-Seymour & John Burroughs at the Brickhouse Apothecary, 105 Butternut Avenue, 45769.

Tuesday 21 April at 7 p.m. in Lakewood, Ohio
Poetry+ featuring Terry Provost and Nick Gardner plus open mic, emceed by John Burroughs at Art on Madison, 14203 Madison Avenue, 44107.

Tuesday 19 May at 7 p.m. in Evansville, Indiana
Poetry Speaks featuring John Burroughs, hosted by Indiana Beat Poet Laureate William Sovern at the Bokeh Lounge, 1007 Parrett Street, 47713.

Saturday 13 June at 5 p.m. in Amherst, Ohio
Poetic Expressions from the Heart featuring a workshop, John Burroughs, and open mic hosted by Debra Rose at Arabica Coffee Bistro, 254 Park Avenue, 44001.

Thursday 9 July at 7 p.m. in Shaker Heights, Ohio
Broadsides & Ephemera featuring John Burroughs, plus open mic, at Loganberry Books, 13015 Larchmere Boulevard, 44120.

Saturday 25 July at 7 p.m. in Cleveland, Ohio
Annual Cleveland Inkubator festival sponsored by Literary Cleveland at the Cleveland Public Library, Superior Avenue, 44114. More info forthcoming.

4 through 6 September in New Hartford, Connecticut
2020 National Beat Poetry Festival. More info forthcoming.

25 through 26 September in Youngstown, Ohio
Lit Youngstown’s Fall Literary Festival 2020. More info forthcoming.

2 through 3 October in Frostburg, Maryland
The Western Maryland Independent Literature Festival hosted by the Frostburg State University Center for Literary Arts. More details forthcoming.

Stay tuned. More to be added.

[Originally published 1/1/2020. Updated 2/11/2020.]

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.

Reading new work at Heights Arts in Cleveland Heights tonight!

art by John Carlson, Dana Oldfather,
Suzanne Head & Tony Ingrisano

Tonight, Thursday 5 April, at Heights Arts! Poets Mwatabu S. Okantah, Mary E. Weems, Christine Howey and I will read new work inspired by the exhibition Drawn Together: Emotional Intelligence and the Vernacular of the Heart. We'll also hear a talk from curator Josh Werling, as well as exhibition artists Suzanne Head, Tony Ingrisano, and Dana Oldfather. More info.

Heights Arts
2175 Lee Road
Cleveland, OH 44118

My Sibyl Lipsmacked

My poem "Sibyl" appears in the just published Lipsmack! A Sampler Platter of Poets from NightBallet Press, Year Five 2016, alongside work by George Wallace, Andy Roberts, Joey Nicoletti, Chansonette Buck, Lenny DellaRocca, D.R. Wagner, Steve Abbott, Robert Walicki, Wolfgang Carstens, Janne Karlsson and M.J. Arcangelini.  I wrote "Sibyl" last year for an Ekphrastacy program hosted by Heights Arts in Cleveland Heights. The poem was inspired by a Herbert Ascherman Jr. photograph, and exhibited next to that photograph during the retrospective Herbert Ascherman Jr.: 40 Years.

Reading new work Thursday 9/29 at Heights Arts

I look forward to participating in Ekphrastacy: Artists Talk + Poets Respond on September 29th at Heights Arts. The evening will feature an artist talk by legendary photographer Herbert Ascherman Jr. and a poetry reading (of new works the Ascherman exhibit has inspired) by Heather Schmidt, Milenko Budimir, Holly Jensen and me. I'm grateful to Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate Christine Howey for inviting me.

Heights Arts
2175 Lee Road
Cleveland Heights, Ohio

www.heightsarts.org

My "In Due Season" Nominated for Pushcart

NightBallet Press has just nominated my poem "In Due Season" (from the chapbook Beat Attitude) for a Pushcart Prize. What a thrill, especially to be included in such fine company (they also nominated great poems by Margie Shaheed, Kathleen Cerveny, Geoffrey A. Landis, Connie Everett and Lyn Lifshin). "In Due Season" was written for an Ekphrastacy program at Heights Arts and inspired by a Melissa Jay Craig sculpture. Thank you!

Click here to read the NightBallet press release.
Click here to buy a copy of my Beat Attitude.