POEM: Elegy for the Circus

“ELEGY FOR THE CIRCUS”

 

No more clowns, corpse-white skin,

blackened eyes, and red leaking lips,

to frighten infants with ludicrous stunts

and thickly painted cracked faces

 

No more weeping elephants, tears cutting lines in rough skin

No more grey-skinned babes separated from mourning mothers

 

No more tigers pacing cages too small for predators meant to run,

to race, to track down prey, to rip flesh between their teeth

 

No more lions teased with the heads of their masters

thrust into hungry mouths, teased with the illusion

of freedom and a hot meal with a beating heart

 

No more X-square feet per animal, less than zoo standards,

less than any wild beast was meant to live in, to pace in, to die in,

 

No more creatures forced to perform

before children dripping ice cream and disinterest

 

 

 

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For those of you fortunate enough to live in Northeast Ohio, there are two writing events tomorrow (October 13th) in the Cleveland area.

Literary Cleveland’s October Poetry workshop takes place from 10:30-12:30 at the Cleveland Main Library, led by poet Kisha Nicole Foster.

Indie Author Conference and Showcase takes place from 10am- 4pm at the Cuyahoga County Library’s Parma-Snow branch.

Both events are free, which is INCREDIBLE. I’ve attended both events at different times in the past and readily vouch for how inspiring and helpful both are. Unfortunately, they overlap, so you will need to choose which event you want to attend this year.

If you can take advantage of these events, please do so. They are well worth the drive!

 

*It should come as no surprise that I’m not a fan of circuses, and so this prompt from last year’s National Poetry Writing Month really inspired me.

**image courtesy of PublicDomainPictures.net via Creative Commons License

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POEM: I Remember

“I Remember”

 

Seventeen years ago

the world changed

 

my world changed

 

Seventeen years ago

I held my infant son in my arms

as I watched the buildings burn

across every channel

 

as I watched the planes

hit the towers again

and again

and again

 

as I watched the billowing black smoke

the ash of the fallen

of the thrown

of the incinerated

 

of those who threw

their own lives away

to snatch the lives of innocents

for the crime working in a country they hated

 

I remember watching footage

on tv of people in foreign lands

dancing and cheering at the news of so many lives lost

and wondering why

 

I remember watching the face

of the child in my arms

and wondering

what kind of world he would live in

 

the same wondering I felt

when I had watched the news days after his birth

the news of the newborn babe found in a dumpster

his life thrown away

 

the same wondering I felt

when a gunman shot up kindergartners

looking forward to Christmas parties

and frosted glittery cupcakes

 

the same wondering I felt

when students shot up their high school,

then themselves, shooting

for simultaneous oblivion and notoriety

 

the same wondering I felt

when Batman fans died

crouching on floors and hiding behind seats

for the sin of making it to opening night

 

the same wondering I felt

when a middle schooler one district over

shot himself in his school’s bathroom,

imagining his blood splattered on floors and walls

 

the same wondering I felt

when a couple from my son’s own high school

shot themselves in the woods outside his friend’s home

not ten minutes away

 

the same wondering I felt

when I thought of those other families,

of the victims, heroes, loved ones,

of children growing up without mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers

 

the same wondering I feel

when I think how easily it could be me

 

 

 

*image courtesy of publicdomainpictures.net via Creative Commons license

**The above poem is dedicated to the families and victims of September 11th, as well as the victims of violence around the world throughout the years. May your loved ones never be forgotten. May you always be safe and free.

 

 

Announcement: My Poetry Collection, Soul Picked Clean

I am incredibly honored to announce that my first book of poetry, Soul Picked Clean, will be published by Crisis Chronicles Press in early 2019!

Crisis Chronicles Press was founded by John Burroughs in 2008. They’ve published writers from all over the world, in every continent except Antarctica, and from time to time give special emphasis to great Ohio poets. Crisis Chronicles recently published their 100th title.

I will also be appearing at the Massillon Library Local Author Fair on Saturday, November 10th from 1030am – 1pm. I will post updates about the book and future readings as information becomes available. Thank you!

CURRENT EVENTS: NE Ohio Writing Events and Groups

Since I am lucky enough to live in the literary-friendly state of Ohio, I have access to an abundance of writing groups, open mic events, workshops, and free writing cons. For those of you who may be in the area, I’ve compiled a short list of things you may be interested in. Unless otherwise indicated, all of them are free. You’re welcome.

Saturday, June 9th is Literary Cleveland’s poetry workshop from 1030am-1230pm at the Cleveland Main Library. This event takes place the second Saturday of each month. Bring 10-15 copies of your work to share if you would like feedback (if you only have one copy, the library will print copies for you). You are also welcome to just observe. I always learn something when I attend, though unfortunately this month I won’t make it to Cleveland.

Wednesday, June 20th is Latitudes Open Mic (poetry) from 7pm-9pm at Compass Coffee in Akron. Latitudes meets once a month. Organized by Stephen and Theresa Brightman, the featured reading will be by Greg Milo, author of Rebooting Social Studies, followed by an open mic.

Thursday, June 21st is Ekphrastic Poetry from 5pm-8pm at Bluff Blue Door Gallery in Akron. I’m not sure what this event will be exactly, but the featured poet is Stephen Brightman. I recently attended an Ekphrastic poetry event featuring his poems as reactions to the Jun Kaneko exhibit at the Akron Art Museum; it was amazing. So I’m sure this event will be fantastic as well!

Thursday, June 28th is when The Write Stuff meets from 6pm-8pm at the North Canton Public Library. This writing group meets on the fourth Thursday of every month. Their expressed purpose is helping local writers grow in the craft by offering feedback on shared work as well as sharing experiences with each other. They frequently hang out at T.D. Tailgate Grill afterwards for general chitchat and snacking.

Friday, June 29th is Poetry Night from 6pm-9pm at the Akron Nervous Dog. This event takes place on the last Friday of each month. The poets are scheduled ahead of time; it’s not open mic, but it’s always a lot of fun. Plus they make great (vegan version) London Fogs.

In August

Saturday, August 4th is the free INKubator Con from Lit Cleveland from 830am-5pm at the Cleveland Main Library. They usually have an open mic event either during lunch or after the con. You should register for the con ahead of time by going to the website for Lit Cle and clicking on the event.

Also for most of June and July I’ll be at the Ohio Shakespeare Festival on Friday nights. Volunteering to help with something you love is always rewarding, even if you are just handing out flyers or ushering people to their seats, but as an extra added bonus you can stay after for the show! Ohio Shakespeare Festival performs at Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens during the Summer and at Greystone Hall during the other parts of the year. They are an amazing local professional group of actors, and you should definitely go see them!

I also suggest you visit the page for the Writing Knights writing group and press. They have multiple events every month, so it always pays to check them out!

I will continue my weekly post for a couple more weeks, as I do penance for my abysmally late post about the Western Reserve Writers’ Con last month. What can I say? My transgression has brought out the lapsed Catholic in me. Until next Friday, have a lovely week!

 

ON WRITING: The 35th Annual Western Reserve Writers’ Conference

Last month, I was lucky enough to attend yet another free writers’ con in the literary-friendly state of Ohio! The South-Euclid Lynhurst branch of Cuyahoga library hosted the event, organized by the talented and lovely author Deanna Adams. Although free, registration was required, and as part of that registration participants were entered into a drawing for a free critique. There were several winners…myself included! But I will get more into that later.

As someone who takes advantage of the literary bounty that is Ohio, I try to volunteer to help out when I can. So on Saturday, April 28th I showed up early to help set up. There really wasn’t much for me to do, as most of the preparation was done ahead of time. So I handed out pamphlets, along with a fellow volunteer, and directed participants to the free pencils, name tags, and complimentary breakfast goodies. One of the nice things about volunteering to help out with something you love, besides the joy of feeling like you are giving back, is that you get to hang out with other people who are passionate about the same things you are. So I was thrilled to discover several writers that I admired had decided to attend after all. It just made me happy.

Once people had settled into the big meeting room, there was a Welcome to the Conference overview, followed by the keynote speech given by literary agent Elizabeth Kaplan. Soon after, everyone went to different rooms depending on which sessions they were interested in. I stayed in the “big room” for The Seven Universal Plots talk by Claire McMillan. I had heard of similar theories about storytelling before, but I wasn’t familiar with the details. It was really interesting.

Then it was time to go to my personal editing session! The only problem was that this year I had a poetry collection, not a prose manuscript. So a few weeks earlier, instead of submitting x-amount of pages from a current manuscript, I asked for help with my organization of the collection. The lovely Laura Walter agreed, and I must say her input was fantastic. I am a firm believer in the value of feedback and good beta readers. However, writers groups are good for general feedback, and beta readers are usually reserved for when a work is finished or mostly finished. I think the more feedback you get, the better, and while family and friends may want to help, you can’t always trust them to be honest since they may try to spare your feelings. A professional look at your work is invaluable.

Next I attended the presentation by Jacqueline Marino: Writing the Personal Essay. She gave a talk on how to use pictures and photographs to create something personal with tension. Photos of people in motion, doing something, were encouraged. Then we completed a short writing assignment, which some people chose to share. I was inspired by how so many created moving first drafts in such a short amount of time.

After lunch, which I brought from home and during which I met some interesting people, there was a first page critique in the main meeting room. Three panelists–literary agent Elizabeth Kaplan, author Claire McMillan, and Rene’e Rosen– listened as the first pages of various manuscripts were read. They would raise a hand to indicate where they would stop reading and then give feedback about why, what worked for them, and what didn’t.

After a short break, I attended the last breakout session. The last presentation I attended was 15 Tips for Writing a Play by Kelly Boyer Sagert. It was interesting, though not what I expected. I thought it would be about the technical aspects of writing a script, but it was more about ideas and examples of how the presenter came to create and sell her work.

Other than the actual presentations, the best part of the con was being around other writers. Not only did I reconnect with old friends, but I met new ones that I hope to see for years to come. Also, there’s so much inspiration simply from being with creative people, I can’t help but soak up all that energy and creativity. It’s invigorating!

While there were many more workshops and classes available than I could attend in the time allowed, I hope this short summary of events helps you and hopefully encourages you to attend the next conference.  Who knows? Maybe I’ll see you there!

*My sincere apologies for the lateness of this post. Life intervened–along with technical difficulties, but I will endeavour to create additional content in the next few weeks to make up for my tardiness. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

My sincere apologies…

There will be a new post by the end of the weekend.

If you are a subscriber who received a post about the Western Reserve Writers’ Con in your email box, I am sorry. While wrestling with WordPress, an earlier draft of my planned post was published. I immediately deleted it, but I realize that doesn’t mean it wasn’t emailed out.

The updated and fully edited post will be up by Sunday night.

 

*image courtesy of PublicDomainPictures.net

POEM: Mourning Dandelions

“Mourning Dandelions”

 

I walk in my front yard, the dawn

brings out golden lions

lounging in emerald grass.

Their teeth drip sunlight.

Perhaps later, I will

harvest bright blossoms for

an herbal infusion, light and sweet,

to celebrate May’s arrival.

 

Then I hear the lawnmower’s low growl.

Those sharp lion teeth can’t survive

the sharper blades cutting, splitting,

ripping them from the ground until

 

they come back again

Bright and beautiful.

Nothing keeps them down for long.

 

Upcoming events:

May 4th

Star Wars Day: look for events in your area, follow social media posts and celebrations, or just celebrate the franchise in your own way at home!

May 4th-5th

25th Annual Dandelion Festival at Breitenbach Wine Cellars! I used to take my son to this every year when he was little. There is a dandelion picking contest every year for the little kids, who then turn the blossoms into dandelion jelly. There are vendors and tours of the winery, dandelion wine and jelly for sale, and the big event is the annual Dandelion cookoff!

May 5th

Free Comic Book Day falls on the first Saturday of every May. Participating Comic Book stores around the country give away special edition FCBD comics to the delight long time comic book fans and the enticement of new ones. The special editions are created to be stand alones, so you don’t need to worry about jumping into the middle of an unfamiliar series. Many stores also hold costume contests and giveaways, so don’t miss out!

May 25th

Towel Day is a fan created holiday in honor of Douglas Adams, creator of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and other series, former Doctor Who writer, and all around hoopy frood. In addition to such activities as learning to fly or drinking (Terran versions of) Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters, fans conspicuously wear towels on this day in order to call attention to the author’s work. The idea is drawn from The Guide itself:

“A towel, [The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.”

I’m sure there are more obscure holidays this month that I’ve missed, but at least I’ve called your attention to my favorites. Go forth, and May the Fourth be with you…always.

 

*I wrote today’s poem in honor of the Dandelion Festival this weekend.

***image courtesy of http://publicdomainpictures.net/