Geauga Parks’ Nature Writing Honors & Performances

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon in Geauga County at the 25th annual Nature Arts Festival of the Geauga Park District, where I was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Adult Poetry category for “Among The Roots!” Please enjoy my performance and the flattering comments of contest judge Grace Butcher in the video below!

I also feel compelled to recognize Martha Kennedy, age 10, for her prize-winning haiku in the Child Poetry category of the contest. Martha’s vivid sensory descriptions and emotive undertones are stunningly brilliant, and I genuinely hope to hear much more from this poetic prodigy as her creative writing career continues to unfold! Please click here to read her piece!

Here’s the video described above:

Much to tell, much to do!

There’s lots of news of which to tell! In no particular order, here’s what’s new:

• Full details of the 2016 Hessler Street Fair Poetry Contest have finally been made public! Check out this year’s plans for the Cleveland tradition!
• Writing Knight Press is graciously including me in their lineup of featured poets for the 20th National Poetry Month! The details for the event at which I’ll be reading haven’t yet been finalized, but  UPDATE: Here is the event info! I am scheduled for the evening of April 4th! My 100-word bio is now featured on their website!
• As you may have noticed, I’ve created an official Facebook page for my career as a poet! Please “Like” me to be among the first to hear what I’m up to!
• Last but not least, I’m excited to announce that The Ghazal Page has accepted my submission of “Ghazal of Humanity” for an upcoming publication!

Please watch for updated on these and other topics in the near future!

Calamitous Haiku (+ Hessler Contest Video!)

The following haiku looks at a another sociopolitical political issue, violence, using a scientific metaphor:

I hope you found that worthy of contemplation. Now, in contrast, please enjoy this video clip of my comedic performance of “Error” (formerly “Cyberspace Senryū“) in this year’s Hessler Street Fair poetry competition:

See You At The Fair! (+ Hessler Competition Results)

No, I didn’t win anything, but I’m proud of my performance of my senryū, “Error” (Previously known as “Cyberspace Senryū”). Video coming soon on my YouTube channel!

That said, I’m looking forward to spending some time at the Hessler Street Fair this weekend. As I’ve said before, I’m particularly excited to participate in Ray McNiece‘s “Hessler Poetry Jam” at the Barking Spider Tavern! The event is scheduled to run from 2:00 to 5:00 PM on Saturday. If, like last year, I get a choice of position in the performance order, I’m planning to sign up for a slot toward the beginning of the show. Stop by and say “Hi!”

Oh, and if you’re at the Fair on Sunday at 2 pm, be sure to congratulate the poetry contest winners and listen to them perform their winning pieces! (You can also hear this reading on WRUW-FM 91.1 Cleveland at that time!)

The winners were:

1. Jeffrey Bowen: “for the godfather daniel thompson (1935-2004)”
2. Lori Ann Kusterbeck: “Simple Ways”
3. Sean Thomas Dougherty: “Surgery”

• Honorable Mention: Christine Howey: “The Killer Turkey of Malabar Farm”

UPDATE: NEW LOCATION FOR HESSLER COMPETITION!

PLEASE NOTE: The location for the Hessler Street Fair Poetry Contest has been changed to: Ensemble Theater, 2843 Washington Blvd, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118.

For complete event information, please refer to my previous blog post. Thanks!

It’s Hessler Season Once Again!

…and for the 4th consecutive year [Edit: My firsthand memory and my physical records are in conflict regarding this statistic. Please contact me if you can definitively confirm or disprove it. Thanks!], one of my submitted pieces has been accepted, both for publication in this year’s edition of the Hessler Street Fair’s annual poetry anthology and for the coinciding competition at Mac’s Back’s on Coventry [NEW LOCATION: Ensemble Theatre] on Wednesday, May 13th at 7:00 PM! As in years past, in addition to cash prizes, the top finishers in that competition will be given the honor of reading their winning poems at the Hessler Street Fair on Sunday, May 17th at 2:00 PM! Wish me luck!

The other event of the Hessler Street Fair which I’m specifically looking forward to is the “Hessler Poetry Jam,” which is scheduled for 2:00 to 5:00 PM on Saturday, May 16th at the Barking Spider Tavern, hosted by the awesome & talented Ray McNiece! I’m planning to recite several of my newest poems, some of which I’ll be debuting for the first time in front of a public audience! This will be my second time participating in this open mic event; my performance at the event last year can be seen in the video recording below.

I hope to see you at one or more (or all!) of the aforementioned events at the Hessler Street Fair! Viva poetry!

Upcoming Publication & Competition Performance

It’s that time of year again: the Hessler Street Fair is approaching quickly, and for the third consecutive year, one of my poems has been accepted for publication in the affiliated annual poetry anthology! As you may recall, this means that the accepted poem, “Appalachian Eruption,” is also eligible for this year’s performance competition on May 14th at 7:00 pm at Mac’s Backs on Coventry. I have no intention of letting this opportunity pass me by.

That brings me to a question: What can I do to make my performance of “Appalachian Eruption” stand out??

Past contest-winning poets whose performances I’ve had the good fortune of witnessing have displayed the ability to present their work in ways which caught and held the attention of judges & audiences alike. How can I best do this with “Appalachian Eruption”?

PLEASE HELP ME! LEAVE ME ADVICE & IDEAS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!! THANK YOU!!!

Galactic Genesis

This poem, which is the second villanelle I’ve composed, was part of my entry (I’ll share the other part in my next post) to this year’s “Poetry in the Museum” contest (cosponsored by the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History). The theme of the competition was “The Nature of Nature”; In my response, I chose to interpret the prompt on a universal scale, writing about the formation of our galaxy! I was not a finalist in the contest, but I am no less satisfied with my submission, the first part of which I now present for your contemplation:

The Grand Tournament II

For those who haven’t been following my progress on Facebook and Twitter: I completed my entry to Writing Knights Press’s second annual Grand Tournament today! I will be submitting it tomorrow morning, after one final inspection. The poems included in this manuscript are all new and range widely in topic as well as in format. Also included in this manuscript is my original story, Herman Titus and the Battle at the Clay Field, the entirety of which will, I hope, be received more enthusiastically than the first page of the story was received on this blog.

I will begin posting the new poems from my competition entry after the results of the manuscript round are announced. I will also, at that time, post on this blog the answer to whether or not I make it to the performance round. Look for all of that after June 1st.

Wish me luck, and to the other competitors, may the best writer win!

Oh, one more thing: The manuscript for my first chapbook has officially been approved! I will share further updates as I receive them myself.

From Willoughby To Coventry To Hessler Road

Yesterday evening at the “Best Cleveland Poem Competition” at Willoughby Brewing Co., I participated in the open mic portion of the event, reading “One Last Visit Back In Time To Euclid Beach Park” (I will share that poem in my next blog post). This performance entitled me to participate in a raffle, which I won! I was then asked to read a second poem so that the four judges of the competition could rate the competitors relative to my score. This time, I performed “Ideal Apocalypse”. My mother recorded a video of that performance, which can be viewed at the end of this post.

That brings me to another item of news: “Ideal Apocalypse” has been accepted for publication in the 2013 Hessler Street Fair Anthology. Therefore, I will be performing it again at Mac’s Backs on Coventry on this Wednesday evening for the competition portion of the Hessler Street Fair. Wish me luck, as I will be competing against many of the best poets in the region!

Finally, as promised, here is the video from last night: