The Ghazal Page Presents: “Ghazal Of Humanity” (+ Upcoming Event Reminder!)

Salutations, all!

My first-ever Ghazal poem has been published on The Ghazal Page in their latest issue, #59 ! Read the full poem here! (The poem will be added on this site at a later date.)

I also have a couple of reminders:

• I will be participating in a recognition ceremony on August 7th at the Geauga Park District’s Nature Arts Festival for my honorable mention in their Nature Writing Contest! Please join me there in celebrating nature and creative expression!
• One other thing I’d like to emphasize is that while, as you can see, I am continuing to share my work and announcements on this blog, I more frequently share smaller announcements and links on my Facebook page!

Kris Kringle’s Year Off

Season’s greetings!

I actually wrote this Christmas comedy poem off-season, but as you’ll soon realize, that’s not entirely inappropriate. Enjoy!

[The full text is below, but I’ve decided to debut this piece in video format:]

Big Feature This Week At Mac’s Backs! (+ Room For Improvement?)

I’ve been talking about this in my Facebook posts for a while, but because I’m psyched, here’s one more shameless self-promotion: I’m being featured at this month’s session of Mac’s Backs’ poetry event series! Please be there this Wednesday,  August 12 at 7pm, not only to support me and the other featured readers, but also the venue, which has been a fixture in the Coventry community for years! For those not from the area, here’s the address:

1820 Coventry Road
Cleveland Heights, OH 44106
216.321.2665

My performance is going to include at least one new piece, and an optional open mic is included as well! I genuinely hope to see you there!

There is another topic I’d like to address in this post: It has come to my attention that despite my occasional reminders that I welcome feedback, I rarely receive any comments on this blog. This is an issue on which I’d like to work, and in contemplating it, I’ve formed the broader goal of improving the blog in general.

My questions for you are these:

• What can I to encourage more interaction between my readers & myself?
  and
• What other steps would you like to see me take to improve this blog?

Helio-Judgment (+ Hessler Open Mic Video)

Greetings from dynamic-weathered Cleveland, Ohio! The poem I’m going to share this evening was the first of four poems I recited at the Hessler Poetry Jam this year (more on that below) and is the last of those poems to be posted here on my blog. As I introduced the piece on that occasion: “A little over two years ago, I set off on a journey of intimidating proportions. Since then, I’m proud to say that I’ve lost nearly 130 pounds, and that is the subject of this poem:”

…and, as promised, here’s my video from the 2015 Hessler Poetry Jam:

Psst! Since you’ve read this far, I’ll try and make it worth your time by giving you a few little hints at the content of two new poems that I’m writing: Both are comedic in nature; One was inspired by an old computer graphic, and the other had to be partially restructured after a TV special beat me to one of the jokes!