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:

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:]

Reaping Potential

I’m proud to have been the first guest ever to visit the Skirball Writing Center at the Cuyahoga County Public Library‘s new South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch, which had its grand opening today, and, presumably, the first to write a poem there:

Evergrow (+ Monthly Co-Feature at Mac’s Backs!)

Good morning! I was going to share a depressing new poem which I recently wrote & revised, but since I’ve had a number of good days lately myself, I changed my mind and composed a more hopeful verse to display in its place. I hope that this poem adds some hope and positivity to your quest for your deepest desire in life:

In other news, I have an invitation for my local readers which I hope you’ll be pleased to accept: I am one of this month’s featured poets at Mac’s Backs on Coventry! I’ll be sharing the stage with 2 other readers on Wednesday, August 12th at 7pm (Click HERE for full info!) As usual, there will be an open reading following the features, so please consider bringing a piece or two of your own! I’m very excited to be given this honor, and I would be thrilled to see a good turnout, so please jot this down in your calendars!

If you won’t be able to make it, or you just want even more poetry and entertainment in your life (I wouldn’t blame you!), keep in mind that you can often find me & numerous other talented individuals at various other Cleveland-area venues’ open mic events, including:

• Sundays @ 2:30 at The Stone Oven on Lee Road <(TODAY!)
• 1st & 4th Tuesdays @ 8:00 pm at the Barking Spider Tavern
• Mondays @ 8:00 pm at Phoenix Coffee on Coventry
• and of course 1st & 3rd Thursdays at the Coffee Phix Cafe in South Euclid

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!

Poetry à la Meme!

Good morning, everyone!

If we’re friends on Facebook, you may have noticed that I was tagged last night in a poetry meme which is currently circulating among writers. The prompt states that beginning on the day I was tagged, I am to post a poem on Facebook for 5 consecutive days. I intend to fulfill this requirement with impromptu pieces, each inspired by an aspect of the day on which it is written. I began last night with a senryū entitled “Prescription,” and I will follow up tonight with poem #2! I’ll update the list below with all five poems as they are completed:

1. “Prescription”

2. “A Gamer’s Acronym Soup”
   

3. “An Ally’s Celebratory Reflection”
   

4. Drowsy Senryū
   

5. Modern Proverb
   

The Willows’ Lament (+ Hessler Poetry Jam Reflections)

As planned, I participated in the “Hessler Poetry Jam” at the Barking Spider this past Saturday, performing “Fuse & Prune” and 3 brand-new pieces, the first of which appears below! My readings of all four poems were recorded in video format by my best female friend Laura, who accompanied me to the event for as long as she could before having to leave for work. I’ll be uploading the video to my YouTube channel as soon as I am technologically able! While I can’t honestly say that I enjoyed every act in the show, there were more than enough other performers whose creativity and humor I found enjoyable to justify my attendance, even if I had not performed myself! Enough of my mixed reviews, now, though; I shall now introduce a new poem!

The following is the 2nd poem I’ve written in my ongoing reflection on the condition of the natural world:

Your Order is Being Processed

I just wrote this poem this morning. How quickly can you identify the metaphor?

Fuse & Prune

As I introduced it at a recent open mic event, this poem is “a metaphor for the social & societal rejection of groups and individuals who are seen as ‘different’.” As such, it is also a rare example of a publicly visible expression of my sociopolitical views. Please do not make me regret publicizing said views herein:

π (Happy Belated Pi Day!)

Sorry I’m about 2 weeks late with this, but I was busy on the 14th celebrating Pi Day with one of my best friends! As part of our celebration, I wrote the following poem. Can you detect the deeper level on which this poem is connected to Pi Day? (Hint: I had to stop when I hit zero.)

(Give up? Click here for the solution…)