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:

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!

“Parental Senryū” (+ an Honorable Mention earned!)

Many of my friends and former classmates have young children. I wrote the following poem while thinking about all of those young families, and I dedicate it to them as well:

Props to those who get the Pollock reference!

In other poetic news, the results are in for the Geauga Park District’s 21st Annual Nature Writing Contest, and I’ve been awarded an honorable mention for “Among The Roots” in the adult poetry category! Browse all of the honored entries at the following link, and join me in celbrating nature and the arts at the Nature Arts Festival on August 7th at Big Creek Park: http://www.geaugaparkdistrict.org/arts-in-nature.shtml

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:

Woodland Retribution

This Tanka was inspired by and written for Writing Knights Press’s upcoming “Karma” anthology. The poem was also written as a means of expressing my frustration with humanity’s unceasing destruction of nature.