Meet the judges!

 

I didn't want to be selecting the poems for the 40 Over 40 anthology (submit here!) myself and turn this into a collection of my personal favorite things. It was important to me to assemble a judging panel of brilliant, talented poets with different styles to help compile a great collection. It was also important to me to make sure that we had a blind judging process.

I could not be more excited that all three of these individuals wanted to be part of this project. Below, get to know a little about them and--most importantly if you're submitting--what they look for when reading poems.

 

Michelle R. Smith is a writer, poet, educator, cultural facilitator, and native Clevelander. She is the Programming Director for Literary Cleveland. She is the author of the poetry collections Ariel in Black (2015) and The Vagina Analogues (2020). She has been published in The Normal School, The Gasconade Review, New Note Poetry, Merge Magazine, and io Literary Magazine.

Michelle says: "I appreciate soul, song, story, sensory detail, and spareness in poetry. I like emotionality, elegance, intelligence, and craftsmanship."
 
 
Shaneen Harris’s works include Reflections of My Thoughts: I used to believe in unicorns, and I still do, Because God Said So, and Simply Complex (spoken word CD). Her poem “Clergy Woman Eats Her Shadow” was a finalist in the Wolverine Farm Broadside Poetry Prize. Her writings have appeared in Postcard Poems and Prose Magazine, Rubbertop Review, Crab Orchard Review: Ka-Ching the Money Issue, Watershed Review, Rattle, and the Tampa Review. She served as host of Poetry Unchained and TBN’s Joy in Our Town and Co-Editor of When There Are Nine. Shaneen’s married and the proud momma of three adult children.

Shaneen says what she looks for in poetry is "the poem's ability to make me believe that it is the originator. For instance, if it’s a poem about love, it’s written in a way that is a fresh perspective. I also look at the word choice and flow of the poem. More complexity isn’t always deeper on meaning. Did the last word of a line make me want to read the next one?"

 

 

Steve Brightman lives in Akron OH. His most recent full-length collection of poems, The Circus of His Bones (Kung Fu Treachery Press), is a pandemic baby, birthed in 2020. Other collections of his include The Wild Gospel of Careening and Other Tales from the Rumble Strip, Leaving the Flatlands to the Amateurs, In Brilliant Explosions Alone, and 13 Ways of Looking at Lou Reed.
 

When asked what he looks for in a poem, Steve says:

"It’s a short list, but a big ask.

1) I want to see the specific in a universal way

2) I want to see the universal in a specific way

3) I want to see the world reflected back to me or revealed to me in a way I haven’t yet seen"

 

Now that you've met the judges, plan your submissions and send them in before April 30th!
Submit here!

Peace,
T

Meet the workshop leaders!

As part of the 40 Over 40 project, I also wanted to include poetry workshops to foster the craft of writing. I didn't want this project to only be about publishing a book. Full stop. I wanted the project to be about poetry in the community. I wanted some place for people to find fresh inspiration, or to explore the craft in a safe space, even without any poetry experience.

And I am thrilled to have Diane Kendig and Barbara Sabol on board to teach two upcoming workshops. Diane will be talking about the list poem, but looking at it in new ways you've never considered. Barbara will be sharing her thoughts on the ode, and how adaptable and relevant it is to modern poetry.


Both workshops will take place at Summit Artspace (140 E. Market Street, Akron, OH) at 2pm. Bring a pen and notebook (or laptop, if you prefer) and an excitement to explore new poetry ideas.



Saturday, March 15 - LISTING, with Diane Kendig

Lists, whether you make them down the page or in a cloud, get us started, keep us on track, and
send us off to get our work done. In poetry, first, of course, there is the list poem. Like
Christopher’s long list of his cat’s tributes, Jubilate agno. But there are contemporary poems that
use the idea of lists, like Nancy Willard’s “Questions My Son Asked Me, Answers I Never Gave
Him.” And poems that have lists within them but aren’t all lists, like Lynn Powell’s “Blue.”
We are going to start by brainstorming some lists. Then we will look at different types of list-
inspiring poems and turn our storm into poems asea, listing perhaps as they sail.


Diane Kendig‘s latest books are Woman with a Fan and Prison Terms, and she co-edited the tribute anthology, In the Company of Russell Atkins. Kendig led the University of Findlay creative writing program including a prison writing workshop for 18 years and now back home in Canton, she curates Cuyahoga County Public Library’s weblog “Read + Write” and writes for “Free Poetry Cleveland.”


Saturday, April 26 - The Ode, with Barbara Sabol

The Ode: Considering the Contemporary Praise Poem
In this workshop we will briefly review the history of the ode as a form of lyric praise, discuss
features of the contemporary ode (and anti-ode) with reference to example poems, and engage in
writing and sharing our own odes.

Barbara Sabol was named Ohio Poet of the Year for her collection, WATERMARK (Alternating
Current Press, 2023.) Her book, IMAGINE A TOWN, won the 2019 Sheila-Na-Gig Editions
Poetry Prize. Other honors include an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council.
She conducts workshops through Literary Cleveland and the Cuyahoga Falls Library. Barbara
lives in Akron, Ohio with her bird carver husband and wonder dog.

I hope to see at one or both of these upcoming workshops!
Life, Love, Light,
T