On a clear blue April day;
Carillon sings at noon.
Carl Sandburg once wrote: “Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during the moment.” Good poems capture moments and feelings in a succinct way and may linger for days or years. Dayton has its share of fine published poets, starting, of course, with Paul Laurence Dunbar, who crammed much great writing into a brief, vibrant life. His books teemed with dialect poems and formal verse. He celebrated the Gem City in “Toast to Dayton”: “She shall ever claim our duty,/For she shines–the brightest gem/That has ever decked with beauty/Dear Ohio’s diadem.”
Many area poets carry on Dunbar’s legacy. Among many favorites are Herbert Woodward Martin, professor emeritus of the University of Dayton (and noted Dunbar scholar), David Lee Garrison (Oakwood), Cathy Essinger and Myrna Stone (Greenville), Ed Davis (Yellow Springs) and Furaha Henry-Jones (Kettering). They and many others give readings at Wright Library in Oakwood, Troy-Hayner Cultural Center in Troy, and Epic Books in Yellow Springs.
Performance poetry (rather edgy, personal and political, called “slam” poetry) has become popular and takes place on a regular basis at the Yellow Cab Tavern on Sundays. Another is the national high school program Poetry Out Loud, a recitation contest of professional published poets’ works. Since 2008, several local students have won the state championship of Ohio and represented our state in Washington D.C. They include Rachel Chandler, Lynsay Strahorn, Thomas Ellison, Caroline Delaney (all from Chaminade Julienne) along with the current Ohio champion from Xenia High School – Hiba Loukssi – who will compete at the nationals in May.
An acrostic poem uses the first letter of each line to form a word or a name. Here’s a tribute to our city:
Daring to do the
Audacious on land among five rivers,
You can find a place in this city
To birth your dreams and create.
Over and over it reinvents itself,
Never giving in to negativity.
Oh, it knows the hard times–urban blight,
High floods, tornadoes, red lines. Still, this
Is how it grows from the inside
Out and from the outside in.
And of course there is the sonnet. Another salute to Dayton:
Birthplace of Aviation, Home of the Arts
Just as the Thompson Party came up river
To establish a village that became a city,
Admire the way the founders delivered
For so many people; we were sitting pretty.
Ingenuity came to define our name,
John H. Patterson and incredible innovation.
Kettering followed with inventions of fame
While Wright brothers forged a flight nation.
Beauty followed: DAI in Renaissance style,
Our Philharmonic at 90 continues to advance,
Schwartz sisters taught ballet a long while;
Blunden followed with contemporary dance.
In ‘95 peace emerged from our air base.
Later two bald eagles found their nesting place.
Can you hear the immortal voice of Dunbar? From “Paradox”: “I am thy priest and thy poet,/I am thy serf and thy king;/I cure the tears of the heartsick,/When I come near they shall sing.”
Jim Brooks is a retired high school English teacher who writes, coaches tennis, and tutors immigrants.
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