A: Well, each month I organize a reading from a well-published poet from around Ohio — sometimes somebody local, or from central Ohio or a little farther out. Usually someone who has several chapbooks out or has actually published work. They give a featured reading, sell some books — and afterwards, we have an open-mic session that people sign up for to read their own work. We have a lot of good poets in the Dayton area, and the work that gets read is usually really good. Uniquely high quality.
Q: So, it’s a social event for poets and poetry lovers.
A: Sure, it's a good place to meet people who are into writing — because writers are often very quiet, solitary people. This is a nice chance to get out, talk to other people who also like talking about poetry, literature or just whatever. We usually get between 15 and 30 people each month.
Q: You’ve been doing these at Ghostlight Coffee in Dayton, but you’re moving.
A: We're moving to a place called the Dharma Center of Dayton, at 425 Patterson Road right on the Dayton-Oakwood line. One of our members hooked up with the space — it's owned by a woman who teaches at Sinclair named Jane Perri, and it's full of Buddhist literature, with a sanctuary, meeting rooms. It's a lovely, spiritual place with a nice atmosphere. And there's a connection between American poetry and Buddhism all the way back to the Beat Generation, Kerouac, Ginsberg and others.
Q: So, how would you describe Dayton’s poetry scene?
A: There are probably five or six readings around town in addition to ours. There's one at Town & Country Shopping Center at the Fine Arts Center there, where poets write poems based on artworks, and artists create new works based on poems. They do a lot there. There's a monthly slam at ArtStreet at UD that's run by Lincoln Schreiber, a longtime Dayton poet. There's a monthly group that meets at the Oakwood Starbucks led by Elizabeth Cantonwine Schmidt, who's also read at our events. There's a lot going on. Some of it is poets working to get published, some of it is more urban-oriented, slam poets who are more into performing.
Q: It also sounds very decentralized.
A: You can keep track of a lot of it on Facebook. But I think most cities are like that. It's the nature of it.
Q: What do you think is the general state of poetry in America today?
A: Well, I think for people who are into the poetry community, it's vibrant, active and multi-faceted. For people who aren't into it, it's kind of invisible. Unless you're seeking it out, it's not readily apparent. But that's why I try to work with students — giving workshops at schools, libraries, to let young people know they can be a part of it, and that poetry is there for them. They always like it — and you can show them that there's already a lot of poetry around them, in song lyrics, in the creative ways they tease each other, and how they interact. That's kind of a poetry in itself, if they harness it on paper. It's especially exciting if you can get a mic in their hand — they really like that, and it legitimizes what they're doing. I always take my mic and amp to school workshops. My favorite note I got from a student later was this kid in Kettering who wrote, "You kinda made me like poetry."
Q: How does it feel to perform your own poetry?
A: At first, your knees tremble and your hands shake — it take a few months to get comfortable with it. But it's really rewarding, and it's a great way to edit things — to hear the response you get, to hear wordy sections, things you should fix. It helps perfect your voice as a writer, and it's great to get feedback from the audience. I love it when I create laughter in an audience, or when people come up to you later and share an experience that they're reminded of that your poem evoked for them.
Q: Talk about your own poetry.
A: Well, it's funny — the speed at which poetry gets published and accepted for publication is really slow, and small journals that publish it start and stop pretty often. It takes a lot of patience and perseverance to send work out. I had a chapbook out in 2005 that won a national poetry contest, and I got $500 — always a nice surprise, to make money off your poetry.
Q: So, no money, and hard to publish; why do you keep at it?
A: For someone who's really into it, you have this compulsion to get work onto paper, to make sense of the chaos of the world around you, and to make some peace with it. Maybe you're dealing with personal history, or some trauma, personal issues you work through in the writing — it's a lot like journaling, sometimes, but you edit and hone down to the best of it. Someone once called poetry "the best words, in the best order."
Q: What do you recommend for people who want to start?
A: Well, you can sit and write. But there's a host of resources online — "The Poetry Handbook" is very well known. One of my favorite poets, Kim Addonizio, from California, has a book called "Ordinary Genius" that's full of prompts, working tips — it's a guide to the poet within. Ted Kooser has a book called "The Poetry Home Repair Manual" that's a good down-to-earth guide. Or you can to go to the library, and the poems are in section 811. But I think it's getting more popular now, on a grassroots level, to have small writing groups that work together — and coffee shops have done a great job, establishing this kind of oral culture that's very cool.
Q: How long have you been writing?
A: Since high school. I started staying home Friday and Saturday nights to stay out of the party scene, and I worked on poems. That was almost 40 years ago. Man.
Q: Gone back to look at those oldies?
A: It think it's pretty common for writers to go back and look at your juvenalia, but most of mine is in a landfill in Columbus somewhere. Although my mom, who was very supportive, saved a lot of my old work. I would write so intensely on the paper that she could read the impressions later. But it kind of makes you cringe, after a couple of decades.
Q: How does your library job fit into all this?
A: It's great. The library is always willing to give me time to do poetry events, and to take part in some of the library's poetry events, like judging. We have a big poetry contest. It's a great place to be around books and ideas, and see what's new and what's coming in. And you can write about your unique patron interactions.
Q: Well, people-watching is an endless source of writerly inspiration.
A: It is a great way to get into writing — recording your observations of people, and wondering about their stories; of course, you probably always get it wrong in a way that reflects more on the writer than on the observed, but it's a good way to find things to write about, to stay active and creative.
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