CONTRIBUTORS

MARIAN ANDRADE

Is most noted in Cleveland for her autodidactism, her soft voice and her empathy. She is a pure poetic soul, the garnish of cultural events in Cleveland. The spirit of West 25th.

BLUE7

Blue7 Photo by LadyK

Musician, filmmaker, sculptor, painter and illustrator. Blue made films and music in Hollywood for 14 years. He directed, produced and wrote the music score for his own film Girl With a Tail which can be seen at ifilm.com.

Now in Krakow, Blue's creating a multi-media experience called the URBAN-JELLEN TEST. It features a "Dada Ballet", a unique presentation of many talents such as music, projections of art and photography, drama and strange and beautiful ideas. And all of it with a heart as big as the universe. Transcendence into an artful mind.

Blue has a degree in Illustration and Painting from California State University.

E B Bortz photo by Sandra Hazley

E B BORTZ

Bortz's political conscience manifests itself in his writings and doings. Every spring, he coordinates a poetry even in Pittsburgh, "Poetry Without Walls". The first year I went, a dozen poets stayed over his house for the weekend. Half of us joined him in a peace march that Saturday before the reading. It's one of my best poetry memories ever.

Bortz has a poetry blog at ebbortz.blogspot.com. More information about this spring's "Poetry Without Walls" is on the EVENTS page.

Bree photo by Jim Lang

 

BREE

Bree is an artist, singer/songwriter, poet and founder of Green Panda Press, which produces anthologies and chapbooks of poetry and art. All books are hand-made and bound using household materials like double-sided window insulation tape, or minty dental floss. Green Panda titles include Rain Poet (2004), by Daniel Thompson & Virgin Erotica (2006) by L.A.'s S.A. Griffin and Toledo's John Dorsey.

Miles Budimir Literary Cafe

MILENKO BUDIMIR

1) Budimir pays the bills by freelance writing and teaching philosophy to the youth of America. When not engaged in these activities, he reads, takes photographs, and scribbles, sometimes even while grilling home-made ground spiced lamb kebabs to a soundtrack of Gogol Bordello.

2) Budimir is a Cleveland-based writer and poet whose work has appeared in The Plain Dealer, the Cleveland Free Times, Northern Ohio Live, and Ohio Writer among others. Poetry has appeared in Poetry Motel, the deep cleveland junkmail oracle, The City Poetry, ArtCrimes 21, Sein und Werden, and in chapbooks Smoke, Mist and Mirror (Poets and Writers League of Greater Cleveland) and First Person Plural (Twin Cranes Press). His own chapbook, Rustbelt Romance, was published by Deep Cleveland Press in 2006.

Michael Ceraolo Photo by Wendy Shaffer

MICHAEL CERAOLO

Is a poet from South Euclid, Ohio. His new book, Euclid Creek, is reviewed in this issue here. Ceraolo's poetry is infused with a conscientious restyling of American history from the margins and the undersides. He also has a book with Green Panda Press, Cleveland Haiku.

John Clarke with saxiphonist at Jazz at the Am in Lewisham, London Photo by LadyK

JOHN CLARKE

Is a regular feature on the London poetry performance scene. He has featured in events in Amsterdam and the south of France. His work is heavily indebted to the beat poets and is infused with the complex rhythms of his jazz muses.

Ghost on the Road (reviewed here) is John's first full collection following the success of Traveling without Arriving and jazz and other religions, all published by tall-lighthouse.

Ghost on the Road is available at www.tall-lighthouse.co.uk. Postage is free within the U.K.

Clarke's also recorded a CD which includes live musical accompaniment and studio sounds and beats. The Way I Like My Jazz is available directly from John Clarke via e-mail: jcjazzman03 at yahoo dot co dot uk. It will soon be available from Chipmunka Group Publishing Foundation in London.

KE

KE

My name's Kevin Eberhardt. Been writing for so long I'm startin' to see things. Now for good, bad or ugly I can't stop. It's like havin' a hangover everyday without the benefit of a good drunk the night before, or at least, in my case, not for a long time. Could be worse, could wake up one day as an honorary member of the Red Hat Society. That would definitely start me drinkin' again (though I do look good in red)...

Steve Goldberg Literary Cafe

STEVE GOLDBERG

A techno-geek, Dilbert cubical escapee, blogger, a bodhisattva wannabe, and tongue-tied tattler of timid tomes. Launching into a new experiment in neo-beat bohemianism, Steve has been published in 30/25th’s Not Just Any Versiaries, an email in the talent rich ArtCrimes 21, Rabbits Over Clevyland, Jim Lang’s Bag-o-Zine 54, and the e-zine The City Poetry . In a poorly veiled attempt at self promotion, he has also been interviewed on local poetry radio show, Wordplay, by renown poet George Bilgere. Steve also organizes a monthly poetry free-for-all at the Literary Cafe in the historic Cleveland neighborhood of Tremont.

Jim Lang

JIM LANG

Poet, photographer, potter, philosopher, publisher, and poartist from Cleveland, Ohio USA who frequently accompanies his readings with multimedia visual works.

I've been the open mic host for the 3rd Saturday poetry reading at The Bookstore on West 25th Street forever and give a Bagozine of poetry, tea, pennies, incense and nonesense each month to everyone who attends.

I have taken photos of most every poet who has passed through Cleveland as far back as d.a. levy & Charles Dickens.

I gratefully edited issue #9 of ArtCrimes and co-edited issues #15 and 17. I have published many chapbooks of my own and other's poetry.

I am a cantankerous full time professional curmudgeon - but an oddly a nice guy even so.

Jack McGuane photo by Wendy Shaffer

JACK MCGUANE

Poet Laureate of Lakewood through 2007 and poetry editor of Whiskey Island Magazine. He has published work in Whiskey Island, in Family Matters, in ArtCrimes, in the Hessler Street Poetry and Prose Annual, 2006 (third prize), in the Nov Third Club, in First Person Plural from Twin Cranes Press (with Eric Anderson), in the Underground Literary Alliance e-zine and in the upcoming Favorite Lakewood Poetry. His poems have received Honorable Mention in the last three Best of Ohio Writers Competitions. A chapbook--working title Sleeping With My Socks-- is coming soon by Deep Cleveland Press.

Michael Salinger

MICHAEL SALINGER

Has been writing and performing poetry and fiction for over 25 years. In this time he has become a fixture in the performance poetry and education community. His work has appeared in dozens of literary journals published across the US and Canada, including Poetry Magazine, Sapphire Magazine, Taproot, the Detroit Metro Times and the Cleveland Free Times.

Five time captain and coach of the Cleveland Slam team that represented the city at the National Poetry Slam competition, he has also served as a consultant and board member to Poetry Slam, Inc., the governing body of Poetry Slams across the country. He currently directs the organization's summer writing and performance conference held at the campus of SUNY, Oneonta in Oneonta New York. He is the founder and director of the Nova Lizard project, a seminal performance troupe in Cleveland, Ohio and chief facilitator of the teen writing and performance program at Cleveland's Playhouse Square Foundation - the second largest performing arts center in the United States after Broadway.

Michael Salinger and Sara Holbrook's new book, Outspoken! is reviewed on the NEW BOOKS page.

Eric Shaffer

ERIC SHAFFER

Is a poet and artist and framer who lives in Cleveland, back after an extended sabbatical in Florida, more like a life experience. He's been busy making lamps out of bottles for more than four years. A graduate of Shaker Heights high school, he went to the University of Michigan in the early eighties, and holds an AA degree from a junior college in Tampa, Florida.

wendy shaffer

WENDY SHAFFER

wendy is a being of light encased in a miserable angry body. she has a bfa in writing (fiction) & an mfa in writing (fiction) & writes poetry in cleveland, ohio. her poetry blog, house of cats, features many cleveland poets.

Yuyutsu RD Sharma Photo by Sarah Dobbs

YUYUTSU RD SHARMA

Recipient of fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, Irish Literary Exchange and Sahitya Academy, National Academy of Letters, New Delhi, Sharma has published six poetry collections, most recently a picture book, The Way to Everest : A Photographic and Poetic Journey to the Foot of Everest with German photographer Andreas Stimm. He also translated Irish poet Cathal O' Searcaigh's poetry into Nepali, and published the bilingual English/Nepali anthology, Kathmandu, 2006. Sharma has also translated and edited several anthologies of contemporary Nepali poetry.

His works have appeared in Chandrabhaga, Amsterdam Weekly, Exiled ink, Irish Pages, Omega, Howling Dog Press, Iton77, The Little Magazine, The Telegraph, Indian Express and Asia Week.

Yuyutsu has read in London at the Poetry Cafe, the Gustav Stressmann Institute, the Guardian newsroom, the Royal Society of Dramatic Arts, the Gunter Grass House, the Sudasien-Institut of Heidelberg University, Ruigoord (Amsterdam), GTZ, the Nehru Centre, the New Delhi Academy of Fine Arts, the Royal Nepal Academy, the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Indian International Centre in New Delhi and Villa Serbelloni, Italy.

More information can be found online at www.yuyutsu.de.

Paul Skyrm

PAUL SKYRM

From April 16th, 1976, Skyrm spent eighteen years in the town of Mantua, Ohio where most anyone could find him on the banks of the Cuyahoga or exploring small towns and moons in Lake Erie. In 1994, he moved to Aurora, Ohio, another town on the route of Cuyahoga River. He attended Kent State University majoring in English with a minor in Creative Writing.

Beginning in 2000, he embarked upon a series of travels by Jeep, in solitary & communal company with skeleton & ghost, that would take him from Provincetown on the fist of the Cape, west to Los Angeles, south to St. Petersburg and north to Ontario, Canada and a myriad of points in between including a short spell living in Lake Charles, Louisiana in the waning months of 2004.

Currently Paul resides in Aurora, Ohio.

His work is featured in such print and electronic literary journals as My Favorite Bullet, The (diet) Temple, Rag Shock, Wholly Communion/The Beatnik, House of Cats, One Voice, Jawbone, The City, Thunder Sandwich, Sidereality, Deep Cleveland Junkmail Oracle, Get Underground, America Zen, Underground Literary Alliance & You Can’t Hither Than That.

Dan Smith Literary Cafe

DAN SMITH

Inspired by the poetry of Hafiz, Dan started writing poetry four years ago. He's performed at the Deep Cleveland Poetry Hour at Borders in Strongsville and the Literary Cafe in Tremont, in addition to other established city venues. His chapbook--Crooked River--was published by Deep Cleveland Press in 2005. He's been published in the 2006 Hessler Street Fair Anthology, in Smoke, Mist & Mirror, and last but definitely not least in ArtCrimes 21. Online he has been on Deep Cleveland, Pedestal Magazine , The City Poetry , and Sein und Werden .

Baby Lady Kathy Photo by Smith

LADY K

Edits The City Poetry. In 2006, Lady left the U.S. to make art, write poetry, and have adventures with Steven B. Smith. Smith and Lady document their continuing adventures on the blog Walking on Thin Ice.

Lady has a chaplet and broadside package with Green Panda Press.

STEVEN B. SMITH

Steven B. Smith Collage by Smith

I’ve traveled an odd and variegated journey since being born in the Bitterroot Mountains in the panhandle of Idaho 61 years ago. My life boils down to five sets of facts:

1 - I'm Kathy Ireland Smith's friend, collaborator, companion, and husband.

2 - I've been a poet 43 yrs, an artist 42 yrs, the publisher of ArtCrimes 21 yrs, web master of Agent of Chaos 5 yrs, and Kathy’s co-blogger on Walking on Thin Ice 1 yr.

3 - I've run from the cops 10 times, got away 9.

4 – My job is to show the sheep in the sheep pen there are better ways to live.

5 – I’ve learned there is but one law: Do as you would be done.

Philip Soanes

PHILIP SOANES

I was born in Dublin, Ireland but I now live and teach English in Krakow, Poland. I enjoy writing, playing the guitar, reading and meeting with good people.

 

Rielly Stares

RIELLY STARES

Born in 1975 in Kingston, Ontario, a port town on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River and the original capital of Canada. She spent her early childhood in Kingston until 1986 when her family built a house in a nearby rural area. She attended high school in Kingston by commute and then moved back into the city to complete her education at Queen's University. She decided to stay in the city, and since then Rielly has participated in Kingston theatre and has been painting and writing for many years. Today she lives in Kingston and is a member of a local poetry group.

Cheryl Townsend

CHERYL TOWNSEND

Used to publish IMPETUS...now she just collects the poetry and answers disgruntled mail from the senders. She used to own Cat's Impetus Books in Kent... where she also pretended to be doing business. She does a lot of photography and tries to paint.

Cheryl is on MySpace.

RA Washington

RA WASHINGTON

Writer, musician, teacher, publisher, artist, independent film actor and member of the Progressive Arts Alliance. Washington's authored a number of books of poetry and novellas, published the literary magazine, Fair Trade. His short films and paintings have been shown in independent galleries across the east coast, as well as London, England, and Toronto, Canada. He was the Cleveland Museum of Art’s first ever Poet-in-Residence and is now MOCA’s director of community outreach.

RA is on MySpace.

Mark Wilson

MARK WILSON

Mark Wilson is a resident of Westpark, on Cleveland's West Side and attends Broadway Christian Church. A Christian by faith and a chef by trade, Mark's poems reflect upon his relationship with God, and the deeper meaning of food. His literary influences include Jack and Jan Kerouac, Sylvia Plath, and Anthony Bourdain.

 

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