Welcome to POETRY +, a monthly reading series hosted by Art on Madison for emerging and established writers in Cleveland and the surrounding regions. Each month, POETRY + aims to shine the spotlight on two great writers (ideally one from out of town and one local), providing them with the platform and time necessary to present a body of their work and to connect with their audience. Each presenter is given the freedom to decide which materials and anecdotes they will share. POETRY + is open to all forms of poetry, short and flash fiction, and performative happenings. POETRY + typically occurs on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, and is currently curated by 2019-2021 Ohio Beat Poet Laureate John Burroughs.
Doors open at 7:00 pm, and the reading begins at 7:30 pm. POETRY + is free and open to the public.
Doors open at 7:00 pm, and the reading begins at 7:30 pm. POETRY + is free and open to the public.
December 17, 2019: Featured Poets - Ray McNiece and Michelle R. Smith
Ray McNiece is the author of 9 books of poetry and monologues, including New Haiku and Love Song for Cleveland, a collaboration with photographer Tim Lachina. He’s toured Italy twice with Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He toured Russia with Yevgeny Yevtushenko and performed at the Moscow Polytech, the Russian Poets’ Hall of Fame, where he was dubbed “the American Mayakovsky.” The Orlando Sentinel, reporting on his solo theater piece Us—Talking across America at the Fringe Festival, called him “a modern day descendant of Woody Guthrie.” www.raymcniece.com.
Michelle R. Smith is a black femme feminist, media activist, and admitted Netflix addict that between fighting the good fight and watching copious stand-up specials, dark comedies, and music documentaries manages to write poems, tell stories, teach college and high school kids, and be a loving mother and wife. She is the author of the poetry collection Ariel in Black, and she is currently working on a new collection tentatively titled The Real Jazz Wives of 20th Century America and looking to publish a third collection, called The Vagina Analogues. Michelle has most recently presented her work at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Mac's Backs Books, Telos: A Reading of Purpose at Outlandish Press, and The Persisters at B-Side Liquor Lounge.
Michelle R. Smith is a black femme feminist, media activist, and admitted Netflix addict that between fighting the good fight and watching copious stand-up specials, dark comedies, and music documentaries manages to write poems, tell stories, teach college and high school kids, and be a loving mother and wife. She is the author of the poetry collection Ariel in Black, and she is currently working on a new collection tentatively titled The Real Jazz Wives of 20th Century America and looking to publish a third collection, called The Vagina Analogues. Michelle has most recently presented her work at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Mac's Backs Books, Telos: A Reading of Purpose at Outlandish Press, and The Persisters at B-Side Liquor Lounge.
