Monthly poetry workshops
at Heights Arts Studio
at 7 pm
$10 per person, limited to 10. Pre-registration required.
| November 14 | Mary E Weems |
| December 11 | Lou Suarez |
| February 13 | Meredith Holmes |
| March 12 | Kelly Harris |
| April 25 | 7th Annual Tri-C East Poetry Dialogue |
| May 13 | TBA |
Found Poem: A found poem is created by selecting from published words in books, magazines, newspapers, and other places printed materials are found. For this project, create your found poem with a new acquaintance by browsing the materials available in Cleveland Heights libraries and bookstores.
Instructions
- Introduce yourself to someone you see on a regular basis in a public space and ask if they would be interested in creating a found poem with you after reading over these instructions, including the example of a found poem on the back of this sheet. (We suggest exchanging first names and e-mail addresses only.)
- Discuss whether or not you want to decide upon a subject/theme for the kind of poem you’d like to write or if you want the process to find its own way based upon the kinds of lines each of you select.
- Make a date to meet in the library or bookstore where you decide to browse.
- Allot a minimum of 2 hours for the project. This may be accomplished in one session or several shorter sessions.
- You must browse through at least 10 things (any combination of novel, newspaper, anthology, book of poems, chapbook of poems, play, non-fiction etc.) As you browse pick out favorite lines and write them down for your bibliography, including the title, author, page number, publisher, and date published.
- Once each person has selected his or her lines, make another date to meet.
- Bring your selected typed lines to the next meeting and work together on constructing/shaping lines from each person’s selection into ONE found poem.
- NO additional words may be added to the words you find to make the poem.
- Agree who will type up the final poem, and write the story (50 words or less) of your process, how/where/when you met, and what the experience meant to each of you.
- Create a typed document in 12-pt. Times New Roman font which includes:
- Your first names and e-addresses
- Found poem
- Bibliography for found poem
- Your story (see #9)
Mail your entry by October 15 to:
Heights Arts, 2163 Lee Road #104, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118
All submissions will be read. Selected poems will be posted at this website, and selected Found Poem authors will be invited to share their poems at The Joy of Text Festival, November 3-4, at Heights Arts Studio at the library, 2340 Lee Road.
Contact Mary E. Weems at mweems45@sbcglobal.net or Heights Arts 216.371.3457
For an example of a found poem click here.
November 2–4, 2007 The Joy of Text Festival
All free and open to the public
Preface: Storefront Poetry
Look for poetry by local poets in your neighborhood storefronts.
Sample it, then go to the library or bookstore and read more.
Chapter One: Found Poetry
Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate Mary E. Weems presents the
Found Poetry Project to build community among residents
through poetry, as well as encourage browsing in libraries, bookstores
and other businesses with printed materials. Instructions:
216.371.3457 or mweems45@sbcglobal.net
Chapter Two: Haiku to Go
Submit your haiku to Heights Arts to be considered for Haiku to
Go, magnetic haiku for car or fridge.
Chapter Three: Bookcrossing
n. the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up
and read by others, who then do likewise.
Heights Arts is registering books by Greater Cleveland writers at
bookcrossing.com to share our local writers with the world. A list
of books released into the wild will be available at this website.
Chapter Four: Channeling Harvey
Channel Harvey Pekar (or not) by writing copy for a comic drawing created exclusively for Heights Arts by Gary and Laura Dumm. Entries will be displayed, at our discretion, at Heights Arts Studio. All are eligible for the Harvey Likes It Award which will be announced at The Joy of Text Festival, February 2-4, 2007. To print a copy of the drawing, click here.
Friday, November 2, 6–9 p.m. Reception
A second group of artist books from the collection of the
Cleveland Institute of Art and the Nonfact Archive
Saturday, November 3, 1–5 p.m.
1:00 p.m.: The History of Illuminated Manuscripts
A history, with demonstrations of techniques, of illuminated
manuscripts by Steve Otlowski of the Society of Creative
Anachronisms.
2:00 p.m.: Found Poetry Reading with Cleveland Heights Poet
Laureate Mary E. Weems
The Found Poetry Project builds community among residents
through poetry, as well as encourages browsing in libraries, bookstores
and other businesses with printed materials. Instructions:
216.371.3457 or heightsarts@heightsarts.org
3:00 p.m.: Haiku Death Match Finals with Marcus Bales
Listen to the Haiku Death Match, recorded and edited by George Bilgere on WKSU
Sunday, November 4, 1–5 p.m.
1:30 p.m.: Panel Discussion with local writers moderated by
Suzanne DeGaetano of Mac’s Backs Paperbacks
3:00 p.m.: Footnotes on the History of text
A live multi-media performance presents The Joy of Text from
papyrus to pixels.
4:00 p.m.: Musical finale
Each year HeightsArts facilitates a search for a Poet Laureate for Cleveland Heights, Ohio. The Laureate is appointed annually by Cleveland Heights City Council during April, National Poetry Month. The principal official duty of the Laureate is to write and present poems for 12 public events during the term of office - about once a month.
...more about Requirements and Application Process.
Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate project is mentioned in the Washington Post.
On April 7, 2008 at 7:30 pm Cleveland Heights City Council will reappoint Mary Weems as the 2008 Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate at the recommendation of Heights Writes, the poet laureate selection committee convened by Heights Arts.
The committee has recommended that the poet laureate term be extended to two years going forward so that poets can more deeply infuse poetry into the community. In her first term, Weems introduced the Found Poetry project to encourage people to discover both each other and poetry through creating a poem together.
Weems will read Opening the Lines of Communication, a Found Poem that she created based on a project at Heights Arts Studio last summer. Artist Migiwa Orimo from Yellow Springs, Ohio, was an Ohio Arts Council artist-in-residence at the Studio and formed a summer collective around the theme Community as a Form of Art. One of the projects was a large, artist-drawn map of Cleveland Heights zoning parcels. People were encouraged to put a red dot on the map and record on a slip of paper something about that place that was meaningful to them, prompted by This is where……. Weems’ poem is based on these slips of paper, and she said that in reading these sentences she truly felt a sense of community for the first time since she had moved to the city.
Mary Weems is a seasoned poet, performer, and educator. She respects the value of poetry as a fundamental art form, and brings copious experience as a public speaker and a deep appreciation of the role of the poet in the community to her tenure as Poet Laureate. Heights Arts welcomes her strong presence and impressive credentials as Dr. Weems begins her second term as the third Poet Laureate of Cleveland Heights
