Yup - truth is, as Melba will tell you, poetry is as simple as loving the words as they show up... kind of like that “listening” you wrote about. Your words have always been poetry.
It’s true that poetry readings led me to the old gallery or I might have never found my way to the gallery. I always thought maybe I saw you play on Cheryl Townsend’s circuit in the mid-90s but others think I may be confused. I started readings with her circuit around the area (before her bookstore) and then met Maj, read at the Brady one Jawbone when D.M. Emigh added me to the list I didn’t plan to join 😅 and then lost track of Jawbone when Brady’s closed. I managed to track it to Fred Fuller park in 2004 and found the monthly open readings at the gallery attending sporadically until it got more routine.
After my MFA program, I found I couldn’t write much anymore ironically (or nothing I think others might be interested in hearing anyway or they are grief/tribute pieces)… the inner critic following the external critics I suppose and I got busy with other educational pursuits, etc. and was sporadic again. I still attend Jawbone though I haven’t read there for a few years, but I’ve found it hard to attend the other Friday sessions after the loss of Maj ♥️ and it feels different without him too. He’d have wanted that though. :) I think about going from time to time so maybe one of these days. I remember you thought I was a youngster in college at the gallery. I have a photo I ran across recently of my son playing drums with you some years ago near the gallery window when he was little. :)
I like your raw style. I’m an Ohioan too. Just started on Substack . Been writing poetry and an occasional song for years but kept them to myself. I would love to learn how to share in other mediums. I also have a novel almost complete and I haven’t figured out how to share it on Substack. I would welcome advice. Thanks! - Don
Beautiful. I really resonated with this line and am so grateful for it:
"...but I know this writing came from a place of enjoyment. It came from a place of allowing myself to feel the feelings and allowing myself to accomplish nothing."
I listened to today’s episode while walking around my Denver neighborhood...the last bits of color hanging on. It’s been a gorgeous fall here but there’s something about an Ohio fall. I love you, Hal...looking forward to meeting Melba. She sounds great.
As another Northeast Ohioan, I think you’ve nailed it with your celebration of this week’s second summer. I’ve felt more called to poetry in the last couple of months--nothing to share, just putting some words down on paper. Even if it’s not good, it’s good, you know? Happy Saturday, Hal ☀️
We’ve got great weather here in Minneapolis too. We always used to call it Indian Summer, but now all of a sudden it’s Second Summer. I thought that was a regional Minnesota thing, but with you using it, it must be national.
A warm late October is a gift that doesn’t come every year. They still talk about the Halloween Blizzard of 1991. Not a single trick-or- treater all evening, and a foot of snow in the driveway by morning. Another foot over the next day or so.
How long are the chapters typically? This is my first novel. Thanks Hal. Another question. When I publish my poems they double space. How can I publish a chapter of a novel to look like your column. Also I like your listen option. Haven’t figured that yet.
Yup - truth is, as Melba will tell you, poetry is as simple as loving the words as they show up... kind of like that “listening” you wrote about. Your words have always been poetry.
Let's write a poem sometime, Margot. :) Thank you for reading.
I’d love that.
If I were a poet, I’d say I definitely heard some poetry in there and a poet’s heart at work. 😉
Do you ever attend the Friday night poetry readings? I remember meeting you for the first time at a poetry reading at the old gallery. :)
It’s true that poetry readings led me to the old gallery or I might have never found my way to the gallery. I always thought maybe I saw you play on Cheryl Townsend’s circuit in the mid-90s but others think I may be confused. I started readings with her circuit around the area (before her bookstore) and then met Maj, read at the Brady one Jawbone when D.M. Emigh added me to the list I didn’t plan to join 😅 and then lost track of Jawbone when Brady’s closed. I managed to track it to Fred Fuller park in 2004 and found the monthly open readings at the gallery attending sporadically until it got more routine.
After my MFA program, I found I couldn’t write much anymore ironically (or nothing I think others might be interested in hearing anyway or they are grief/tribute pieces)… the inner critic following the external critics I suppose and I got busy with other educational pursuits, etc. and was sporadic again. I still attend Jawbone though I haven’t read there for a few years, but I’ve found it hard to attend the other Friday sessions after the loss of Maj ♥️ and it feels different without him too. He’d have wanted that though. :) I think about going from time to time so maybe one of these days. I remember you thought I was a youngster in college at the gallery. I have a photo I ran across recently of my son playing drums with you some years ago near the gallery window when he was little. :)
I like your raw style. I’m an Ohioan too. Just started on Substack . Been writing poetry and an occasional song for years but kept them to myself. I would love to learn how to share in other mediums. I also have a novel almost complete and I haven’t figured out how to share it on Substack. I would welcome advice. Thanks! - Don
Have you considered releasing a chapter at a time on Substack? I've seen other writers do that. Thank you for reading and commenting. :) Hal
Beautiful, you poet, you. I remember that one poem you wrote.
Me too. It was in that graduate level poetry class that you and I audited and then we both dropped out. :) Break a leg tonight, Joey. ❤️
Beautiful! Thank you, Hal.
You're welcome. I enjoyed talking with you on the porch. :)
Beautiful. I really resonated with this line and am so grateful for it:
"...but I know this writing came from a place of enjoyment. It came from a place of allowing myself to feel the feelings and allowing myself to accomplish nothing."
Thank you so much. :)
Thank you Hal, for bringing me a snippet of Northeast Ohio through your eyes 💟💟💟
ah yes... an Ohioan, I see. Thanks for reading. :)
I listened to today’s episode while walking around my Denver neighborhood...the last bits of color hanging on. It’s been a gorgeous fall here but there’s something about an Ohio fall. I love you, Hal...looking forward to meeting Melba. She sounds great.
Thank you Caroline. I love you too. ❤️
You're definitely a poet. Love to Melba.
Thanks Cathy! :)
You're a terrific poet, Hal!
Luv ja,
Clarissa
Thank you, Clarissa!
There’s quite a bit of poetry in your prose! Thank you, Hal.
Thanks for being one of the O.G.'s here, Suzanne. :)
As another Northeast Ohioan, I think you’ve nailed it with your celebration of this week’s second summer. I’ve felt more called to poetry in the last couple of months--nothing to share, just putting some words down on paper. Even if it’s not good, it’s good, you know? Happy Saturday, Hal ☀️
yay! Keep writing! :) H
💫📕
We did have an amazing 2nd summer here in Ohio.
We’ve got great weather here in Minneapolis too. We always used to call it Indian Summer, but now all of a sudden it’s Second Summer. I thought that was a regional Minnesota thing, but with you using it, it must be national.
A warm late October is a gift that doesn’t come every year. They still talk about the Halloween Blizzard of 1991. Not a single trick-or- treater all evening, and a foot of snow in the driveway by morning. Another foot over the next day or so.
Thanks for your story.
How long are the chapters typically? This is my first novel. Thanks Hal. Another question. When I publish my poems they double space. How can I publish a chapter of a novel to look like your column. Also I like your listen option. Haven’t figured that yet.