Recycling Poetry in Elyria

"One beautiful moment / outweighs by far / a lifetime of okay"
[design/painting by Dianne Borsenik, poem/photo by JC — 9/16/2011 in Elyria]
I wrote that short (16 syllable poem) on 10 April 1998 and forgot about it. On 14 May 2008, while digging through my old journals for blog fodder, I rediscovered and posted it here, not thinking much of it. Then I was surprised and honored when Lady K saw it and asked to include it in the Summer 2008 issue (Giving In) of The City Poetry (my first poetry publication since 1998, when I'd pretty much given up writing poems in favor of plays and songs). Later, Meredith Holmes selected that same short poem (now titled "One Beautiful Moment") for publication in the April 2010 issue of the Heights Observer (maybe the first time one of my poems had appeared in a newspaper). And just when I thought the piece had been recycled for the last time, Invest Elyria put out a call for artists to paint barrels that would be placed around town and in local parks to facilitate and encourage recycling. Local poet Dianne Borsenik volunteered to design and paint two such barrels, and I was happy when she chose to emblazon one of them with my 13 year old lines. This past weekend "my" barrel (it's not just mine, but I'm proud to claim it) made its debut at the Invest Elyria booth on Ely Square during the Elyria Apple Festival (where I took these photos). If you missed it, maybe you'll have a chance to see some of the barrels in person this Sunday, 25 September 2011 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m, when Invest Elyria hosts its 1st annual art show. I'll be there manning the Crisis Chronicles Press table and Dianne will be with me, signing copies of her recently published Crisis Chronicles chapbook, Blue Graffiti. A couple more authors may join us as well.
Meanwhile, you can join the Invest Elyria group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/investelyria


Recycling Poetry — Invest Elyria booth at the 2011 Elyria Apple Festival
[design/painting by Dianne Borsenik, poem/photo by JC — 9/16/2011 in Elyria]
Meanwhile, you can join the Invest Elyria group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/investelyria


Recycling Poetry — Invest Elyria booth at the 2011 Elyria Apple Festival
[design/painting by Dianne Borsenik, poem/photo by JC — 9/16/2011 in Elyria]





nice .. have fun.... I recall these lines being posted.. good ones.
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Thanks, Chris! I posted more photos from the Apple fest here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2169189103918.115418.1072416429 - didn't hang out long, though, because I had to head to Ingenuity Fest in Cleveland to read at the Poet's Haven booth that evening.
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nice work Dianne...
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So many lifetimes within. Congrats.
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Thanks, Smith! Interestingly, that sandstone building behind the booth is the former Lorain County Courthouse from which I was taken to prison in 1993. Now the grounds are sporting my poetry.
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Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in. ~Amy Lowell
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