Ohio

State Poet Laureate

In 2014, Ohio established a state poet laureate position, which is currently held by Kari Gunter-Seymour was appointed the poet laureate of Ohio. Gunter-Seymour is the author of A Place So Deep Inside America It Can’t Be Seen (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions), which was the winner of the 2020 Ohio Poet of the Year Award and long-listed for the 2020 Julie Suk Award.

City and County Poets Laureate

Cuyahoga County

Honey Bell-Bey was appointed the poet laureate of Cuyahoga County in January 2020, the first poet in sixteen years to hold the position.

Cincinnati

In 2018, Manuel Iris was named poet laureate of Cincinnati, Ohio. Iris will serve a two-year term.

Cleveland Heights

In 2018, Damien McClendon was named poet laureate of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. McClendon will serve a two-year term.

Type	Title	State
Writing Program	Bowling Green State University	Ohio
Poetry-Friendly Bookstore	Visible Voice Books	Ohio
Literary Organization	Ohioana Library	Ohio
Writing Program	Cleveland State University	Ohio
Landmark	The Paul Laurence Dunbar House	Ohio
Radio Program	Book Beat	Ohio
Writing Program	Denison University	Ohio
Landmark	James Wright’s Hometown of Martins Ferry, OH	Ohio
Literary Organization	Ohio Poetry Association	Ohio
Writing Program	Kent State University	Ohio

Honky Tonk in Cleveland, Ohio

It's a jazz affair, drum crashes and cornet razzes.
The trombone pony neighs and the tuba jackass snorts.
The banjo tickles and titters too awful.
The chippies talk about the funnies in the papers.
     The cartoonists weep in their beer.
     Ship riveters talk with their feet
     To the feet of floozies under the tables.
A quartet of white hopes mourn with interspersed snickers:
        "I got the blues.
        I got the blues.
        I got the blues."
And . . . as we said earlier:
     The cartoonists weep in their beer.

Carl Sandburg

1922

Beyond Even This

Who would have thought the afterlife would 
look so much like Ohio? A small town place, 
thickly settled among deciduous trees. 
I lived for what seemed a very short time. 
Several things did not work out.
Casually almost, I became another one 
of the departed, but I had never imagined 
the tunnel of hot wind that pulls 
the newly dead into the dry Midwest 
and plants us like corn. I am 
not alone, but I am restless. 
There is such sorrow in these geese 
flying over, trying to find a place to land 
in the miles and miles of parking lots 
that once were soft wetlands.

Maggie Anderson

1991

Come Up From the Fields Father

Come up from the fields father, here's a letter from our Pete,
 And come to the front door mother, here's a letter from thy dear son.

Walt Whitman

1891

Poetry Near You

Recent & Featured Listings

Hanif Abdurraqib

Khaty Xiong

Charlene Fix

Honky Tonk in Cleveland, Ohio

Beyond Even This

Come Up From the Fields Father

Poetry Near You

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Ohio

Recent & Featured Listings

Hanif Abdurraqib

Khaty Xiong

Charlene Fix

Related Poems

Honky Tonk in Cleveland, Ohio

Beyond Even This

Come Up From the Fields Father

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