Main Street Books held a poetry reading in their downtown shop in Mansfield on Saturday. The poets gathered in the upstairs loft and were welcomed with a “living room atmosphere,” as Hannah Stephenson, one of the poets, described it.
Hannah Stephenson and Terry Provost were the welcomed poets from out of town, connecting Mansfield to the larger communities of Columbus and Cleveland.
Mark Sebastian Jordan, the organizer of the Borderlands Series, said, “There is a cultural border land between Cleveland and Columbus that resides in Mansfield. This prompted the idea to start a series that aims at filling that void.”
Stephenson is a poet, editor and professor living in Columbus. Her recent and archived poems can be found on her blog, the storialist, and some of her work has recently appeared in The Huffington Post, Hobart, Contrary Magazine, MAYDAY, and The Nervous Breakdown. She also published her first anthology in August called, In the Kettle, the Shriek.
Originally from Troy, New York, Terry Provost graduated with a BS in physics, from St. Bonaventure University, an MS in medical physics from the University of Colorado, and an MS in Mathematics from Cleveland State. He has been writing poetry for over 15 years, and has performed on a national level. He has published two books of poetry, Compassionate Imperialism, and An Uncountable Infinity of Orgasms. He lives in Lakewood, Ohio, with his wife, Karen Cook, and son, Jackson, and is an adjunct professor of mathematics at Cuyahoga Community College. A broad sample of his work can be found at the blog “Chomsky in Chains.”
Sebastian stated these poetry readings have been going on and off for years, but they have always served the purpose of cultivating a healthy relationship within the poetry culture. Sebastian lives at Malabar Farm and his day job is to help maintain and run the bed and breakfast. He is heavily involved in the art community in Mansfield, however.
In his spare time he writes poetry that is influenced by poets Walt Whitman, John Allyn Berryman, and lyricist Bob Dylan, among others. His style reflects a range, he said. Since he is involved in two different elements, urban and rural, his poetry tends to interchange between the two.
He also writes scripts for plays, directs them, and story tells at public gatherings.
“Borderlands: Poetry on Edge” will continue to invite poets from around Ohio. They will meet in Main Street Books on every fourth Saturday of every month.
Main Street Books hosts a plethora of events throughout the year. Visit their website for more information on how to be involved, or simply be a spectator. The number to call is 419-522-2665. Their address is 104 North Main Street in Mansfield.
