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”Any person who loves another person, Wherever in the world, is with us in this room – Even though there are battlefields.”
– from ”Creation,” by Kenneth Patchen
Much like the lotus springs from mud, poetry arises out of dust and challenges, and in these trying times continues to lift spirits across the Mahoning Valley and beyond. It has a long history in this area, where poverty and the closing of steel mills gave birth to a generation of poets who have spoken eloquently on the subject of loss as well as the potential of the individual and community during hard times.
Perhaps no one stood better for this than the noted Beat poet Kenneth Patchen (born in Niles in 1911 and died in California in 1972). His simple, child-like poem paintings addressed our common humanity and concerns while reaching to the divine, though he is not the only one to have drawn poetry out of his working-class roots in Trumbull County.
Poets and artists have long drawn color and sustenance from the gray and surreal, their inner wells countering the drought and emptiness of harsh economic and social realities. As a longtime poet who has performed in various venues and worked with several groups, including youth, I can say without a doubt, that I have found no area more receptive to poetry, and perhaps conducive to producing it, than this one. If you want to recite in or attend a poetry reading in Mahoning or Trumbull counties, there is always somewhere to go and someone interesting to hear.
I am more likely to remember lyrical phrases and faces than I am names – the one who can only read while drunk on alcoholic spirits; the young woman dressed in black, a black rose tattoo on her bare shoulder; the bearded, blushing professor reciting love poems to his beloved sitting in the audience; the one whose hands quiver over pages at the podium, but whose voice rises sure and strong as steel and fire.
During the recent arts festival in Youngstown, the McDonough gallery hosted an afternoon session of diverse and inspired readings from professional as well as amateur poets. The program was coordinated by award-winning local poet Karen Schubert, who is of the belief that Youngstown State University is largely responsible for keeping poetry alive in Mahoning County.
YSU has sponsored readings by some of the best poets around the country. Its Poetry Center, run by director Philip Brady, has over the years featured established poets from near and far – Nin Andrews, Tess Gallagher, Edwige Danticat, Carolyn Wright, W.D. Snodgrass and the recently deceased Wanda Coleman, to name a few.
The Center for Working Class Studies at YSU, the first academic center of its kind, which launched in 1996, has also hosted poetry readings featuring academics such as Douglas A. Fowler, a teacher of physics and astronomy from McDonald, whose poems combine multiple interests in the environment and science with his working-class background.
Poets are in part fulfilled by performance, but without the imprint of language on the page, even online, there is always the chance one’s words, once shared, will merely dissipate in air. YSU’s literary magazine, The Penguin Review, and YSU Student Literary, Jenny magazine, and the prevailing literary endeavors of Pig Iron Press with Pig Iron Press and Literary and Art Works (PILAW), operating since 1973, have helped to ensure this will not happen. Pig Iron Press and PILAW not only publish poetry but have long offered poetry programs to the public, hosting monthly Second Tuesday Open Poetry readings in Youngstown.
Dorian Books, a used book store on Elm Street in Youngstown, features poetry on its bookshelves and also hosts live performances, as does the Mocha House in Warren, whose traditional as well as edgy and experimental poetry readings have drawn diverse crowds. Poetry is everywhere here.
If there is a purpose to poetry, it is to nourish communities and youths in particular, as Kenneth Patchen’s poetry did and still does. Poetry brings individuals and groups together, educating, spreading its influence, extending its reach. Part of its uniqueness is that it appeals to everyone, reaching across age, gender and class divides. May it continue to thrive in our region, tapping into the power and possibilities of language while offering us the light of human experience, hope and truth.
Jenkins is a resident of McDonald. Email Jenkins at editorial@tribtoday.com.