The Poetry 4 Food series at Mac’s Backs, Writing Knight’s conquest of Coventry Road, brought together a good mix of holiday charity and poetry performance. Those that donated food items or monetary support for the Canton Sunday Picnic received a copy of the FourPlay “Poetry 4 Food”—a short collection that includes pieces by Ken Gradomski, Jen Pezzo, Dianne Borsenik, and Christine Howey. Both the turnout and the support were wonderfully lively.
Wednesday’s set included the fun wit of last minute fill-in Jen Pezzo, Phoenix Clouden alternating between moving tribute poems and comical letters from his elementary school sweatpants, and ethereal charm from K.E. Goergen. Headliner Catherine Criswell(Video) brought the evening’s most interesting experiment. The Shaker Heights attorney gave her poem about wine and vinyl a saxophone accompaniment.
The second part of the series saw Ken Gradomski starting off the night, Renay Sanders giving a hushed exploration of her storytelling family, and the poet Suspicious (Video) taking the audience on an emotional (yet sharp) journey. Feature Christine Howey (Video 1, Video 2), Cleveland Scene’s theater critic, kept the crowd bubbling with laughter. Her amazing vocal control and impeccable comic timing left the knights of the room quite disarmed.
As always, the open mic of both evenings brought with it several newcomers, alongside many Writing Knights veterans. The pieces gave the crowd a chance to experience poetry performed in sign language, poetry translated from the original Spanish (Video), and poetry requiring audience participation.
Special thanks to Mac’s Backs for hosting two very wonderful evenings, as well as all those that attended and performed.
Pictures from the events:
Wednesday
Pictures from the events:
Wednesday