Photo courtesy of the High Arts Festival.

Autumn is a beautiful time in Ohio, and this is a busy month for poetry events. Last Friday I had the pleasure of serving on a literary arts panel for the High Arts Festival (pictured above) with fellow writers Eris Eady, Noor Hindi, and Mwatabu S. Okantah, and David Giffels as moderator. Tomorrow (10/6, 7:30 pm) I’m looking forward to reading at the Cleveland celebration for They Said: A Multi-Genre Anthology of Contemporary Collaborative Writing at Visible Voice Books in Tremont. This volume is newly released by Black Lawrence Press, and it’s magnificent.

Later in October I’m packing my bags and heading to the College of Charleston for a poetry reading and craft talk about first books of poetry. My biggest piece of advice there: don’t be afraid to take risks in your collection. Growl a little. Show some teeth. Also, the right press and editor are out there, even if your classmates or writing group friends or Twitter frenemies aren’t always sure what to make of your work. I always felt like my intrinsic weirdness was a liability based on what others told me, but it ended up being an advantage instead.