A poetry collection from Kent State University Press highlighting students, alumni and community members titled “Light Enters the Grove: Exploring Cuyahoga Valley National Park through Poetry” launched Aug. 20, providing publication for many local writers. The launch took place in Peninsula, Ohio, and gathered members of the community to support the project’s long-awaited arrival.
The night consisted of over 40 of the published poets partaking in a poetry reading, and the opportunity for attendees to learn more about the project’s inspiration and growth from the editors; Charles Malone, Carrie George and Jason Harris.
Kent State alumna Clara Britton shared her poem “Candleflame Lichen” at the event, stating the environment felt very supportive to share her poetry in. Britton, a 2022 graduate of Kent State’s biology program, recently began medical school through the NEOMED (Northeast Ohio Medical University) program.
Britton said she felt drawn to this project because it was “very scientific, focusing on specific species and using the scientific names and calling it an inventory, which is a very biologist way of going about poetry.”
“The collection could bring poetry and science together,” Britton said. She also said there was a “comfort that came from participating in the project.”
The inspiration behind the project was to shed light on the relationships humans have with their environment, taking time to explore the specific species and fauna encountered in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Over 100 individuals came to support the launch of the collection.
The idea for “Light Enters the Grove” came into existence decades ago when Malone curated poetic inventories for national parks near his graduate school in Colorado. Malone came back to the idea frequently, wanting to create a poetic inventory that could impact the Kent community.
Editors Malone, George and Harris worked alongside park personnel, choosing specific fauna and species for each selected poet to focus on. The collection is separated into different sections exploring aspects of the forests, trees, wetlands, semi-aquatic animals, rivers, fields, water and land.
The book is described as a way to “invite readers to look further into their own experiences and memories of the park, to reflect on their relationships to its species and to recognize the importance of preserving the lives and habitats of our nonhuman neighbors.”
Alumna and poet Olivia Farina shared a poem that explored the relationship between humans and aquatic life, specifically bluegills.
Farina said she was drawn to the project because she is passionate about the state of the global world and the climate crisis. She also runs an environmental education group in local middle schools, teaching students ways to explore the environment and “better their own community.”
Farina’s poem juxtaposes a healthy and unhealthy bluegill to show how water pollution has “stained the greater environment.” When talking about her experience at the event, Farina felt anxious speaking in front of a group of poetic peers and professors, but that the launch “felt like re-entering home.”
“No one was going to laugh you out the door or pull a big hook and pull you off of the stage,” Farina said.
She states that this comfort extends from the Wick Poetry Center being able to create and curate a “wonderful environment for the reading and making us poets feel like home.”
The crowds snapped their fingers as each poet shared their published pieces, offering support to each poet and the project.
There will be more opportunities to support the poets, and hear them share their work on Sept. 9 at the Summit Metro Parks and on Oct. 6 at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens.
Lindsay Collier is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
