Your Name Here: The Matt Sradeja Interview

I met Matt Sradeja several years ago at a poetry workshop held at Brewed Awakenings, a coffee shop that was for a long time a fixture of Toledo’s poetry scene. Matt and I were still cutting our teeth on the words in those days. Since that time we’ve featured together at a few readings in Toledo, read at a million open mics, performed in Back to Jack, and had poems printed in the same anthology of local poets.

Matt’s poetry heroes, as you’ll soon learn, are Gregory Corso and Walt Whitman. He carries on their legacies like a champ. Matt’s poems are frank and sincere, funny, unexpected, and playful. He plays with pop culture references, makes jokes, and tender, sometimes heartbreaking overtures to the world.

5 Books with Sarah Osborn

"Picking five favorite books is like picking the five body parts you'd most like not to lose." Neil Gaiman

5 Questions with Ashley Eichner

Ashley Eichner is a poet, multi-media visual artist, spoken word performer, secret shaman, and gentle spirit from Toledo, OH. She's a member of the Back To Jack Reader's Theater, and the organizer behind the annual Charles Bukowski memorial reading, held at a local watering hole called The Attic. She's also a dear friend and a enthusiastic supporter of local art and artists. Here we discuss poetry, briefly, and a few of her favorite poems. Thanks for reading, and enjoy!

Writing Never Felt Like a Choice: The Lindsey Forche Interview

I met Lindsey Forche a few years ago when we were both employees at Borders in Toledo. It didn’t take long for us to learn we both had a mutual love for Tori Amos, a shared interest in poetry, and a strong desire to write the quintessential American novel or poetry collection. We talked about poetry but we shared very little of our original work with one another. I recall, in the mess of my memory, giving Lindsey a copy of a poem I was working on to read in the break room at Borders, and reading an e-mail from her with several of her musical, fierce poems attached.