Screaming Freedom by Allen Michael Hines -- AVAILABLE SEPT. 14

 


Screaming Freedom, a collection of poems by Allen Michael Hines, marks a quiet milestone in the world of Northeast Ohio poetry. The 32 poems that comprise the collection are spare, thought-provoking, and imbued with a driving desire to understand and be understood. Hines, an Alliance native and Kent State University student who lives with cerebral palsy, seeks “to give a passionate voice to the realities of disability” – and he does so adeptly over the course of this volume. Screaming Freedom contains poems of melancholy, hope, reflection, and the search for unconditional love and acceptance. They are probing, at times political – and always personal and poignant.

While Hines’ poems touch on Northeast Ohio communities, landmarks, and history as they explore the intricacies a life apart from the mainstream, their message is universal. The poems are underscored by a quest for equality, by a desire to examine the realities of the under-represented. They give light to the unique challenges, perspectives, struggles and strengths of those who live with “disabilities.” But Hines’ poems ultimately transcend the topic of disability – and hone in on the humanity in us all.

"In making known the restrictions imposed upon the poet by cerebral palsy, Allen Hines holds a magnifying glass to the yearnings felt by all of us, simultaneously limited and enabled as we are by our embodiment here in time: to speak clearly, to embrace another, to bridge the gap of our separateness. ... I am sure this young poet has many more poems to write ... and an audience waiting to read them, for Hines’ debut collection exhibits a remarkable sense of control and clarity; his wish 'to over-articulate life' has been realized."
          --Alice Cone, author of As If a Leaf Could Be Preserved

***A POETRY READING/BOOK-RELEASE PARTY IS PLANNED FOR 9:30 P.M. TUSDAY, OCT. 6 AT PROFESSORS PUB (110 E. MAIN ST., KENT). ALLEN WILL READ FROM AND SIGN COPIES OF SCREAMING FREEDOM.***

Read excerpts here.

In the Hardship and the Hoping: Poems of Northeast Ohio (2008)

Penned by authors originally from and/or currently living in Northeast Ohio, the poems in this collection reflect a variety of styles and themes, from the traditional to the experimental, from light-hearted takes on everyday life to poignant reflections on love, loss, faith, and change. Many explore local landscapes and landmarks in intimate detail, some celebrate the seasons and the scenery, while others leave Northeast Ohio behind to explore distant locales both real and imagined. But they all, in their unique ways, delve into the geography of human existence and emotions. The authors are as diverse a group as their writing. Included here are poems from professional and spare-time writers alike, from teenagers to retirees. Complimenting the poetry are arresting photos by award-winning Cleveland photographer Greg Ruffing. Taken together, the artists and their works are all voices of reflection and creativity from our collective community, the vibrant patchwork of places and personalities that is Northeast Ohio.

In a unique arts-transit collaboration with SARTA, Stark County's public transit agency, about a dozen of these poems were featured last year on  the fleet of passenger buses operating throughout Stark County.

“Alliance publisher J.B. Solomon Editions is to be commended for their collection In the Hardship and the Hoping: Poems of Northeast Ohio, but also for their promotion and stewardship of the arts.”
          --Barbara McIntyre, The Akron Beacon Journal

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Read excerpts here.

Anywhere but Here (2007)

A bitter newspaper reporter holds court in a decrepit bar in a dying Rust Belt town. A peasant family disintegrates within a tropical society on the verge of revolution. A bus driver laments his job during a uniquely monotonous trip through the dreary Midwestern landscape. A shell-shocked war correspondent wanders aimlessly in frigid French Canada. An Ecuadorian woman toils in an American sweatshop, only to return to despair and infidelity at home. These and other characters both ordinary and extraordinary populate Anywhere but Here. Set in a variety of locales -- from Ohio to South America -- the stories and vignettes that comprise this collection raise questions about identity, permanence, and the quiet struggle to find meaning in a seemingly senseless world. In an age of globalization and instant interconnection, Anywhere but Here offers a subtle examination of events and emotions that divide us but, at the same time, unite us in shared isolation.

"In his first collection of short stories, Ohio native and former Tampa Tribune reporter Tim Bugansky explores themes of transition and isolation through a broad cast of characters: an angry bus driver shuttling around college students, an Ecuadorian woman laboring inside an American sweatshop, a Midwest reporter slowly losing his idealism. ... Bugansky is at his best when he's describing the jungles of South America, disintegrating Rust Belt towns and the numbing depression we all share when something inside us is lost."
           --Alex Pickett, Creative Loafing Tampa

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Read excerpts here.