CLEVELAND, Ohio –Clevelander R.A. Washington is bringing the works of unhoused area men to print in an anthology “These Words Are Not My Home: Poems, Stories, and Essays from the Unhoused.”
The collected works are from the Finding Voice Poetry Workshop at Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry’s 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter in Cleveland. Washington’s participation with workshop leaders Annie Holden and Lydia Bailey was funded by a four-month Amplify Fellowship from Literary Cleveland.
“This four-month, paid fellowship is designed to empower, uplift, and celebrate underrepresented communities by giving them the platform to tell their own stories on their own terms,” according to a press release.
That’s exactly what Washington did with men from the shelter.
“Making books costs money, I figured if I was chosen for the fellowship, I would have the funding and I knew there would be poets [at the workshop],” says Washington. “Why not provide a means for some of that work to be collected in a book.”
The public is invited to hear the contributions from the book at a free launch party reading and open mic event from 3 to 4 p.m., June 27 at the 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter at 2100 Lakeside Avenue, Cleveland.
While this anthology was produced by men at the shelter, he’s hoping to collaborate with a women’s shelter in the future. This anthology is published in collaboration with Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry and Outlandish Press. Previous anthologies can be found here.
“These Words are not My Home” print anthology ($10) is available at Mac’s Backs Books on Coventry, 1820 Coventry Rd, Cleveland Heights.
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