20 Poetry-Slamming Years
by Claire Kirch -- Publishers Weekly, 1/31/2005
The booksellers at Mac's Backs—Books on Coventry, in Cleveland, Ohio, have gotten in-store poetry readings down to a science. They've hosted a popular poetry series the second Wednesday of every month since 1984.
The booksellers are not messing with success. The format has not changed in 20 years: after two or three featured poets read, there follows an open mike session. The readings attract at least 18–20 people each month, often more when the evening's reading is headed by nationally acclaimed poets like Maj Ragain, Diane di Prima, Richard Tillinghast, F.D. Reeve or Carolyne Wright.
Last month, the store celebrated the 20th anniversary of its poetry reading series with an open mike at the store. Forty people packed the store to hear 25 poets read from their work.
"It was my perfect ideal of a reading," Suzanne DeGaetano, Mac's Backs co-owner told PW. "There were people who come in all the time to read, and there were people who were reading for the first time. It was the perfect blend of established writers and new poets. That's what I love: you hear a variety of voices that way."
DeGaetano ascribes the enduring popularity of the bookstore's monthly poetry readings particularly to its regularity.
"The fact that the poetry reading is held on the same day every single month helps a lot: people know when it's going on," she said. "Even when they haven't been in for a while, they know they can pick up and come in on the second Wednesday, and it's going to be going on."
DeGaetano also credits the intersection between a vibrant poetry slam/performance culture in Cleveland and a more conventional poetry tradition as a major component in the success of the Mac's Backs poetry readings.
"There's always been an underground poetry scene here," she explained. "Cleveland poets were among the first to get in on poetry slams and participate in national slam contests. But there's also an active academic poetry community here. After all, we have Cleveland University Press and Kent State Press nearby. The nonacademic, nontraditional poets and the academic, traditional poets have always bounced off of each other in all sorts of venues."
Mac's Backs was founded 26 years ago by Jim McSherry, who was a graduate student at Kent State University at the time. He relocated the store from Kent, Ohio, to Cleveland Heights in 1982. McSherry and DeGaetano currently are co-owners of the 1,000-square-foot store, which has an inventory of 50,000 new and used titles on three floors.
