Local poets share their work

Local poets had an opportunity to present their work to the public at a recent literary event in Windsor.

Urban Farmhouse Press presented the event ‘By the River: Poetry and Prose’, an ongoing series to showcase local poets and writers from Windsor. Windsorites were able to meet the performers who recited from their own works.

The publisher of Urban Farmhouse Press, Daniel Lockhart, said Windsor has had many writers throughout history. Lockhart himself is a poet from Windsor and often writes about his background, his origin and thoughts on various issues. His first book, Big Medicine Comes To Erie, was published in 2016.

“It is more important to get together to know each other on a personal level,” said Lockhart. “Young writers can use this reading series as a platform to beginning their career and engaging with the community.”

Vanessa Shields is also a poet from Windsor and said an event like this is good practice for writers.

“It is a great place to come and see what other writers do, how they read, how they perform and what they talked about in between their readings,” said Shields. “Windsor is absolutely so supportive of literary arts.”

Shields has several books to her credit: I Am That Woman, Look At Her and Poetry On Demand.

Around 20 people showed up at the Riverside Public Library to meet the seven writers showcased at the event.

“It is wonderful place for the writers because you get to test your work in public and you got to perform in a way that normally it does not see a performance on a written paper,” said Peter Hrastovec, a poet and lawyer from Windsor.

Hrastovec’s advice for the younger generation is “they should read, they should write, they should capture everything that motivates their hearts and minds on paper.”

He also said spoken and written words are important elements to motivate society. His published work includes In Lieu of Flowers and Sidelines.

The next events will be held at Riverside Public Library on March 15, April 12 and May 17.