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    Amy Turn Sharp releases collection of poetry, Hold Me Like Ohio

    Amy Turn Sharp reading poetry during Word Church.

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    Locally lauded poet Amy Turn Sharp has amassed quite a collection of poems and has decided this is the year to pull together a selection for a book. She has selected forty poems for her new book, Hold Me Like Ohio.

    “I write a poem nearly every day,” says Sharp. “In 2012 I did a 365 project and I have realized that I have so many poems! I have a lot of amazing blog readers and they urged me to put a collection together.”

    Sharp publishes her poems on her blog, My Name is Amy Turn Sharp. Hold Me Like Ohio is her first book.

    “I have a lot of themes in my work and I just decided to work on the relationship/Ohio one first,” she says. “Ohio is stuck in me like a feather. I belong here no matter how long I am ever away.”

    Hold Me Like Ohio was letterpressed by Igloo Letterpress in two colors on 140# cover stock and hand bound with a waxed linen thread, resulting in a beautiful book to house Sharp’s first collection. Friend Shannon Lieberman designed the cover.

    “She encouraged me to being my personality out a bit and I love it,” says Sharp.

    Amy Turn Sharp’s first bound collection of poetry, Hold Me Like Ohio will be released February 25, 2014.

    the wonder years

    I don’t dream of you anymore
    hardly ever
    you are dead for sure
    stripped from any part of my life
    I don’t have photographs
    letters
    paper ephemera scrappy bits
    evidence that you used to take air into your living lungs
    that you were glossy and kind and pulsating
    proof you waved your hand to me
    like a white flag

     

    I don’t dream of you
    I just see you occasionally
    in the broad shoulders of boys
    in crowds at shopping malls
    at the park with my children
    leaning against the swing set
    smiling into the sun
    pushing your hand through
    the long hair of teenage dreams

    -amy turn sharp

    —-

    someday

     

    I want to read David Foster Wallace with you. We’ll pause a lot. Eat madeleines. Dunk them in tea. The pages of the book splattered brown with drips. Push the curtains closed. Read again. You tell me about the city where you lost your truth. I say I’m sorry. The air slips from the room. A slip falls to the floor and breaks like glass. We talk about the novel and how hard it is to read. So complex. I blush. All your teeth show. We agree. The book sits between us. We take turns reading and our voices carry across the house. Our sounds fill the silence.

    -amy turn sharp

    “There are lots more to come,” says Sharp.

    Photo courtesy Amy Turn Sharp.

    Catch Amy Turn Sharp at the next Word Church poetry reading night at Brothers Drake. Started in October of 2013, Word Church brings together local poets and invites them to share their poetry with the community. Word Church occurs every month at Brothers Drake. The next event is Tuesday, February 25 and begins at 7:30pm. Copies of Hold Me Like Ohio will be available for $20.

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    Anne Evans
    Anne Evanshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-evans/
    Anne Evans is the Co-Founder and Director of Operations for The Metropreneur and Columbus Underground. She regularly contributes feature stories on both sites, as well as Mega Weekend each week. She has started and grown businesses, created experiences, forged community partnerships, and worked to create opportunities for others. She loves meeting new neighbors and those making an impact in our community. Want to connect?
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