By Mike Templeton
While the poetry of urban Appalachians often evokes ideas and images that are distinctly Appalachian, both urban and rural, our poets also speak from the full range of what makes us human. Jackie Ison Kalbli is an urban Appalachian poet whose work and creative process emerges at the intersection of family history and Appalachian history. Like many of the poets associated with the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition, her work is evocative of a specific kind of urban Appalachian experience, one that is about the ways urban Appalachians are grappling with and re-shaping life as it exists today. Poet Barbara Marie Minney creates a poetry that speaks to contemporary Appalachian life like few others. Her poetry brings the perspective of a Transgender woman to the poetry of Appalachian experience. Jackie Ison Kalbli will be reading her poetry at Poetry Night at Sitwell’s with along with Barbara Marie Minney on Tuesday, September 2nd from 7-8:30 pm. As always, Poetry Night at Sitwell’s also includes an open mic. It is located at 324 Ludlow Avenue in Cincinnati’s Clifton neighborhood.
Jackie Ison Kalbli’s new book of poems is Ironweed (Finishing Line Press, 2025). Ironweed includes poems that deal with the Appalachian migration as something close to her. Not an historical narrative, but a chapter in the narrative of her own life. Kalbli’s family was part of that great migration that saw countless people move from places like her homeplace in Kentucky to Cincinnati, and other urban industrial centers, to build a new life. This story is one of triumph, transformation, and no small measure of tragedy and loss. Kalbli lost her own father when she was quite young, and this kind of deep loss bears down on her creative work to this day. As a poet, Kalbli, who still lives in greater Cincinnati, is able to transform these experiences into ideas and poetic forms which transform the poet, herself, as much as they reimagine the way we all perceive the world around us. This is precisely the job of poetry if I may speak of poetry in such crass terms. Yet perhaps these are precisely the terms to use when we think of urban Appalachian poetry. Poems which speak of a movement from rural life to urban industrial life are poems of work, of labor, and if there is a defining feature of urban Appalachian poetry, perhaps it is found in these images of life and work.
Critical reception of Kalbli’s book has been overwhelmingly positive. Our own Core member and former Poet Laureate of Cincinnati, Pauletta Hansel described Kalbli’s poetry as “an elegy for Kalbli’s many ancestors, those who stayed, those who left, and her literary ancestors as well, including her father, an aspiring poet and construction worker who died when Kalbli was a child.” Hansel, of course, hits the nail on the head as she explains how Kalbli’s poetry forms something of the grand poetic epic of urban Appalachians. Core member Sherry Cook Stanforth also had some powerful thoughts on Kalbli’s Ironweed. Stanforth described the book as possessing a “tonal grit and a visual intensity that is sure to haunt.” Haunting narratives captured in poetic forms are another key feature of urban Appalachian poetry.
Barbara Marie Minney of Tallmadge, Ohio, is the author of four collections of poetry. Minney is a poet and self-described “quiet activist” whose work centers on the themes of urban and rural Appalachian life while she introduces a perspective that may be new to many readers. As a Transgender woman, Minney’s most recent book is called A Woman in Progress (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2024.) This collection explores the notion of growing into oneself while also growing into being a woman. The ideas of gender and other forms of identity as fluid and malleable things move to the center in Minney’s work. One recent review by Noor Chang explained that Minney’s “work explores the vulnerable experiences with gender, memory, love, and transformation, allowing the readers to grasp at understanding the soul of a woman’s becoming – and being – herself.” Barbara Marie Minney brings a perspective that is timely and powerful.
Both Jackie Ison Kalbli and Barbara Marie Minney take their places within the wider constellation of what we call urban Appalachian poets. While the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition is only too happy to claim these poets for urban Appalachians, we should be fair to the world and let everyone know that these are two poets that bring you images of and insights into the full range of being a contemporary human. Their poetry most definitely centers on themes and ideas that are distinctly Appalachian, but many of these themes and ideas are things that speak to just being the world today with all of its complexity. You do not need to be Appalachian to find the poetry of Jackie Ison Kalbli and Barbara Marie Minney moving and inspiring. Jackie Ison Kalbli and Barbara Marie Minney will be reading their poems on Tuesday, September 2nd from 7-8:30 pm at Poetry Night at Sitwell’s also includes an open mic. Poetry Night at Sitwell’s also includes and open mic segment of the evening. If you are inclined, bring a few of your own verses and share.
Information on Poetry Night at Sitwell’s can be found on their Facebook page: facebook.com/poetryatsitwells.
You can order Jackie Islen Kalbli’s book Ironweed from Finishing Line Press at this link: finishinglinepress.com/product/ironweed-by-jackie-ison-kalbli.
You can order her books and learn more about the work of Barbara Marie Minnie at this link: barbaramarieminneypoetry.com.
Michael Templeton is a writer, and independent scholar. He is the author of The Chief of Birds: A Memoir published with Erratum Press and Impossible to Believe, published by Iff Books. He is also the author of Collected Apoems, forthcoming from LJMcD Communications and the awaiting of awaiting: a novella, with Nut Hole Publishing. Check out his profile in UACC’s Cultural Directory. He has published numerous articles and essays on contemporary culture and works of creative non-fiction as well as experimental works and poetry. He lives in West Milton, Ohio with his wife who is an artist.