By Mike Templeton
A good many of those involved with the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition are professional educators, poets, artists, musicians, and writers, and fostering the interests and passions of young people is central to how we build communities around greater Cincinnati. Where creative work intersects with things like environmental issues is truly exciting, and we are happy to make you aware of two poetry competitions for high school age poets (ages 13-19), a poetry contest focusing on poems on the page and poetry slam focusing on poems performed out loud, both centering on the environment.
Core member Sherry Cook Stanforth’s Originary Arts Initiative is a sponsor of the traditional poetry competition. Young poets are invited to submit lyrical and narrative works which focus on how climate change impacts the fragile beauty of life on our planet. Then, on Saturday April 12, there will be a reading and awards ceremony for the contest at 1:30 pm at the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library, followed at 3 pm by another contest, a Poetry Slam sponsored by Just Earth-Cincinnati and the Arts Equity Collective. Complete information for submission of poems for the contest and registration for the slam is provided below. The deadline for the competition has been extended to March 21, and registration for the poetry slam is now March 31.
The Just Earth Cincinnati website features a Native American proverb which states: “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” This may well be the guiding assumption for the ways just Earth-Cincinnati has approached their use of poetry and the arts toward climate change awareness and climate justice, with the belief that the world we are working to save belongs to young people. To get a better sense of how things came together for Just Earth-Cincinnati, I spoke with Charlie Stenken, one of the staff members at Just Earth and the coordinator of the poetry competition. Charlie explained, “our main mission is to raise awareness of climate change, biodiversity loss, and the social justice issues which attend these things. Our work is focused on two main areas: experiential learning and the arts.” Just Earth brings these together with the poetry competition. Charlie explained that they believe that young people can tap into their own concerns through creativity, and by expressing these concerns through the arts, they come to learn about these issues. With the focus of climate change, the problems are obviously quite complex. The arts allow students and all of us to make sense of these complexities and move into action.
UACC Core member Sherry Cook Stanforth is actively involved in the competition of written poetry on behalf of her Originary Arts Initiative, which is also sponsor of UACC’s Place Keepers program. OAI involves young people in arts and creative endeavors, many of which are geared toward environmental awareness and environmental justice. Sherry’s involvement lends another layer of mentorship for youth writers and poets. In working with the folks at Earth Cincinnati, Stanforth explains, “I am inspired by the leadership I’ve witnessed in our younger generations. So many teens and young adults are intentionally claiming stewardship of our creative and natural ecosystems. They are, in fact, a ray of hope for our earthly wellbeing. Their dynamic expressions of nature-place poetry inspire community action.” Originary Arts Initiative and Just Earth-Cincinnati come together with their commitment to creativity and hands-on learning. These are ways young people are able to claim a sense of agency with issues that can often be overwhelming.
MoPoetry Philips is the President of the nonprofit Arts Equity Collective (AEC), sponsor of the Poetry Slam, and is no stranger to UACC, of course. Her involvement as a poet and community leader with numerous UACC events is well known. As MoPoetry explains, “AEC is also a registered entity for the Ohio Arts Council’s federal Poetry Out Loud dissertation program for 9th- 12th graders, and it provides writing workshops and helps various organizations and schools curate their own poetry slams.” This means that AEC brings their tremendous experience in providing guidance for young poets and activists to the poetry slam which opens a world of possibilities for participants. As for their involvement with Just Earth-Cincinnati, MoPoetry said that the “Just Earth Cincy and Arts Equity Collective’s “A Poetry Slam” on 4/12/2025 with poetry about global warming and the impact of climate change is just one of those beautiful new relationships.” The event and those who bring us the event provide layers of outstanding community partnerships to foster the creative of work for the participants.
Just Earth-Cincinnati has been around for a few years now. One of the original forces behind Just Earth is Sister Judy Tensing. Many readers may recall Venice on Vine in Over-the-Rhine, a little unassuming pizza parlor on Vine Street. What people may not be aware of is that behind the pizza parlor was a project run by Sister Judy to assist people who have had problematic employment histories—people who have come out of the justice system, people recovering from addiction, and folks with mental health issues, for instance. Venice on Vine offered them work experience and training to move on in the work force. Sister Judy was the guiding force behind this work. With the impact of the pandemic on restaurants everywhere, Venice on Vine had to close its doors. Charlie Stenken told me “Sister Judy was still perfectly ready to keep working. Since our concerns with climate change coincided perfectly, we put our heads together and formed Just Earth-Cincinnati.” At 86, Sister Judy does not feel that her work is finished. The work of Just Earth continues as a result.
One thing the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition is sure of is that there is a world of young poets in greater Cincinnati who can offer urban Appalachian voices to a poetry contest which fosters greater awareness of climate change and climate justice. These are issues central to the urban Appalachian imagination, and our young poets are out there ready to submit their work. Once again, on Saturday April 12, Just Earth-Cincinnati and Arts Equity Collective will be hosting a reading and awards ceremony at 1:30 pm at the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library for their poetry contest as well as a poetry slam at 3 pm, immediately following the formal reading. The contest and slam are for poets ages 13-19. The deadline for the competition has been extended to March 21, and registration for the poetry slam is now March 31. Full information can be found on the fliers and at Just Earth-Cincinnati, justearthcincy.org/. More information on Arts Equity Collective can be found at this link: artsequitycollective.org/.
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.