mission statement

the d.a. levy center for progressive poetics & the art of the spoken word
is a virtual organization, the mission of which is:

1. to perpetuate the literary legacy of cleveland's late, legendary poet, artist & underground publisher d.a. levy, as well as cleveland's "mimeograph revolution" poets of the 1960s.

2. to work with cleveland state university toward its goal of establishing a permanent collection of original d.a. levy material.

3. to encourage an english literature curriculum at cleveland-area colleges and high schools that includes the study of work from local poets both past and present, and emphazises the role of poetry as a community value.

4. to sponsor live readings of levy's work.

5. to push local government to create a "d.a. levy/poetry in cleveland" day of recognition on october 29 of each year (levy's birthday).

6. to work toward the establishment of " levyfest, " a yearly literary symposium that includes scholarly analysis of levy's work, examines the connection between art and poetry, looks at the role of the small-press publisher, offers writing workshops, features live readings & street performance, & concludes with one hell of a big party.

7. to establish a bi-yearly literary journal of experimental poetics.

8. to be an active supporter of first-amendment rights, banned books week, and to work toward the repeal of the anti-american 'patriot act.'

9. to support independent bookstores.

10. to create alliances with institutes of higher learning and literary organizations that share the goals of the d.a levy center for progressive poetics & the art of the spoken word.

-- mark s kuhar, self-appointed executive director
levycenter@deepcleveland.com