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The Columbus Anthology
Although Columbus is the capital city of the state of Ohio, it does not live in the national imagination the way older Ohio cities, such as Cincinnati and Cleveland, do. The Columbus Anthology attempts to capture what Columbus is becoming, and to define a distinct cultural presence for Columbus and its citizens. Through the voices of local artists, activists, writers, musicians, and other enthusiastic residents who want to contribute; this book presents a collective wisdom.
- GenresPoetryNonfictionEssays
200 pages, Paperback
Published June 4, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 7, 2021
Summary: An anthology of non-fiction prose and poetry by Columbus authors, mostly relating to Columbus.
As many of you know, I write quite a bit about the town I grew up in, Youngstown. There’s a bit of irony in that. I lived in Youngstown for my first twenty-two years, the first few of which I have no memory. I have now lived in Columbus for thirty years. Apart from a book by Wil Haygood, I’ve read nothing about the town where I have spent most of my adult life. That’s not entirely surprising. Columbus is this town where most everyone seems from somewhere else (including a substantial part of the Youngstown diaspora), that is the only major city in Ohio that has grown in the last thirty years. All this is to say that I’ve realized that it might be wise to know more about this place I’ve called home. So I picked this up on a Small Business Saturday from a local indie bookstore.
The Columbus Anthology is kind of a cross between local memoirs and a literary journal. If nothing else, it serves well as an introduction of the literary talent of the city, a city that has produced the likes of James Thurber and the aforementioned Wil Haygood. It evokes a city that is “a good place to live, but you wouldn’t want to visit.” It celebrates the music scene of past years around Ohio State, the legendary Buckeye Donuts, neighborhoods past and present like Bronzeville King-Lincoln and Franklinton, and those marks that we have become a big league city, the Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) and Columbus Crew (MLS).
Here are a few pieces I enjoyed, taking nothing away from the rest of the collection. David Breithaupt in “Every Day I Ride the Bus” captures the unique ambiance and sights riders of the High Street COTA bus route.
“In a City Marked by Change, Columbus Crew SC Remains a Powerful, Unifying Force” by Hanif Abdurraqib recognizes the ethnic diversity of the city and how our soccer team brings people together across these lines.
Both “The City That Raised Me Has a New Face” by Tiffany Williams and “What Would Jane Say” talks about the Bronzeville King-Lincoln area of Columbus, eviscerated by I-71 and the observations Jane Jacobs would make here about the once vibrant life and decline of a neighborhood.
The city that has been the nation’s test market for restaurant franchises (and is the home of White Castle and Wendy’s) struggles to define a distinctive food. For Nick Dekker, a restaurant writer, it is breakfast and he celebrates the great places to start the day in “Breakfast with Columbus.” We’re also the home of Marzetti’s, known for salad dressings. In the family’s restaurant days, they were the reputed inventors of “Johnny Marzetti,” which showed up on cafeteria trays all over Ohio–that casserole of ground meat, pasta, cheese and sauce–great comfort food. Shelley Mann Hite writes about the history and her quest to reinvent the perfect Johnny Marzetti.
Turning to poetry, “Nighthawks” perfectly evokes that institution of students and street people, Buckeye Donuts where:
Smoke from the burning doughnut oil/infuses with the lonely
post-game colognes lining the formica/counter at the High Street
haunt simmering in the late night.
“NIGHT HAWKS,” JOSEPH HESS, P. 127.
“Walking in the Topiary Park After Snowfall in February” by Jeremy Glazier beautifully captures a place and moment in time and the evanescent character of our lives.
“The New Oath” by Hannah Stephenson with its repeated, rhythmic “If a child…” enlists us all to the universal moral commitment to protect and pursue the flourishing of children.
Fariha Tayyab’s “Thanksgiving” describes the immigrant who, drawing on their own experience of colonial powers, sees through our national mythologies as one “Migrating from one stolen land to another.”
This anthology captures both some of the distinctives of this city and its underside. It is a great place for writers to live (“Five Reasons Why Writers Should Move to Columbus”) and Fayce Hammond’s experience of assault that began at a gas station weeks after moving to the city (“Fear of Fuel”).
The anthology includes brief profiles of all the writers and it is a diverse group that represents the diversity of the city. It’s a good collection that allows one to see the city through many different eyes.
As many of you know, I write quite a bit about the town I grew up in, Youngstown. There’s a bit of irony in that. I lived in Youngstown for my first twenty-two years, the first few of which I have no memory. I have now lived in Columbus for thirty years. Apart from a book by Wil Haygood, I’ve read nothing about the town where I have spent most of my adult life. That’s not entirely surprising. Columbus is this town where most everyone seems from somewhere else (including a substantial part of the Youngstown diaspora), that is the only major city in Ohio that has grown in the last thirty years. All this is to say that I’ve realized that it might be wise to know more about this place I’ve called home. So I picked this up on a Small Business Saturday from a local indie bookstore.
The Columbus Anthology is kind of a cross between local memoirs and a literary journal. If nothing else, it serves well as an introduction of the literary talent of the city, a city that has produced the likes of James Thurber and the aforementioned Wil Haygood. It evokes a city that is “a good place to live, but you wouldn’t want to visit.” It celebrates the music scene of past years around Ohio State, the legendary Buckeye Donuts, neighborhoods past and present like Bronzeville King-Lincoln and Franklinton, and those marks that we have become a big league city, the Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) and Columbus Crew (MLS).
Here are a few pieces I enjoyed, taking nothing away from the rest of the collection. David Breithaupt in “Every Day I Ride the Bus” captures the unique ambiance and sights riders of the High Street COTA bus route.
“In a City Marked by Change, Columbus Crew SC Remains a Powerful, Unifying Force” by Hanif Abdurraqib recognizes the ethnic diversity of the city and how our soccer team brings people together across these lines.
Both “The City That Raised Me Has a New Face” by Tiffany Williams and “What Would Jane Say” talks about the Bronzeville King-Lincoln area of Columbus, eviscerated by I-71 and the observations Jane Jacobs would make here about the once vibrant life and decline of a neighborhood.
The city that has been the nation’s test market for restaurant franchises (and is the home of White Castle and Wendy’s) struggles to define a distinctive food. For Nick Dekker, a restaurant writer, it is breakfast and he celebrates the great places to start the day in “Breakfast with Columbus.” We’re also the home of Marzetti’s, known for salad dressings. In the family’s restaurant days, they were the reputed inventors of “Johnny Marzetti,” which showed up on cafeteria trays all over Ohio–that casserole of ground meat, pasta, cheese and sauce–great comfort food. Shelley Mann Hite writes about the history and her quest to reinvent the perfect Johnny Marzetti.
Turning to poetry, “Nighthawks” perfectly evokes that institution of students and street people, Buckeye Donuts where:
Smoke from the burning doughnut oil/infuses with the lonely
post-game colognes lining the formica/counter at the High Street
haunt simmering in the late night.
“NIGHT HAWKS,” JOSEPH HESS, P. 127.
“Walking in the Topiary Park After Snowfall in February” by Jeremy Glazier beautifully captures a place and moment in time and the evanescent character of our lives.
“The New Oath” by Hannah Stephenson with its repeated, rhythmic “If a child…” enlists us all to the universal moral commitment to protect and pursue the flourishing of children.
Fariha Tayyab’s “Thanksgiving” describes the immigrant who, drawing on their own experience of colonial powers, sees through our national mythologies as one “Migrating from one stolen land to another.”
This anthology captures both some of the distinctives of this city and its underside. It is a great place for writers to live (“Five Reasons Why Writers Should Move to Columbus”) and Fayce Hammond’s experience of assault that began at a gas station weeks after moving to the city (“Fear of Fuel”).
The anthology includes brief profiles of all the writers and it is a diverse group that represents the diversity of the city. It’s a good collection that allows one to see the city through many different eyes.
August 15, 2021
This is a great book, but I'm going to take a moment first to bemoan the sad state of Goodreads. For years, I got a weekly digest of alerts when friends posted to GR. Then, a while back, that stopped happening for no apparent reason, and I could not find any way to restore it. SO, if I don't seem to pay attention to your posts the way I used to, now you know why that happened. We all know Amazon could afford to invest in improving GR, but Bezos needs the $$ so he can move to Mars.
Okay, back to the topic at hand: this Columbus Anthology is a wonderful collaboration between Belt Publishing, a wonderful independent publisher out of Cleveland, and the the Ohio State University Press Trillium imprint. As a current resident of the Columbus area, naturally I had to get this book, so I could read up on my new home. The first essay is "Five Reasons Why Writers Should Move to Columbus," which makes a very good case, by the way. There are a number of other interesting essays, including one about the local dish, Johnny Marzetti, which some of you have been fed by Tom at our house over the years. There's a lot of poetry, nearly all of which I liked (which is saying a LOT, folks), and a charming comic strip by a local cartoonist (there's a great comix scene here, and the most amazing cartoon art museum, a national treasure). In short, it's a delightful collection, and a fine addition to the Belt City Anthology series. Both Belt and OSU Press publish a lot of good stuff, so check them out.
Okay, back to the topic at hand: this Columbus Anthology is a wonderful collaboration between Belt Publishing, a wonderful independent publisher out of Cleveland, and the the Ohio State University Press Trillium imprint. As a current resident of the Columbus area, naturally I had to get this book, so I could read up on my new home. The first essay is "Five Reasons Why Writers Should Move to Columbus," which makes a very good case, by the way. There are a number of other interesting essays, including one about the local dish, Johnny Marzetti, which some of you have been fed by Tom at our house over the years. There's a lot of poetry, nearly all of which I liked (which is saying a LOT, folks), and a charming comic strip by a local cartoonist (there's a great comix scene here, and the most amazing cartoon art museum, a national treasure). In short, it's a delightful collection, and a fine addition to the Belt City Anthology series. Both Belt and OSU Press publish a lot of good stuff, so check them out.
December 18, 2020
Loved this. Especially the pieces about the music scene. Made me very nostalgic for all the old bars: Crazy Mama's, Larry's, and especially Stache's (where, incidentally, I went on my first date with my husband).
Some of the pieces really made me stop and think about the city as a whole, and how isolated I am in my suburban existence, and how we, as a city, really need to include and build up the forgotten and economically-disadvantaged parts of Columbus.
Also made me think about how important historic preservation is.
Really enjoyed reading the essay about the Crew and watching (on TV) them win the MLS Championship in Mapfre stadium a few days later -- one of the last games to be played there, and a glorious finale to the end of an era.
Some of the pieces really made me stop and think about the city as a whole, and how isolated I am in my suburban existence, and how we, as a city, really need to include and build up the forgotten and economically-disadvantaged parts of Columbus.
Also made me think about how important historic preservation is.
Really enjoyed reading the essay about the Crew and watching (on TV) them win the MLS Championship in Mapfre stadium a few days later -- one of the last games to be played there, and a glorious finale to the end of an era.
June 21, 2020
The first half of this book is short stories, and the second half is poetry. I didn’t realize that, and I really didn’t want poetry. But the poetry is damn good. I was prepared to be disgruntled about it, but I really enjoyed it. I just wish maybe it had been sprinkled throughout instead of separated at the end.
And I love Columbus. So four stars from me.
And I love Columbus. So four stars from me.
January 19, 2022
Of all the Belt Anthologies (very gradually working my way through them) that I've read, this is my least favorite. Which kind of sucks, because it is the one I was looking forward to the most. Unlike some of the other cities that have been covered, Columbus is the one I actually know pretty well. It's where I was born and grew up and spent more than half my life and even though I haven't lived there for years, it's still what I think of as capital H Home. And I just wish that I'd gotten a better sense of it - across the board - than I did with these writings. It's very heavy on poetry, much of which isn't particularly city-centric. And it's great that the poetry scene in Columbus is so thriving but that definitely wasn't what I was looking for from this anthology. And it didn't help that, rather than interspersing the poetry with the longer pieces, they were just sort of lumped together for the second half of the book. At least the essays, generally speaking, were pretty good, with a few especially good ones. I just really wish that they gave one a better sense and understanding of Columbus and really felt memorable, but mostly they just didn't.
January 28, 2021
I was really excited to start this little book of essays and poems, mainly because when I flipped through it one day at the library I saw a writer that was very familiar to me. In the end, this took me way longer to finish than normal because the level of writing seemed so unbalanced, which led to me often just leaving the book on my nightstand rather than read it.
Don't let that discourage you from reading some of these essays, however, because there are a few that are just outstanding. My favorites included "Art in a City That Can Kill You" by Scott Woods, "In a City Marked by Change, Columbus Crew SC Remains a Powerful, Unifying Force" by Hanif Abdurraqib, "Life in Franklinton" by Greg Phillips, and "Consider the Johnny Marzetti" by Shelley Mann Hite. I probably savored the Johnny Marzetti essay the most because that dish was such a staple in my family growing up and I never realized it could have originated so close to home.
As for the poems, I generally have a tough time reading poetry, but, again, there were some that I found to be great. Of note were all of Barbara Fant's submissions, "American Folklore" by Adam J. Gellings, "Justice Be Like" by Ethan Rivera, "Phasmophobia" by Geoff Anderson, "Hold Me Like Ohio" by Amy Turn Sharp, and "Table Manners" by Fahira Tayyab.
Don't let that discourage you from reading some of these essays, however, because there are a few that are just outstanding. My favorites included "Art in a City That Can Kill You" by Scott Woods, "In a City Marked by Change, Columbus Crew SC Remains a Powerful, Unifying Force" by Hanif Abdurraqib, "Life in Franklinton" by Greg Phillips, and "Consider the Johnny Marzetti" by Shelley Mann Hite. I probably savored the Johnny Marzetti essay the most because that dish was such a staple in my family growing up and I never realized it could have originated so close to home.
As for the poems, I generally have a tough time reading poetry, but, again, there were some that I found to be great. Of note were all of Barbara Fant's submissions, "American Folklore" by Adam J. Gellings, "Justice Be Like" by Ethan Rivera, "Phasmophobia" by Geoff Anderson, "Hold Me Like Ohio" by Amy Turn Sharp, and "Table Manners" by Fahira Tayyab.
March 6, 2021
As an Ohio native I was happy to find an anthology about Columbus, an often overlooked city. The authors here make good cases particularly for the city's sports, music scene, and food (those raised here will appreciate the in-depth examination of the regional specialty, Johnny Marzetti). On a more serious note, one author's essay on what happened when he decided not to stand for the national anthem at Columbus hockey games is sobering, and essays on gentrification and racism remind us that there is still work to be done. The book is half essays and half poetry; some of the poetry didn't seem very evocative of Columbus, but this volume is still worth reading.
December 27, 2022
This had a lot more poetry than most of the books in the Belt Publishing "anthology" series, which wasn't really my cup of tea. Also there was a lot more about progressive politics, none of which felt Columbus-specific enough to be interesting.
Having said that, I did like some of the essays. They gave me a sense of Columbus as a kind of cross between the Midwest and Sunbelt cities like Nashville and Austin- growing, full of transients and open to newcomers like a Sunbelt city, but cheap like a Rust Belt city and a bit less sprawly and geographically overwhelming.
Having said that, I did like some of the essays. They gave me a sense of Columbus as a kind of cross between the Midwest and Sunbelt cities like Nashville and Austin- growing, full of transients and open to newcomers like a Sunbelt city, but cheap like a Rust Belt city and a bit less sprawly and geographically overwhelming.
June 11, 2026
Unfortunately wasn't a huge fan of this one. As usual with poetry, it kind of went right over my head. Some of the bones of the essays were good, but it was almost too general, with only the bare minimum of specifics to make the stories feel "real". I think it's definilty a positive that it got published though, in terms of independence and local authors. Just wasn't for me.
September 8, 2021
The editing was not my favorite with this one. The articles and poems themselves were well done, and the idea was great, just lacked execution. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if the articles and poems were interspersed.
February 12, 2021
Half essays, half poetry. Like most edited collections, not everything landed, but there’s some good stuff in here. Recommended for anyone who lives in Columbus.
February 27, 2021
A fun read if you live in Columbus. I liked the mix of poetry and essays.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews