Ep. 74 — Richard Hague on Poetry, Teaching, Appalachia, Extinction, and the Life of a Poem
We start this week with news from Clermont County and around Ohio, including the legal challenge surrounding Amazon’s proposed data center campus in Wilmington, Clermont County’s tentative 2026 property values, Crossroads Church’s growing Base Camp property in Washington Township, the effort to dissolve the Village of New Richmond, and several issues discussed during the latest Batavia Village Council meeting.
We also cover Pierce Township’s 2027 budget, possible uses for tax increment financing funds, public-safety expenses, road projects, and concerns about the township’s heavy reliance on property-tax revenue.
Interview — Richard Hague
Richard Hague joins the show to talk about poetry, teaching, Appalachia, the Ohio River Valley, environmental loss, and what it means to spend a lifetime reading and writing poems.
Richard is the 2025–2027 Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate. Raised in Steubenville, Ohio, he came to Cincinnati to attend Xavier University and went on to teach literature and writing for decades at Purcell and Purcell Marian High School. He later served as a writer and artist in residence at Thomas More University.
The conversation explores how Richard discovered poetry through Lawrence Ferlinghetti, found his literary community through Xavier’s Mermaid Tavern, and developed the patience and resilience needed to publish, teach, and continue writing over a long career.
We discuss what separates a strong poem from a weak one, including the importance of sound, rhythm, surprise, imagery, tone, metaphor, and avoiding language that feels predictable or clichéd. Richard explains why free verse is not really “free” and how poets shape their work through repetition, cadence, line length, stanza structure, and revision.
Richard also talks about teaching young people how to read poetry aloud, the value of memorizing poems, and why readers should ask not only what a poem means, but how it works.
A major part of the conversation focuses on James Wright’s “Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio.” Richard discusses how the poem captures the industrial culture of the Upper Ohio Valley, the expectations placed on working-class men and their sons, and the complicated mixture of pride, hardship, pollution, decline, and memory that shaped the region.
Richard reads and discusses two of his own poems. “What the Elephants Are Doing” examines grief, extinction, and the extraordinary ways elephants respond to their dead. “Time-Lapse Photography: A Mouse Corpse Devoured by Maggots” transforms decomposition into a meditation on movement, renewal, and the continuation of life beyond death.
We close with a close reading of Emily Dickinson’s “A Route of Evanescence,” exploring how patience, curiosity, sound, color, motion, and careful questioning can gradually open even the most mysterious poem.
Links from this episode
If the show brings you value, consider supporting us through your time, talent, or treasure. Visit Let’s Talk Clermont online to subscribe, donate, share a boots-on-the-ground report, or contact the show.
Facebook
Instagram
Newsletter
If the show brings you value, consider supporting us!
Donate
We start this week with news from Clermont County and around Ohio, including the legal challenge surrounding Amazon’s proposed data center campus in Wilmington, Clermont County’s tentative 2026 property values, Crossroads Church’s growing Base Camp property in Washington Township, the effort to dissolve the Village of New Richmond, and several issues discussed during the latest Batavia Village Council meeting.
We also cover Pierce Township’s 2027 budget, possible uses for tax increment financing funds, public-safety expenses, road projects, and concerns about the township’s heavy reliance on property-tax revenue.
Interview — Richard Hague
Richard Hague joins the show to talk about poetry, teaching, Appalachia, the Ohio River Valley, environmental loss, and what it means to spend a lifetime reading and writing poems.
Richard is the 2025–2027 Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate. Raised in Steubenville, Ohio, he came to Cincinnati to attend Xavier University and went on to teach literature and writing for decades at Purcell and Purcell Marian High School. He later served as a writer and artist in residence at Thomas More University.
The conversation explores how Richard discovered poetry through Lawrence Ferlinghetti, found his literary community through Xavier’s Mermaid Tavern, and developed the patience and resilience needed to publish, teach, and continue writing over a long career.
We discuss what separates a strong poem from a weak one, including the importance of sound, rhythm, surprise, imagery, tone, metaphor, and avoiding language that feels predictable or clichéd. Richard explains why free verse is not really “free” and how poets shape their work through repetition, cadence, line length, stanza structure, and revision.
Richard also talks about teaching young people how to read poetry aloud, the value of memorizing poems, and why readers should ask not only what a poem means, but how it works.
A major part of the conversation focuses on James Wright’s “Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio.” Richard discusses how the poem captures the industrial culture of the Upper Ohio Valley, the expectations placed on working-class men and their sons, and the complicated mixture of pride, hardship, pollution, decline, and memory that shaped the region.
Richard reads and discusses two of his own poems. “What the Elephants Are Doing” examines grief, extinction, and the extraordinary ways elephants respond to their dead. “Time-Lapse Photography: A Mouse Corpse Devoured by Maggots” transforms decomposition into a meditation on movement, renewal, and the continuation of life beyond death.
We close with a close reading of Emily Dickinson’s “A Route of Evanescence,” exploring how patience, curiosity, sound, color, motion, and careful questioning can gradually open even the most mysterious poem.
Links from this episode
- Richard Hague — Cincinnati and Mercantile Library Poet Laureate
- Poet Laureate Office Hours with Richard Hague
- “Sitting Inside the Poem” by Richard Hague — The Cincinnati Review
- During the Recent Extinctions — Dos Madres Press
- Continued Cases — Dos Madres Press
- A federal judge reviews a legal challenge involving Amazon Web Services’ proposed $4 billion data center campus in Wilmington
- Residents raise concerns about public notice, generator noise, emissions, utility demand, and nearby property values
- Clermont County property owners can review their tentative 2026 property values
- The countywide reappraisal uses recent sales, property records, construction information, and current market conditions
- Property owners may request a review if they believe their tentative value or property information is incorrect
- Crossroads Church expands its Base Camp property in Washington Township to approximately 831 acres
- Township officials raise concerns about traffic, road maintenance, emergency services, and the costs associated with large events
- New Richmond residents formally file a petition seeking to dissolve the village government
- If the petition is certified, voters could decide the village’s future during the November 3, 2026 election
- Batavia officials answer questions about the police department’s use of Flock automated license-plate cameras
- Council discusses data retention, access, auditing, information sharing, and how officers respond to camera alerts
- Batavia introduces a proposed development policy covering growth, tax incentives, infrastructure costs, and annexation
- The village reviews concerns about access to the police department’s telephone and voicemail system
- Officials work with the village’s outside telephone vendor to determine how the system is currently configured
- Pierce Township approves its 2027 budget
- Trustees consider whether TIF funds can support approximately $630,000 in road and infrastructure projects
- Township officials discuss police and fire expenses, station renovations, cemetery costs, and possible new revenue sources
- Local candidates and organizations with levies on the November ballot are invited to contact the show for an interview
- Union Township Farmers Market
- Hoots and Hops at Cincinnati Nature Center
- Union Township Summer Concert featuring the Marty Connor Band
- Clermont County Parks Annual Butterfly Count
- Goshen Branch Plant Club
- Native American Artifact Evaluation with the Clermont County Historical Society
- Classical guitarist Peter Fletcher in concert
- Chillseekers Women’s Summer Hike Series
- Nighthawk Night Hike: Moths
- Hike with Clermont County Park District staff at Shor Park
- Union Township Farmers Market
- Union Township Summer Concert featuring Fourth Day Echo
- Music Under the Moon featuring Ralph and the Rhythm Hounds
- Cincinnati Nature Center Summer Bird Walk
- Community CPR and AED class
- Cincinnati Nature Center Summer Native Plant Sale
- Trail Yoga at Cincinnati Nature Center
- Foraged Ice Cream Foray: Sassafras
- Clermont County Fair
If the show brings you value, consider supporting us through your time, talent, or treasure. Visit Let’s Talk Clermont online to subscribe, donate, share a boots-on-the-ground report, or contact the show.
Newsletter
If the show brings you value, consider supporting us!
Donate
