Poetry — from A to Z — will be covered in a fun night of writing at the Wood County District Public Library.
Local author Mike Hornyak will lead a session called “The Dictionary Game” on Tuesday.
He’s been playing the game — which he calls a wonderful writing prompt — for a number of years and it led to a book of poetry that was published four years ago. The Tuesday library group will also play “The Dictionary Game.”
“Learn a different way to make those gears turn,” Hornyak said. “It will be a challenge, but also something that’s very entertaining.”
The group will share writing and will discuss poetry and the creative process, he said.
“We’re just going to be talking about poetry and short writing,” he said.
The book, which was published in 2019, was years in the making.
“I’ve been writing it for over 15 years. It started when I was in college. Some friends and I used to get together, mainly at Grounds for Thought,” he said. “We would play this game called the dictionary game.”
The game was used as a writing exercise.
“If you had writer’s block … you would use it to get the creative juices flowing,” Hornyak said.
The player is given a page number and a word number.
“You open to that page and count to that word. Your write your word down and the definition. You think about it for a second, then set a timer for 15-20 and just write something — anything that comes to mind.”
The game led to pages and pages of poetry — all kinds, including Haiku and rhyming ones.
“I just kind of accidentally had all this writing under my belt — short pieces, longer pieces, just a whole bunch of stuff,” Hornyak said.
A friend of his, who had moved to Kentucky and started a small publishing firm, asked for his manuscript.
“They like it and decided they wanted to pursue it,” he said.
One of the poems in the book was inspired by Shel Silverstein, whose work Hornyak’s mom used to read to him as a child. It was spurred on by the word “cabinet,” that he received during a round of “The Dictionary Game.”
“Cabinet actually has a lot of definitions, like a fourth of a page,” Hornyak said.
The result is a silly poem about something smelly and gross that could be festering “In the Cabinet.”
Hornyak grew up in Whitehouse and started writing when he was a kid.
“My friends and I made a makeshift writing club at our local church. Wednesdays, we would always get together for an hour and a half or two hours and just talk about writing and share what we had done.”
He attended three years of classes at Bowling Green State University and lived in town for a bit. Hornyak was assistant manager at Books-A-Million at Levis Commons in Perrysburg for 14 years. He now works for Apple as an operations expert.
He’s also working on a second book.
When he’s not working or writing, Hornyak is making music.
“I’ve been a musician as long as I can remember, since before I was a writer. I have always been a singer. I started piano lessons when I was in third grade,” he said, adding that he plays by ear.
“It’s more instinctual and emotional for me. I have been recording music and writing music and doing all kinds of stuff for a long time,” Hornyak said.
Poetry group at the library
Join the Wood County District Public for a poetry night on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in meeting room A&B at the library, 251 N. Main St.
Mike Hornyak, author of “The Dictionary Game,” will lead this poetry night. Explore “The Dictionary Game” and share poetry.
“The Dictionary Game” is a living thing, an experience, an afternoon at a favorite coffee shop with a fresh brew, an over-sized dictionary, and a need to create something. It was that experience and a game played for over 15 years that led to the collection of writing contained in “The Dictionary Game.”
No registration is required. For more information, call 419-352-5050 or email [email protected].
