Writers Mic, May 13

Jackie Craven is the moderator for this congenial monthly open mic for writers & many of the readers this evening are regulars here (wherever “here” may be).

David Graham was up first with a poem from 2012 that he has not read out previously, “Self-Portrait with Change of Season,” a complex swirling mix of images pondering reality & memory, from fishing, to drums, to his father’s dementia & death.

Scott Morehouse read another of his dramatic & outrageously humorous narratives, this titled “Role Play” about an theater audition & rehearsal devolving into a sex scene, made even more wild with Scott taking on the voices of the characters.

Elisabeth Lockman read “Riptide Off Virginia Beach” from a prompt & a photo (or painting?) that Jackie was familiar with.

Alan Catlin read from his book, Still Life of the Apocalypse, an excerpt from the long piece “The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” including quotes from Oppenheimer about the first bomb test in 1945 with references to the Hindu god Vishnu.

I read 2 versions of my poem based on a line from Walt Whitman’s Specimen Days, “Here I sit in Solitude,” which I inadvertently wrote twice, first in August 2024, then in May of this year.

Naomi Bindman also read 2 poems not read out previously, the first based on the kids’ game in cars, “Punch Buggy” (your remember, don’t you, “punch buggy no punch back”). Later, at the end a descriptive piece in a store, “Passing.”

Susan Jewell read “Reading the 14th Amendment while Waiting in Line for Coffee” a poem written a couple weeks ago, clever playing with the text from the Constitution & pebbles in the river.

Ray Drumsta read 2 pieces related to cancer treatments; “Chemo Being” was poetic description of someone’s chemo therapy without reference to either the type of cancer or therapy, while “Kim’s Bones” was about another cancer patient who had read here sometime in the past, & has now passed, our host Jackie said that she remembered her.

Jackie Craven read 2 fairy tale poems, “Grimm Houses” with crows, & “Beauty & the Feast” complete with a troll & a lush table full of delicacies.

The discussion of poetry continued after the readings, on repetitions within the poems, even considering reading the over again to increase understanding.

Ray raised a question about having overdone the writing of poems about cancer, & to what degree should a poet indulge in the horrible details of disease, of death? The kind of issues to which there are perhaps no answers.

This Zoom open mic takes place on the 2nd Wednesday of each month. One can find the link at the Writers Mic Facebook page. 

 

2nd Sunday @2 - Poetry + Prose, May 10

A handful of poets in the cavernous lobby of the old bank building that is now the arts collective Collar Works, Nancy Klepsch & I the hosts.

First up was a poet here for the first time, Indigo Pearl, who said that she has a forthcoming book, In the Thin Place, check out her website. She began with a poem about what medicine has given her, “The Scar.” Then “Two Young Men,” about a scene at a beach of 2 men in love.

I followed with new poems, one about my son Jack’s whimsical graphic arts projects about the first diner on the Moon, “Jack’s Diner On The Moon: for the Artemis II astronauts,” then a 2-part piece based on a line from an entry in Walt Whitman’s Specimen Days, “Here I sit in solitude…”

David Gonsalves read 2 short poems, “Orphans” about his mother & his late wife’s mother, then the ephemeral translucent “Onion Skin.”

Nancy Klepsch read a tribute poem I’ve heard before & love, “My Mother Was So Cool,” then her ode to Corona, Queens, making me think of a song by Simon & Garfunkel.

Like some love affairs I have had, this open mic was brief & beautiful.

Who knows what you will find if you bring a couple poems to read at the 2nd Sunday @2 - Poetry + Prose open mic at Collar Works, 50 4th Street, Troy NY?

Poets on the Farm, April 26

This was the 2nd gathering at Indian Ladder Farms, Altamont (depending upon which side of the road you are on), NY for this poetry open mic. A bigger crowd this time, with some shuffling around to find adequate space for the readers & their companions, & delays to hook up sound. It was a very busy day at the Farms & there was loud recorded music being piped out to the patio where most of the folks were, which the poets had to contend with.

Our host, Avery Stempel, of Collar City Mushrooms, based here at Indian Ladder Farms, got us started with one of his poems, “One Task at a Time,” celebrating the little things in life. He suggested that we modify the language in our reading in deference to the families in attendance who might not be used to the “frank language of modern poetry” (as they used to say on WBAI when broadcasting a poetry readings).

I was up next with 2 poems, & the first, “Last Train to Clarksville,” a Haibun, contained “frank language” in the Haiku, which I changed to a euphemism; my 2nd poem from a trip to Philadelphia was "The Sparrows of Amtrak" which didn't have that issue. David Gonsalves read about a day to make things up in his poem “Spring Song,” then the poem “Drive” about a drive through his name.

Megeen Mulholland made a rare appearance at an open mic, to read a piece based on Hamlet, the provocative “Ophelia” — glad she was there. Mimi Moriarty began with her poem “Ode to Little Brothers” which was featured on the Rensselaerville Library Poem-a-Day project on April 14, then read an ode, “Spring the Season” (“of violence …”).

Edie Abrams read a poem about the alphabet, the 26 letters expanding words at our command. Larry Rapant also made a rare appearance at an open mic with a sports-themed “Flag on the Play.” Carrie Coada began with a piece about the jars that as a kid she caught spiders & flies in, then to a Cento composed of lines from the writing of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

The venerable elder scholar poet Dennis Sullivan signed up as “Harry Johnson,” as if it was the 1at day of 8th grade, & began by reading a poem by Howard Kogan “What Remains” from his 2023 collection Before I Forget (Square Circle Press), then his own poem “A Short Prayer at Day’s End,” about a prurient encounter with a bar maid.

Tom Corrado, who each year edits the aforementioned Poem-a-Day event during each April, read a poetic summary (much, much shorter) of Marcel Proust’s monumental novel/memoir A la recherche du temps perdu, then from his ever-expanding collection of “Screen Dumps” number 859, a prodigious work arguably comparable to that of Marcel Proust. Sally Rhoades read a new, self-assertive piece, “I Am the Ancient Mariner,” then a poem about dancing to the music, “Being Myself Against the Wind.”

Soon after we all went home, I learned from Avery that his sojourn at Indian Ladder Farms presenting poetry on the 4th Sunday of the month has been cancelled, apparently because some poets crossed the line that the management felt was inappropriate for general, family audiences. This is a recurring issue with us folks organizing community events. Late night bars or hipster coffee shops don’t usually have an issue with content or language. Venues that are primarily draws for families pose a different problem. Avery told me that he is looking for another venue for his nascent Sunday poetry open mic series. Stay tuned.

Poets in the Museum, April 19

This was another in the month-long series of poetry related events in Saratoga Springs during the month of April, aka National Poetry Month organized by the new Poet Laureate of Saratoga Springs, Jay Rogoff. Thirteen published poets were invited to review an exhibit of visual art in the Tang Museum at Skidmore College & respond with new, original poems. The reading was held in the gallery of the Tang with the audience moving from piece to piece to hear the poets read their work. There were about 85 audience members moving throughout the readings, some of us toting the museum-provided wooden stools, other standing. It reminded me of the piano suite “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky (1839 - 1881), that was famously scored for orchestra by Maurice Ravel, among others.

Melora Wolff responded to the work “Untitled (Danielle)” by Angela Strassheim with a poem titled “Curious Hand Shadow.” Franklin Williams artwork, in paint, twine, yarn, fabric, canvas, “A Beautiful Dark Moment,” inspired Mary Kathryn Jablonski’s poem by the same title. Jay Rogoff, who served as MC, read his poem “Ascent” a reaction/commentary on the 12-foot tall steel sculpture in the middle of the room, Dorothy Dehner’s “Fist.”

Krista Rivera said that her piece was “Untitled” just like the unrecorded Tibetan artist who made the painting “A Black Ground Thangka of Gurgi Gönpo, the Lord of the Tent.” Her poem, like the painting evoked images & concepts of the Tibetan Buddhists. Catherine Clarke responded with a poem titled “Perhaps” to Sarah Charlesworth’s painting “Totem,” which to my eye looked like Constantin Brancusi’s “Sleeping Muse.” Marilyn McCabe responded to Jeff Sonhouse’s painting “Why We Wear White” with an untitled poem. 

E.V. Day’s stark black & white painting (“Untitled”) reminded Peg Boyers so much of Gustave Courbet’s notorious painting “L’Origine du monde” that she not only wrote a poem in response, “The Origin of the World Part 2,” but brought a reproduction of Courbet’s painting to accompany her reading of the poem.

When former Saratoga Springs Poet Laureate, Joe Bruchac, does a reading I usually learn something new about native American culture or history. The art work that Joe responded to was “Composition (Faces and Animals)” by Inuit artist Annie Taipanak (which Joe corrected text of her name from the catalog to be “Taipana”), he played some recorded Inuit music, gave a mini-lecture on the nature of Inuit art, & read his poem “Faces & Animals.” Nicola Allain responded to William Villalongo’s “Specimen,” which was right next to the piece Joe wrote about, with her poem “Butterflies.”

Barbara Takenaga’s piece “Wheel (Zozma)” had the honor of 2 poets responding with poems. Lucyna Prostko reflected the artist’s title with her poem “Wheel (2) by Barbara Takenaga;" Susan Jefts’ response was titled “A Clear & Uncertain Space.” Carol Hepper’s sculpture, “Tangle,” was composed of coiled branches of willow, to which Mary Sanders Shartle responded with her poem “Willow: a Memoir.”

The final piece was a dramatic installation, “So Soon,” by Whitfield Lovell, to which David Graham responded with a poem titled “Pages from a Family Bible.” 

It was a moving, fascinating, sometimes perplexing confrontation of poems to their inspiration, & not a dull moment. Ekphrastic poetry & visual art at its best in the perfect environment. Jay Rogoff said that their would be more such confrontations in the future & I for one am very much looking forward to it.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, April 16

National Poetry Month in Albany, NY is like any other month in Albany, NY, & as happens each month we gathered at the Social Justice Center for a reading & an open mic. The featured reader was poet Valerie Temple, writing as Bertha Blunt. But first I invoked the Muse, tonight, once again the poet Bob Kaufman (1925 - 1986), as his Birthday was fast approaching on April 18, then we turned to the open mic sign-up sheet.

The first poet up was Doug, who performed off mic, as he is wont to do, with a rhyming piece on lifelong eating habits leading to him slowing down & disease as he got older. David Gonsalves read “Drive” from his big binder of poems, an imaginative & humorous drive through one end of his name to another. 

Marie read a piece in response to being with a friend with mental health issues, written in the friend’s persona “Do You See Me?” Sally Rhoades read a recent poem that she read a the recent Scissortail Creative Writing Festival held in Ada, OK, “Picking Over Old Bones,” a memoir of her mother.

The featured reader, Valerie Temple has read here a number times. This night she read as "Bertha Blunt" from her book Discovery of A Blunt Treasure (Xulon Press, 2023). She began with 2 poems addressed to a friend with whom she traveled to Europe & had a falling out,  “A Friend You Doubt” & “You Were Not My Friend.” Then on to a poem about her mother, “Good Pain - Bad Pain Give Thanks Just the Same,” one about her sugar addiction, “Rag Us to Dust Hustle,” a poem from a high school experience “Exposed in Prose,” “Birthday Agenda,” & “Holy Wood or Bust?” She both read & recited from memory, her work, the poems were generally upbeat/positive & often in rhyme & with humor.

After a brief break I read from my folder of poetry-related poems “The Poet’s Coat” quoting the late Laura Boss (1938 - 2021), “Sometimes I think clothes are a purer aesthetic form than poetry.” Amanda (Pelletier) did the poem that she performed for the Slam finals at Cafe Euphoria, “I don’t have a soul…” on love & a rib cage, she is her own soulmate. Tara had arrived early & helped me get set up; she read a piece responding to an article on domestic abuse that focused more on the abuser than on the victim, “Say Her Name."

Amina Gueye has been working at the Center for Law & Justice & the Alice Moore Black Arts Cultural Center; she read a poem titled “Mukhagni,” a Hindu funeral ritual that translates as “mouth fire,” her poem responding to the smell of smoke from Canadian wildfires that reached her in New York City.

& like the dissipation of the smoke our words rose into the night air. But we come back to the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY each third Thursday of the month at 7:00PM for more poetry — a local or regional poet as the featured reader & an open mic for the rest of us. Your donation supports poetry events in Albany & the work of the SJC.

2nd Sunday @2 — Poetry + Prose, April 12

A handful of poets gathered once again in the cavernous lobby of the former bank that is home to Collar Works, the Troy arts organization that has given this reading series a home for local writers. The hosts are Nancy Klepsch & I, Dan Wilcox.  

Nancy was first on the signup sheet & began with a seasonal happy poem, “It’s Still OK to Celebrate,” then a tribute to a South Troy matriarch, the mother of local poet Mary Panza, “Permission to Receive Prayers for Mary Panza the First.”

David Gonsalves read a Nature poem composed of 2 Haiku, then a piece titled “S’matters” like a series of bar jokes.

Tim Verhaegen read a long prose piece on family history, a missing cousin & other discoveries found in a genealogy search, pondering what it would be like to have known him.

I read poems from my folder of poems about poets, poetry, etc., for National Poetry Month, an old piece about a call from “Garrison Keilor,” then a poem card about Poem in Your Pocket Day, “April 30.” 

Julie Lomoe read a bouquet of Nature Haiku forthcoming in an anthology from Moonstone Press of Philadelphia, PA, then a piece on aging along with the Rolling Stones & her fantasy of fucking them all.

Jeffrey signed up after listening to other poets reading their work, his piece was titled “Black & Blue.”

Agapi had joined this open mic in the past when it was at Collar City Mushrooms on 2nd Ave., today she read the meditative “As the Body Fades,” & “Rapture” in which she imagines someone back into life, in images of flowers.

This is a relaxed, informal open mic for writers in whatever genre held on the 2nd Sunday of each month at 2PM, at Collar Works, an arts collective, at 50 4th Street, Troy, NY, — Free! 

Favorite Poem Night, April 9

Another event for the Laureate Poetry Series organized by Jay Rogoff, the Poet Laureate of Saratoga Springs, NY, for National Poetry Month this held at the Saratoga Springs Public Library. I've included the entire list of poems below because it makes for an eclectic reading list across the ages. I'm guessing that each of the readers below have more than one "favorite poem," as indeed I do.  

A couple of program notes: Jay Rogoff started off the reading with "West Wind," by that most prolific of writers, Anonymous; Joe Bruchac introduced his reading by singing a Lakota song; & Adriana DiScipio came up from New York City read. The Dutcher Room at the Library was filled with listeners & readers, from throughout the region.

POET POEM READER

Matthew Arnold “Dover Beach”         Peg Boyers

Amiri Baraka  “Preface to a Twenty Volune Suicide Note” Michael Walterich

Jack Butler “The Changing of Vision with Time” George Drew

Samuel Taylor Coleridge  “Kubla Khan.                                      Robert Ridley

Or, A Vision in A Dream    A Fragment”                      

Billy Collins “The Lanyard”         David Graham

Jack Hirschman  “Path”                 Kristina Kulin

Bob Kaufman  “Believe, Believe”         Dan Wilcox

Ted Kooser  “A Glint.”         Johanna Garrison

Adrian Mitchell  “To All in the So-Called Defense  

                                        Industry Poem”                                Andrea Cunliffe

Marge Piercy  “To Be of Use”         Adriana Di Scipio

Sylvia Plath “I Am Vertical”         Autumn Connor

Rumi (trans. Coleman Barks)   “A Community of the Spirit” Kathleen McCoy

Percy Bysshe Shelley “Ozymandias”         Leslie Mechem

William Stafford   “Report to Crazy Horse” Joseph Bruchac

Frank Stanford “The Singing Knives”         Steve Stern

Sara Teasdale           “There Will Come Soft Rains” Barbara Ungar

William Wordsworth From “Ode: Intimations of Immortality 

     from Recollections of Early Childhood”     Rachel Baum

William Butler Yeats “Sailing to Byzantium” Jay Rogoff

Add-ons:

William Shakespeare "Sonnet 29"                                                  Michael Arnish

Wendell Barry            "The Want of Peace"                                    Michael Lubell

John McCrae              "In Flander's Field"                                      Robert Ridley