Live from the Living Room, January 13

This was the ante-penultimate reading in this long-running series at the Pride Center (& that hasn’t been in the living room of the Pride Center for a long time). Characteristically it is an intimate gathering of friends & poets & friends of poetry. Tonight there were 6 of us gathered including the featured poet, Noah Kucij, who had traveled by bus to Albany from Schenectady.

Noah Kucij had read here a few years ago & responded recently to Don’s call for poets. He read a pleasant mix of carefully crafted poems, beginning with the philosophical “Another Essay on Man,” then on to a couple poems from his experience working with refugees, “English” & “The Substitutes.” Then a couple of more personal poems, the longing poem “Assignment” & “Prescribed Burn” a relationship poem titled from a sign he'd seen in the woods. “Radio Pantoum” & “Ode to Cassettes” were what could be best described as “technology nostalgia.” Speaking of nostalgia, but of a more conventional type, the poem “To the Girls who Pour Coffee” was about growing up in Schenectady, & he ended with a gentle poem to his infant daughter, “The Philologist’s Daughter.”

Then on to an open mic. This being January I read a couple of my “Birthday Poems,” 2013 & 2015. Sally Rhoades responded to Noah’s waitress poem with her own “My Mother was a Waitress,” then a poem she said she had forgotten she had written (isn’t that gift?) on the night “It Quakes at Midnight.” Sylvia Barnard read a revised “Grandchester” combining her own experience being a student at Cambridge with references to Sylvia Plath & Rupert Brooke, then read a new poem for the first time, “Guernica,” about seeing the great Picasso mural in Spain (but remembering it as in colors, from when she saw it in NYC). Sue Oringel will be the featured poet here in March & tonight read a Winter poem “Solstice” then a grieving poem “New York City Without You.” Our host, Don Levy, finished off the night with a very new poem, a tribute to the recently-gone David Bowie, “Starman,” then a funny piece about the stand-off in Oregon, “Ammosexuals at the Bird Sanctuary.”

Live from the Living Room is held each 2nd Wednesday (for the next 2 months only!) at 7:30PM in the downstairs Garden Room of the Pride Center of the Capital Region on Hudson Ave. in Albany, NY — a featured poet followed by an open mic, with our straight-friendly host, Don Levy.

A Night of Poetry: Featuring Local Poets & Special Guests, February 1

This event, presented by The Schenectady Trading Company, took place at Electric City Barn, & was coordinated & hosted by Schenectady poet Caroline Bardwell. The readers included Caroline, Sarah Giragosian & Noah Kucij. Caroline gave us some background on The Schenectady Trading Company & on the Electric City Barn, both of which you can find on Facebook. Then she introduced the first reader.

Sarah Giragosian is the author of Queer Fish, winner of the American Poetry Journal Book Prize (Dream Horse Press, 2017) & has read at a number of local venues, including the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center. She began with poems from Queer Fish, including a couple I hadn’t heard her read previously, “The Apocalypse Comes to Bodega Bay” & “Nursery Web Spider.” She has a new manuscript forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press The Death Spiral,  & read the stunning title poem, then others ranging from the Moon to the Galapagos Islands, ending with a love poem set by the Rio Grande “River Road.”

Noah Kucij has been in & out of the local poetry open mic scene for a number of years & was a featured reader at some local venues, including “Live from the Living Room” some years ago. A Schenectady native so it was not surprising that his poems dealt with his hometown, beginning with a poem, “In Memoriam,” about the now-closed Brandywine Diner, then a related piece “To the Girls Who Poured Coffee.” Although he read some poems on other topics, such as one about a sick puppy (“The Belt”), “Uses for a Brick,” or the striking conjunction of “Epileptic Valentine,” he sandwiched them between selections from a long memoir/descriptive poem about Schenectady titled “That Lights & Hauls the World.”

For the last year Caroline Bardwell has been showing up at local open mics to read her poems, many in traditional forms, as she writes & reads, finding her voice. It was then quite a treat to hear her read more than the 2 or 3 poems normally allotted to open mic readers. Appropriately enough she began with a tanka sequence about poetry that had a repeating, inter-locking line “poems are so much more than…” Then on to some poems from an imminent book of poems & photos On & Off the Trail, including “Summer” from her alliterative series on the 4 seasons, & a melancholy memoir “The Snowy Lean To,” & one I hadn’t heard previously “Cascade.” She ended with a cluster of poems from a series she is titling “An Exhibition of Emotions,” with poems on her Faith, on dance, & a sonnet with Biblical reference, as well as another sonnet titled “Unrequited,” & ended with a rondeau “A Dream Now Dead.”

It was an evening of good poetry in a fascinating new venue. Let’s see what the future brings.

Poetic License - Albany, November 13

A reading/open mic in conjunction with the Poetic License - Albany exhibit at The Fish Market Gallery in Troy. This is the 2nd year of a collaboration between/among the Hudson Valley Writers Guild, the Upstate Artists Guild, & the larger community of poets & visual artists to bring art & poetry together. "Ekphrastic art" is a term describing creative work in one genre responding to work in another; the most common iteration is poetry written in response to a piece of visual art, e.g., a painting, drawing, sculpture, etc. This project involves visual artists responding to poems by area poets, then both the visual art & the poem being displayed together — ekphrastic art. 

This night we gathered in the gallery for a reading of poetry, not all of which inspired a work of visual art, but we were surrounded by sparkling works of art while the poets read their scintillating words. The MC of the event was no other than Mary Panza, a host & participant of many poetry open mics over the years.

The first reader was Don Maurer, who began with his poem in 3 short parts, “Unnatural Acts,” which inspired a painting by Phil Palmieri; he also read a poem titled “Nauset Beach, Cape Cod, 1840” & another in rhyme on season changes.

Chloe Glenn’s poem “The Moth” inspired paintings by Rebecca Schoonmaker & Tina Johnston; she also read an elegy, “The Last Night Walk,” & one titled “What You Left in the Forest.”

As happens in this project a poem selected as a possible source of inspiration may not be picked up by an artist, as happened to Alexander Perez, but Perez who is a frequenter of the many open mics in the area, read a poem, “Kisses from Beethoven,” inspired by his reading the letters of the great composer.

Brian Liston, who also participated in last year’s inaugural Poetic License - Albany, read a series of his short poems, some single words stacked up, including “Struggle” that inspired work by Sven Willets; he also read his poem “Autistic Superkid” that was originally published in Chronogram magazine.

Noah Kucij was a local poet who submitted 2 poems for the event, then died suddenly in April. Tonight, his friend Matt Rector came to honor Noah’s memory & read his poems, “At the Missing Sock Laundromat” (that inspired a collage by Tess Lecuyer), & “Your Photos A Year Ago This Week” (that inspired a photograph by Thom Francis), as well as a poem Matt wrote years ago while hanging out with Noah, “I Got Rhythm #5 -14”.

Rebecca Schumejda’s poem “Unlike Geese,” from her book Sentenced (NYQ Books, 2023) inspired a painting by Jason Martinez, but instead of Rebecca reading the poem, it was read by her daughter Alexis.

Nick, who is a regular here at the weekly open mic, Poetic Vibe, joined as an open mic reader, read 2 inspirational, personal pieces “Transformation,” & “Begin Again.”

The last poet, Ryan Smithson,  read as an open mic poet, but he had also submitted visual work, composed of butterfly wings, inspired by a poem, “Lungs of the Universe,” by Margaret McDermott; Ryan read her poem, then his own poems “The Serpent & the Apple,” & “An Ode to Powdered Donuts.” I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Ryan’s moving memoir of his tour of duty with the U.S. Army in Iraq, Ghosts of War: the True Story of a 19-year-old GI (Harper Collins, 2009).

Check the Hudson Valley Writers Guild calendar on its website for a list of other exhibits & readings associated with the 2023 Poetic License - Albany project. 

Poetic License Reading/Open Mic, December 5

Thomasa Nielsen - "Slipping on a Note"

The Poetic License — Albany exhibit has moved from its month-long exhibition at The Fish Market in Troy to the Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany & this reading was held to bless the new location by some of the poets whose poems are exhibited with the visual art they inspired. As I do at the Third Thursday Poetry Night, I invoked the Muse, tonight Noah Kucij, with 2 poems in the exhibit; I read “Your Photos A Year Ago This Week” which inspired Thom Francis’ photo “Spinning Wheel.” Noah died suddenly in April before he knew he would be part of Poetic License - Albany.

Tom Bonville joined as an open mic poet. While he did not have a poem in the show, he does regularly attend open mics in the area. The pieces he read were titled “Going, Going, Gone,” “Faith,” & “I Want to Be.”

Elaine Kenyon had submitted to the 2022 Poetic License event, but this year her poem “The Peripatetic” inspired art from Tess Lecuyer titled “the peripatetic eye.” This night Elaine read that poem as well as “The Misophoniac,” & an ekphrastic poem “Motherhood Blood-Letting.”

Brian Liston has also participated both years in Poetic License - Albany; this year it was his word-list poem “Struggle” that inspired Sven Willets to create his painting “Conquering Worm;” Brian also read a poem dedicated to Philip X. Levine of the Woodstock Poetry Society “The Role We Play” a tribute to those who have come before us, & one titled  “Internalization.”

I was one of the judges of the poetry submitted & so do not have any of my poems in the exhibit; instead I read my poem “Writing Crows” that had been in the Arts Society of Kingston Poetic License in 2021 & inspired the painter S.L. Rika to create “The Crow Flies.” I also read the short poem “My Matisse” inspired by a painting by Thomasa Nielsen from an exhibit at the UAG Gallery on Lark St. many years ago.

Don Maurer read his poem in 3 parts, “Unnatural Acts,” that inspired the painting by Phil Palmieri titled “Lyme & Corona;” then read a coupe other pieces, “Bruised Fruit,” & the song lyric, “How a Robin Learns the Facts of Life.”

Kathleen Anne Smith read “To Create a Summer it Takes” (from her book Let the Stones Grow Soft, The Troy Book Makers, 2023) that inspired the painting “Beach Cottage Summer” by Maureen Kelly; she also read “Why I Write About My Mother” which is also in her book.

Tom Corrado repeated his feat from last year’s Poetic License - Albany & has 2 poems in this year’s show, “Woman XXXIX,” that inspired a painting by Ann Womack titled “Let’s Ride,” & “Woman XVII,” that inspired Thomasa Nielsen’s “Slipping on a Note.” Tom quoted the American abstract painter, Agnes Martin (1912 - 2004), to the effect that she was happy to have her art leave her studio. Tom also read the poems “Woman XXXVII” & “Woman XL,” all the poems from his chapbook 50 Woman (swimming in happenstance press, 2023) copies of which he gave out to the audience.

You can check out the poems & visual art in Poetic License - Albany at the website. 

If you are reading this Blog soon after it was posted, & it is still 2023, you can find the poems & their accompanying art work in the Gallery at Honest Weight Food Co-op, 100 Watervliet Ave., Albany, NY. Visit the Hudson Valley Writers Guild website for listings of local & regional literary events, calls for entries (including future Poetic License calls), & much more.

Live from the Living Room, April 14

Actually, tonight it is "Live from the Basement AA Room" since there was a meeting going on in our usual space. Not that our host (Don Levy) does yoga but he is flexible, so we were in the basement, on folding chairs, not as comfortable as the couch & soft chairs, but we're poets, we're tough (or tuff).

I haven't seen the featured poet, Noah Kucij, in a few years when he used to come out to some of the open mics. His poems tonight ranged from Schenectady ("That Lights & Hauls the World," a 5-part memoir/love poem to that city, & "In Memoriam," to the Brandywine Diner) to "Arbor Hill" to the Adirondacks ("Burning," an I-want-to-be-Robert-Frost poem) to Bangkok ("In Thewes"), with a few other stops thrown in. Some of the poems are from the collection, The Fifth Voice (Toadlily Press, Chappaqua, NY). It was great to know he is still around & to hear his poems again.

The open mic began with me reading "Those Big APR [American Poetry Review] Poems" & my loving pastiche of William Carlos Williams most famous poems, "So Much Depends Upon This is Just to Say" (it is National Poetry Month, you know). Bob Sharkey's poem "Sky" was a mélange of images mixing in a fantasy of a witness protection program, then he did his Caffe Lena poem, "Mr. & Mrs. FedEx…"

Richard Morrell has been writing a couple of poem sequences & he read for us #37 of the 55 poems in the "Doom Sonnets," then read #4, "Power Point," from his Iron Pentacle sequence. Carolee Sherwood is one of those manic poets who are writing a poem a day because it is National Poetry Month (so what do they do during Breast Cancer Awareness Month?) & both of the poems she read are on her Blog, April 5 & April 10, & they are both worth reading again.

A new voice here, & her first time reading, was Jenn Armbrust who read an intense piece from her notebook, "My Love is Hate." Jason Crane's first poem, "Lottery," was a tender piece about an old woman remembering important dates in her past by the numbers she played, then he read "Muse Incorporated." Our host, Don Levy, read a poem by Ai, in her memory, & a poem by Madeline de Freeze, both from the old anthology, A Geography of Poets.

We gather at the Gay & Lesbian Community Center on Hudson Ave. in Albany for this "straight-friendly" reading & open mic every 2nd Wednesday, about 7:30PM, usually in the living room.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, April 20

“In Albany Everyday is National Poetry Month” so a poetry reading on the third Thursday of the month is not that strange — & tonight the house was packed for the featured poet Ellen White Rook promoting her just-out book from Cathexis Northwest Press Suspended. There was an ever-expanding sign-up list, but first we invoked the Muse, the recently gone local poet Noah Kucij (1979 - 2023) by my reading of his sonnet “Your Photos A Year Ago This Week.”

First poet up on a very crowded sign-up sheet was a former feature here Dawn Marar who read a descriptive piece “I Watched Him Play the Piano,” images of horses, birds, & the laptop keyboard. Sue Oringel, another former feature, read “Cardinal,” in all its meanings, starting with the bird. Linda Miller also read about birds, her poem titled “Bird of Prey,” her metaphorical self. Katrinka Moore referred to Ellen’s “On Waking” (in Suspended) about a Summer pond, then read her own poem about a Summer pond “Grace.”

A poet new to me, Rumara Jewett, & here for the 1st time, read in rhyme on the siege of Mariupol, Ukraine “Doom Scroll,” working in images of horrors from other wars. Naomi Bindman read her poem of birds “The Shape of Wind” that I’ve heard before & was pleased to hear again. Alan Catlin, who will be the featured poet next month, read “Eleven Seconds from the Finishing Line” on the bombing at the Boston Marathon in 2013. Alexander Perez read “Solemnities in White Leather” part of his series about desire with a character named Alejandro.

Starting at some point during the Pandemic I started printing out some of my shorter poems on 3x5 cards & giving them out to friends & strangers; I must’ve given my “Spring Haiku” composed of the repeated word “Boing” to Susan Riback. Tonight she read a poem she had written in which she uses the word “Boing”! Joe Krausman, who packed the house when he was a featured poet poet here in August; in an article in the Albany Times Union writing about the event Casey Seiler described Joe as a “flinty elf;” tonight read his brief, wry meditation on aging “Vertigo.”

Ellen White Rook is a poet, writer & teacher, & you can find her website here. She read a mix of poems from Suspended & others, beginning with the book’s title poem, then on to a couple poems with coffee (her favorite drug, she said), “French Press,” & the star-struck “Natalie Wood Buys a Cup of Coffee,” both not in the book. Others she read not in the book were the feminist “After Sunrise” & one on the theme of home, about a demon in the living room (“who doesn’t have one?” she mused). Other poems she read from the book were “Emigrant Song,” “At Cashiel Rock” about her sister, “Ruins” written in the Pine Bush during the pandemic, “Long Light Day” about her father, & ended with the last poem in the book “New Baby Poem.” Of course the audience was enthusiastic & generous with its applause, many may have had already heard these poems in peer groups & workshops in the poetry community — a community poet brings her friends as well she should.

During the short break Ellen was able to sell a number of her books, then we were back for the rest of the open mic. I was up next to read a new poem, a re-write/version/pastiche of William Carlos Williams’ “The Great Figure” with the same title. Joan Ilene Goodman read her sonnet “Words That Fly” an ode to paper without pen, the fabulous poem not yet written. Valerie Temple has come back, tonight read “Birthday Agenda,” looking forward to a celebration.

Jon Lloyd was here for the first time & read a playful piece titled “I, a Poem” dedicated to his family, & all his other influences, even the dog, the goldfish. Philomena was back after a pandemic hiatus during which she broke her leg twice, read the “The Betrayal of Objects” a prophetic poem written before she broke her leg. Marea Gordett came out to see her friend Ellen & read a love poem to a recipe “Rapture in the Soup Pot” with rich colorful (tasty?) ingredients. Catherine Dickert also read a food piece, a memoir titled, “My Birthday Dinner on a Friday Night in the Spring” having lobster as child with her family.

Melissa Anderson didn’t have a food poem but read one with the tantalizing title “Talking to a First Date About the Weather” about a Winter walk, a time for cold & waiting for Spring. Sally Rhoades read a piece from her memoir “Leaving the Mountain” about a time of changes in her family & her father’s surgery for cancer & her closeness to him. 

Rhonda Rosenheck was here for the first time, read a richly imagined genealogy “I Am From,” based on a poem by Judith Prest used as prompt in a workshop. Sylvia Barnard  made it here tonight, read a poem inspired by looking out her window “The Lamppost & the Tree” a little elegy for a friend. Josh the Poet ended up last on the list, but didn’t mind, recited from memory an inspirational poem finished yesterday, “Beneficial Gain.”

We gather each Third Thursday of the month at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY at 7:30PM —with a featured poet & an open mic (one poem limit) for the rest of us. Your donation helps support poetry events in the area & the work of the Social Justice Center.

Poets Speak Loud!, March 26

Not quite to the so-called #National Poetry Month but then we’re always doing readings here, especially like tonight on the last Monday of the month, at McGeary’s in Albany. Mary Panza, vice-President of AlbanyPoets is our M/C. & the featured poet was the beloved Bob Sharkey.

The audience was slow to build & as often happens the #1 slot on the open mic list was available, so that was me; I read the very new “The 9 of Cups” & the much older “What Passover Has Taught Me.” I suspect that Sylvia Barnard would’ve signed up 1st if she had gotten there before me, she ended up as #2 & read a new work-in-progress quoting Psalm 31, combining the Biblical & the classical, then “Cat Print” based on a photo in an archeological magazine. Nick Bisanz is always here for the open mic (for some reason) & rarely reads, but tonight read the lyrics by a Bethlehem PA rocker named Andy Crack about some homeless folks there named Wild Rose Winnie & Out Side Lee.

Doug Holiday likes to share the work of poets we might not have heard of, poems he is fond on, & tonight read “I Like to Think of Harriet Tubman” by Susan Griffin from Poems from the Women’s Movement, then read one of his own, “The Apologia,” from his new book Kith & Kin; a Klannis Klownish Tragik Komedy (written as G. Douglas Davis, IV). Dawn Marar’s book Efflorescence is just out from Finishing Line Press & she read a piece about a souvenir from Jordan with a picture of Jesus “Baptism.”

It is interesting how poets once frequent on the open mic scene will re-surface after an absence, drawn back into the action as if by the force of a poetic vortex; tonight Rich Tomasulo re-joined us after a number of years & he read a poem titled “Assimilation” about being from a family of immigrants, with memories of childhood. Don Levy, who has never left the scene from the very beginning, read about taking on the Nation Rifle Association in “To the Students of Parkland” & then re-read the poem (rated “G” for “Gay”) “My Hardon for Adam Rippon” — which is as outrageously hilarious the 3rd time I’ve heard him read it as it was the first time, another in the long, long line of Don Levy’s “gay fantasy poems.”

Bob Sharkey is a quiet, unassuming poet in the local scene who attends many open mics regularly, has been featured in many, & who coordinates the world’s best poetry contest, the annual Stephan A. Dibiase Poetry Contest. He was tonight’s featured poet for a reading of what he called “walking around poems” (inspired by Frank O’Hara’s famous Lunch Poems). His poems included “After Ali Died” (NYC), “Sweet Heart” (Albany), “Return to Gold Meir Square” (NYC again), “Monument Square” (Porland, ME), “At Dunkin’ Donuts” (Albany), then from his chapbooks the title poem from The Yellow Fairy (self-published, 2004), & “While Caged Animals Arrive” from Surface at Sunrise (Benevolent Bird Press, 2012).

Joe Krausman, who is also a frequent attendee at open mics, read 2 poems submitted to recent poetry contests, the rhyming “Race Against Odds,” that he said he has never read out before, & the prize-winning “Deceptions” which won 1st prize in this year’s Raynes National Poetry Contest organized by Jewish Currents magazine; the prize is named for the family of the late Albany writer & teacher Helen Raynes Staley. Julie Lomoe read a story titled “Round Midnight on Troy Ave.” then a piece set in a doctor’s office “Terminal Beige.” Caroline Bardwell has been playing around with poetic forms, read us “A Pantoum About Paul” then a clever piece about bending a poem “Memoirs of a Ghazal.”

Noah Kucij is another local poet who hasn’t been able to make it out to many open mic of late but who had been a featured reader in the past; tonight he read “Route” a descriptive piece about commuters on a bus, then a poem for his 3-year old daughter “The Philologist’s Daughter.” Karen Fabiane ended out the night with 2 poems, “Cat Blinks” & “Collars & Cuffs” that she has been reading out recently, which is what we do at open mics to try poems out, in their various versions as we poets do what we do & work on them.

& Poets Speak Loud! is one place to do that, each last Monday of most months at McGeary’s on Sheridan Square in Albany, 7:30PM, your donations help pay the poets. For more information check out AlbanyPoets.com.

Arthur’s Market Poetry Open Mic, November 14

One of my favorite “new,” young poets, Caroline Bardwell, was the featured poet this night, & of course, there is always a wonderfully varied open mic, so how could I stay home & watch TV? Our host, Catherine Norr got us on our way with a song, “A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening” -- how true indeed.

Alan Catlin was the first up with another addition to his “Hollyweird” series written today “The Lord of the Flies” about a street person in Albany, then “an office poem” with a scorecard of characters titled “Secret Santa.” I followed with 2 new poems “To the consternation of …” for the MFA poets out there, & a mortality poem “Last Weekend In Gloucester.” Noah Kucij was here to support this friend Caroline read a poem with a great title “At the Missing Sock Laundromat” & one with password advice “Please Sign In.”

Tommy Holecek had been on the poetry scene many, many, many years ago but has been hiding out, but apparently been guilty of writing while driving, evidence is 3 poems, “One Fine Day,” “Infinite Pick Up,” & Invocation of Oaks.” Scott Morehouse, as always, left us laughing with the family saga of Henrietta & her collection of plastic L’Eggs brand panty-hose containers “The Legacy.”

I’ve been hearing & seeing Caroline Bardwell at open mics for some months now & like her boldness in trying out forms as well as expressing herself through free verse, so this was a great chance to hear a big chunk of her work at once. I wasn’t disappointed. She began with a poem about her love for the natural world “It Beckons Me,” then “If Guilt Were a Painting” from a chapbook manuscript. She then moved on to what she termed “classical verses,” poems in forms, “Curbing the Excess” (which I found too abstract), “Porch Swing,” “A Life Well-Lived” (a religious themed rondeau, perhaps), “Insomnia,” & a pantoum for her therapist “Paul.” One of her frequent themes is religious faith & she read an excerpt from a longer piece “My Faith’s Legacy” in short-line rhymes, & “The Fire Within.” “At Dusk, Wolves” was about the hunting of the weak, & “Indecision” was a worry about the future as her life changes. She ended with a seasonal poem “Winter” from a series on the seasons in obsessive alliteration. A nice mix of poems that she obviously planned carefully for her first featured reading to introduce us to the poet who is Caroline Bardwell.

Our host Catherine Norr got us back to the open mic with a poem about a farmer “Cousins” & one titled “Memory Bank.” I usually don’t like cat (or dog) poems because of their sentimentality, but Sarah Girgosian read the more grounded “When the Outdoor Cat Comes In,” then what she introduced as a new poem that was like a dystopic fantasy of the commercial world appropriating names. The night ended with Sahra Ali reading 2 poems, both just written today, the first like a journal entry by a robot who is herself, then the very short “Lucrative.”

The poetry open mic at Arthur’s Market, 35 North Ferry St., Schenectady, NY continues each 2nd Wednesday of the month, 7:30PM, usually with a featured poet surrounded by the open mic.