Albany Book Festival, September 21

This annual event at the University at Albany is an exercise in decision-making, with as many as 4 panels/readings going on at once, not to mention the massed book-sellers. My decisions were made a bit easier by being a moderator for one of the late sessions, & being scheduled in the Hudson Valley Writers Guild Reading.

I managed to catch a few readers in the Open Mic Reading hosted by Arch Magazine (the undergraduate literary zine), featuring the Young Writers project, friends & contributors, held at the Orb Stage in Campus Center West. What I caught was 3 readers, a variety of styles, formats, from traditional poems with a good use of rhyme & vivid images; a long personal ramble about campus life; & a well-performed piece in Slam style. The woman who did the poems in rhyme was actually a graduate student in physics. Long-time Albany poet Jil Hanifan is the advisor/mentor for Arch Magazine so as far as I’m concerned those students are in good hands.

The Hudson Valley Writers Guild Open Mic had its sign-up prior to the Festival online, & the host was HVWG Vice-President Mary Panza. The sign-up had been online at the Guild website. While I hadn’t signed up to be first, that’s where I was & since this date is International Peace Day I read a selection of my peace poems, including the 2003 “Albany/Baghdad.”

Jackie Craven who hosts the Writers Mic open mic on Zoom on the 2nd Wednesday of the month read “Clocks can’t be trusted in the electric city” from her collection of poems Whish (Press 53, 2024).

Susan Rancourt read a mix of poems from her poetry collections & newer poems, including “Thurnderbeings,” “Archilochus Comes to Shore,” “Ordinarily She Marched,” & “Bad Girls Speak.” 

Rhonda Rosenheck is the co-host (with Judith Prest) of Poetry Circle on 2nd Mondays at the Schenectady County Public Library. The poems she read included a Tanka (“Crack”), an Haiku on the end of Autumn, & poems titled “Past Tense,” “Light Sneaks Past,” a re-worked piece “Raproachment 1983,” & “I Will.”

Adonis Richards is the founder of Lucid Voices out of Schenectady which one can find on Facebook. He started off with a poem from a poetry & sculpture workshop about an owl “Nighttime Visitor,” then a sad piece about missing a father’s love while growing up a “cool nerd” fan of Pokemon, & a piece titled “To Kill a Kitten” (not as cruel as it sounds).

There were more, but I had to leave for a session I moderated titled Discovering New Narratives, a reading & discussion with author Joachim Frank about his auto-biographical novel Ierapetra, or His Sister’s Keeper. Frank is a 2017 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry & a former president of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild.

The Albany Book Festival has become an annual event here so I think we can expect it to be back in September 2025 — check the New York State Writers Institute website & the events page of the website of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild for information.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, September 19

There is usually a featured reader to go along with the open mic, but unfortunately Karen Elizabeth Sharpe had to cancel; I will try to reschedule her for sometime in 2025. But there was plenty of poetry to be heard this night, with 13 poets on the sign-up sheet. 

The first reader up was Sylvia Barnard, just where she wanted to be on the list; she read a piece from one of Ellen White Rook’s workshops, a poem titled “Granny’s Cottage” about her mother’s house outside of Greenfield, MA. Julie Lomoe read a poem from 2016, “Hope Dawns in a Grungy Gun Club,” about being interviewed by a reporter from the New York Times when she was voting. I read from my Poem Cards a revision of another Poem Card “Books Not Bombs,” then a poem card about the recent Lunar eclipse, “Eclipse Haiku.” 

Don Levy hasn’t been here in quite some time, & we were glad he was back; he read 2 poems from his favorite (old) anthologies, Contemporary American Poets, Frank O’Hara’s “To the Harbor Master,” then “Her Kind” by Anne Sexton. Kim Henry returned to read an untitled piece about the death of her mother, then a lighter piece describing an outfit she wore (& her daughter as fashion police) “Mismatched.” Kristen Day also has not been here in a while, read some older poems, beginning with  “Personal Question,” then one of my favorite poems about 9/11 “The 6:20 & the 2:45.” 

David Gonsalves attends many of the open mics in the area; tonight he read a poem titled “Under the Weather” a list of disasters, then “On the Couch” in, apparently, a form he created, or at least temporary restrictions for the life of the poem. Also getting through the seasons of no baseball, Tom Bonville read a very short descriptive piece, “My Old Man,” then the nostalgic, almost bitter “Love.” Maria Sohn read a short poem titled “Role Reversal” about a turbulent plane ride with her daughter, followed by a song co-written with a friend about the effort to pass the ERA in the perspectives of a young girl, a middle-age woman, & an old woman. 

Francesca Sidoti is a “future featured reader” here — very soon! — & she read a piece she hadn’t read out before, “Wives,” on War & its aftermath, then a poem on the solar eclipse, “The Eyes of Time.” Tom Corrado was the night's closer (as they say in baseball) with another of his “Screen Dumps,” this number 781, with its characteristic pile up of images & phrases.

Join us any third Thursday of the month at 7:30PM at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY — $5.00 suggested donation, more or less — a featured reader (usually) & an open mic (always).

Pine Hollow Arboretum Open Mic, September 13

The 2nd of the day’s open mics was right next door to Albany in Slingerlands at the Pine Hollow Arboretum. There was a featured reader tonight, Carolee Bennett, whom hasn’t been seen reading her work out in quite some time — but she continues to write poems. The host is poet of the watershed, Alan Casline. But first, a little bit of the open mic.

I was up first leading off with my poem “The Witches Necklace,” followed by an older piece, “Star Maps,” pondering the meaning of the constellations. Mark O’Brien read a poem about family members dying, “Last Man Standing,” then one for Alan Casline, “My Life as Seen as a Series of Snap-Neck Moments” a list of falls. Tim Verhaegen also read a poem about deaths, combining his family’s genealogy with the story of the indigenous Mohawks. Edie Abrams read a poem about aging, then one written today, “Activation,” about her cats growing their claws to defend themselves.  

Mark O’Brien did the honors of the introduction of the night’s featured poet, his neighbor in Clarksville, Carolee Bennett. She began with poems from a book manuscript currently circulating looking for a publisher, a poem from during Hurricane Irene in 2011, “The Water Rising We Stay at the Bar,” others, including “Fragments for Girls who Grew Up in the ’80s…,” one addressed to a dog (?) Gertie, poems confronting cultural misogyny. She shared some newer work from a manuscript of “micro-fiction or prose poems,” eco-poems based in a post-apocalyptic world, a favorite setting with poets these days. She ended with a love/sex poem “Don’t Forget your Booties It’s Cold Out There.” It was good to hear new work from this fine, local poet who has been hiding out in Clarksville.

David Gonsalves began with a descriptive poem (titled “Breeze”?) of birds at the beach, then on to one titled “Cindy’s Birthday.” Tom Bonville squeezed in 4 short poems, “Love,” “Pleasure,” “Paint,” & “Real Estate Sale.”

Our host Alan Casline, read “Last Days,” about a captain captured by the British in the colony's war for independence, an exploration of the horrors of war, a mix of imagination & history, then “How Nature Heals” or mends. Francesca Sidoti read a poem from the April Poem-a-Day project “January Trees,” then one written for her husband, “Anniversary.” Tom Corrado closed out the night with yet another from his monstrous “Screen Dump” series, this numbered 781 (!),

This series continues, at least until the snow starts to fall, at the Pine Hollow Arboretum, 2nd Fridays, always an open mic, often a featured poet — check out the Events section of the website of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild. Donations support the Arboretum.

Saratoga Senior Center Open Mic, September 13

This was the first of the day’s 2 poetry events, & the 2nd time this week that I’ve driven to Saratoga County for a poetry event — phew! The guest host today was Barbara Ungar, who started the afternoon off with a poem titled “AP Physics” — in honor of the featured poet’s 2023 publication from Oxford University Press Lyric Poetry and Space Exploration from Einstein to the Present.

That featured poet was Margaret (Maggie) Greaves, Associate Professor of English at Skidmore College, who said she is an “aspiring” poet, but mostly a student & a teacher of poetry. Her poems were about her life & the world world around her (& she shouldn't have been so tentative). She read about being a Mom, (“Everlasting Life”), including potty training a toddler in the oppressive heat of Turkey, the hysterical “Things My Daughter Said During the Wildfires,” & “Nocturne” (a “space poem,” with babies). Like the rest of us, she had her COVID poems,”Expecting” (pregnant during COVID), & “Swimming Near the End of the World” (testing positive for COVID while in Turkey). Her husband is Turkish &, in addition to other poems already mentioned, she included a ghazal influenced by reading a Turkish poet; read “Wedding Day” that contrasted wedding photos of her husband’s parents with her own wedding photos; then one titled “First Lesson in the Language;” & the stunningly tender love poem to her husband, “Anatolian Rug With Stylized Animals.” It was altogether an engaging & entertaining reading. I for one would love to read a book of her poems rather than an academic study of the poems of others.

To start off the open mic portion, Barbara read a poem for the late Stuart Bartow, “Sunset on Mars” with a Haiku. David Graham read a poem from 2008 (& still current for this year’s election) “Talking with Uncommitted Voters.” My poem was also on a political theme, “Another Tuesday,” about September 11, 2001 in NYC, & 1973 in Santiago, Chile.

Pat Curtis read what she described as her manifesto on aging, playing humorously on the word “old”. Jackie Craven read 2 poems from her collection of poems, Whish (Press 53, 2024), “Pi huddles in a cloakroom” & “What alien astronauts fear” — it’s a book I’m really enjoying reading. Naomi Woolsey read an essay/memoir about her work in the State Department as an inspector of international schools & an evacuation during the civil war in Libya.

Susan Kress read a new work in-progress, “What It’s Like Now,” pondering the faces of old poets & whether she likes plants more than animals (plants win). Angela Snyder read a descriptive dog-walking poem, “Night,” then one titled “Enough” from a prompt to write about something without naming it. Jay Rogoff finished off the event by reading a deceptively titled poem “Latin Class” (it was a Latin dance class).

This reading with an open mic takes place on the 2nd Friday of each month, starting at 1:00PM, at the Saratoga Senior Center, 290 West Ave., Saratoga Springs, NY.

Poetry Night at the Schuylerville Public Library, September 11

Poet Elaine Kenyon recently started a monthly Poetry Night at the Schuylerville Public Library up in Saratoga County. Over the last couple of years Elaine has immersed herself in the local poetry community, reading at open mics at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs & at the Social Justice Center in Albany, as well as participating in the Poetic License collaboration between the Hudson Valley Writers Guild & the Upstate Artists Guild. In August she took the step to bring a poetry event into her own community.

I took the hour drive up from Albany to check it out & show my support. Ultimately there were 8 of us gathered around 2 tables pushed together in a meeting room off the main reading room of the Library. The room had windows on 3 sides. There was no “stage,” or podium or sound equipment, just people sharing poems, either their own or those that they like written by others. The poems often engendered conversations on the topic of the poems, but not comments or suggestions as in peer-group workshops. And there was no sign-up list, or even a set order of reading; folks just volunteered to read when they felt ready or inspired. It was relaxed & informal.

This being the 23 anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center in NYC, Elaine started off with a memoir piece about working in a mental health facility at the time of the attack, & later read other poems. I read my poem “Another Tuesday” about 9/11 2001 & 9/11 1973 in Santiago Chile with the overthrow of the elected government of Salvadore Allende. Geri, who also shared at other moments poems by W.H. Auden, read one of her own, “The Archangel & the Apostle,” about a priest who was killed at the WTC; the priest had been a boyhood friend of her brother.

Margaret, who shared poems by others, read one with lots of repetitions & I asked if it was a villanelle. She didn’t know but Peter then rattled off the details of a villanelle; he apparently had taught literature & worked as a contract lance writer; the poems he read were his own. He had a copy of John Koenig’s The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, which he passed around to the group.

Peggy arrived a little late, a shared a couple of her poems; she is a friend of Elaine’s. Another friend was Lisa who said she had one of her poems with her but ended up not reading it, instead read a poem about a butterfly by someone else; she also brought brownies. Ian was the last to arrive, & the youngest; he read from a fistful of pages, one torn from a spiral notebook; both Margaret & Geri had him repeat the end of a couple of his poems, perhaps looking for the “punchline”. 

Lots of good conversation & poems from people who like hearing & reading poems, & sometimes writing some of their own. This is a monthly open mic on the 2nd Wednesday of the month, starts at 6:00PM, at the Schuylerville Public Library, 52 Ferry St. I probably won't be back every month, but perhaps every little once in a while.

 

2nd Sunday @ 2: Open Mic for Poetry + Prose, September 8

It’s been a bunch of months since my co-host, Nancy Klepsch, & I have been able to be together at this monthly open mic, it’s one thing or another, but I guess a good reason to have 2 hosts. This day we ended up with 6 poets on the sign-up sheet, 2 who were here for the 1st time.

Billy Stanley was the afternoon’s 1st “virgin;” his 1st poem was titled “Langston’s River Whip,” richly descriptive, side-by-side images of the Hudson River with a river in Louisiana where he grew up; then a poem of looking back, “Instead of ‘I Am,’ ‘I Was’.”

Rhonda Rosenheck read from her mss. “If I Dared in Circus Silks” a very short poem she described as an “ars poetica” titled simply “Poets,” then a piece titled “Wedge Cut” that plays on the word “wedge.”

David Gonsalves is a master of the short poem & he read 2 this afternoon, “School Days,” & “Luck,” a meditation at a tavern after the death of his father.

The proprietor of Collar City Mushrooms, Avery Stempel, gave us a brief update on local/regional meetings & panel discussion around New York State Assembly Bill A10375 to decriminalize the use of psilocybin & on New Yorkers for Mental Health Alternatives; then he read an article he wrote about the experience of people with chronic cluster headaches who have found relief with psilocybin titled “Treating Cluster Headache with Psilocybin-containing Mushrooms” to be published in The Mycophile Quarterly Winter issue.  

Ellen Rook was the other “virgin” & began with a critical piece (from her own experience) “Notes on Online Therapy,” then a piece that blends past experience with the question, “can The Muse be male?” with the title “The Muse Was Wild But I Was Wilder.”

I was the last reader of the afternoon with 2 recent poems, “True Story” inspired by observing birds at my backyard bird bath, then “Books Not Bombs” which is a re-write of an older poem “Buttons Not Bombs.”

Join us any 2nd Sunday of the month at Collar City Mushrooms, 333 2nd Ave., Troy, NY at 2 (like the Man said, 2nd Sunday @ 2: Open Mic for Poetry + Prose), & you can even buy some mushrooms to take home. 

Poetry Open Mic at Pine Hollow, August 16

This open mic, often with a featured poet, is usually held on the 2nd Friday of the month at the Pine Hollow Arboretum in Slingerlands, NY, but was rescheduled to this day from last week due to heavy rain. There was no featured poet, instead a marvelous coterie of local poets who read in a round-robin style, which I won’t try to replicate in this narrative.

The poems I read included 2 poems both titled “Joe Krausman;” a poem inspired by Uncle Walt, “Here I Sit in Solitude;” & one inspired by a recent encounter with “Lark St. Jesus.” 

Edie Abrams read about trying to think good thoughts after the death of her mother & after the Biden/Trump debate; another about her mother, “Comfort Cat & Peck Peck Peck;” a descriptive piece about an old teacher, that she began with a quote from the Talmud; a poem about walking with her father in a snow storm in New York City “Questions Unasked;” & one about the experience of “Zooming.”

David Gonsalves read a piece about being in Heaven, “Last Thursday;” one from his obsession with the history of World War I “No Man’s Land;” “Landscapes in 12 Colors;” & “Skyway.”

The aforementioned Joe Krausman read a poem about me (!) titled “Guess Who?” then “Weather Report,” a forecast of life-expectancy; another on mortality, “Weird Musings at Whole Foods;” & a funny tale of a 2-headed person, “Going to a Double-Header Ending in a Tie Game.”

Our host at this series is Alan Casline. Tonight he read “Contemplation of the Season;” a poem written some time ago describing an old man on the subway; one titled “Pile On” (written 10/26/2019); & another seasonal piece, “Song of the Red Tea Flowers.”

Tim Verhaegen read the nostalgic “Summer Sounds in Amagansett;” a poem about going through a box of “Letters;” & a recently written memoir about his youthful days at a 2-year college.

Paul Amidon’s piece “Half-Truth” was about trying to figure out what that means; a poem titled “No Poem;” & one titled “Icebergs.”

The turned out to be quite a varied & fascinating anthology of poems by local poets.

Check out the events listings on the website of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild for information about future open mics at the Pine Hollow Arboretum, as well as other literary events in the Capital District.