Third Thursday Poetry Night, June 18

Natalya Sukhonos

Tonight’s Muse was the gone Holy Local poet of Gloucester, MA, Vincent Ferrini (1913 - 2007); I read 2 short poems of his, “On the Nine 0” & “The Gold.” The featured poet, Natalya Sukhonos, lives much closer. 

But first some of the community writers on the sign-up sheet.

I have seen Charles Lapinski read at a couple of open mics in the area & more recently at An Evening of Music & Poetry for Peace & Justice in March; this night he read a new piece, “Lessons in Liberty,” on the July 4th celebrations & its follies. 

Doug Campbell, a regular reader here, said he had tried out his poem at the Monday workshops at the Alice Moore Black Arts Cultural Center, a piece in 3 parts, an imaginative piece in rap-style rhyme, “Someone Looking Out at the Sea,”  “Someone Looking Out at the Forest” & another about looking out in Space all in the same style. 

David Gonsalves brought his big book of poems & read “Pantoum” that was, well, a pantoum, in its traditional intricate structure.

Our featured poet, Natalya Sukhonos, has been promoting her new book of poems, Sunlight Trapped in Stone (Green Writers Press, 2026), with cover art by her sister, Marina Kornfield, “Soul Diver.” The book is divided into 3 sections & she read selections from each, starting with the introductory poem, “Ars Poetica with Spider and Peaches.” From section 1, “Fossilized Sunlight,” she read “After Bishop” (in in Elizabeth Bishop) on family deaths, including her own twin; “Symmetries of Pain” (about her grandmother); “Aunt Sash’s Dementia” about the woman who raised her; & “Oblivion, Interrupted.” From section 2, “Border Crossings,” & “1939, Lights Twinkling on the Water, Margaret Crossing the Atlantic” a child immigrant coming to Canada from Great Britain. Then a poem not in the book written for a friend who died last week, “Death My Double.” She ended with the last poem in the book from section 3, “Limpid Stone,” “Summer Rain.”

After the break we were back to finish up the open mic list, I read my poem “The Cold Clean Sea” from my book Gloucester Notes (Foothills Publishing, 2015).

I was followed by Julie Lomoe who read a recent rambling piece, “Death of a Mourning Dove,” a gift from her cat.

Avery Stemple pine pitch matts the hair on his arm & inspires his meditation on spirals & repetition in nature & in human life. 

Amina Gueye did some announcements for the programs at the AMBACC, then read a poem dedicated to her Mom who does hair braiding, “You’ve Made Me So Beautiful,” a peek into that magical art.

John Allen finished off the night with a poem he had trouble retrieving from his phone “Purity” read by someone else with a British accent, difficult to hear clearly perhaps adding to its underlying surreality.  

The Third Thursday Poetry Night takes place each month at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY, 7:00PM sign up for the open mic, reading starts at 7:30PM, the event includes a featured poet — $5.00 suggested donation pays the featured reader, supports poetry projects in Albany & the work of the Social Justice Center.

2nd Sunday @ 2 - Poetry + Prose. June 14

Back in the bank building, home to Collar Works, I was on my own as the host so that my co-host, Nancy Klepsch, could attend the Capital Pride Celebration in Albany’s Washington Park.

First up on the sign-up sheet was Anne Samson, her first time here. Both pieces she read were from writing retreats, the first titled “We Flow” from the Women’s Writers Center, the second from a retreat at Pyramid Lake, “Kayak Before Breakfast.

David Gonsalves, who is frequently here, read just one piece, titled simply “Ithaca.”

Bob Sharkey made a welcome return to the 2nd Sunday with a poetic tribute to the English painter, photographer & stage designer who died this week, David Hockney (1937 - 2016) based on his last interview with the Los Angeles Times, then a piece titled “American History” about a beloved high school teacher who inspired his class to break into song.

I read a couple of older pieces, one a tribute to Allen Ginsberg titled “June 3, 2022” in which I compare what I was doing to what Allen wrote about for that same date, then a personal affirmation, “I’m a Poet Too.”

Julie Lomoe read 2 pieces from a memoir-in-progress, one from her recent Norwegian cruise (if it’s recent does it qualify as a “memoir”?), then another a section from the introduction.

Then back into the World. Writers may join us any 2nd Sunday of the month at 2PM at 50 4th Street in Troy, NY for this open mic, 2 poems or 5 minute max for prose. Free & open & accepting of anyone.

2nd Tuesday All-Genre Open Mic out of Bennington, June 9

I was able to Zoom in this month, always an eclectic mix of poets from elsewhere. As usual, our host & moderator was Charlie Rossiter from his living room, & we did 2 rounds, not always in the same order this night.

I was up first & in my 1st round read a poem written (& titled) “June 3, 2007,” remembering the great gone poet Allen Ginsberg, & my own life intersecting. In the second round I read another older poem that I recently turned into a poem card, “Hidden Cafe Table Poem.”

Bill Thwing did his thing with his guitar, a song for his 1-year old granddaughter, Clara, “Our Sweet Little Buttercup,” her smiles now, the things she’ll do as she grows up. Then another song in his 2nd round, “Swept Away” about a dream of standing in a stream, that somehow led into a group discussion of AI.

Sharon Smith began with one of the 1st poems she wrote 7 or 8 years ago, “Between the Hidden & the Revealed” (which she included in her 2022 collection, reflection: poems. The 2nd time around she read a dream poem, “June 6,” which is the anniversary of her father’s death.

Our host, Charlie Rossiter read a poem I remember hearing years ago, a memoir of his father as a bad example, “Drinking While Driving.” His 2nd round poem was also a memoir titled “Eating Scrambled Eggs at Midnight Thinking of Blummie,” a woman who was not related but sort of “an extra grandmother.” 

Ginny Folger read he poem “Insomnia” that she has just heard has been selected for publication in Eclectica Magazine. In round 2 she also read a memoir poem, this titled “Visit.”

A regular here, Tom Nicotera, read a brand new poem, “BookTender” about librarians as bartenders listening to patrons, not just stackers the books. For his 2nd round he read a Father’s Day poem, “Dreaming of Fish: for My Father” about their time fishing together.

It had been a night of memoir which Mark O’Brien capped off in both of his rounds, first with “Fermented Childhood,” then in round 2 with another childhood memory of being at a local military firing range “I Have Never Found an Arrowhead” but lots of brass instead. 

One never knows where the poets show up from at this Zoom gathering held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. If you’ve been “here” previously Charlie has your email address & will send you the link each month; if not, send an email to Charlie at charliemrossiter@gmail.com & ask for the link — it’s worth the effort.

Salon Salvage, May 30

Matthew Klane is one of the co-hosts, along with Amie Zimmerman & Hajar Hussaini  who make this reading series happen every month; he announced that this was the 44th event in 46 months — an impressive run. Matthew & Amie shared the introduction for this night’s reading.

There were 4 readers this night; the first was Kate Colby who read from her new book, Paradoxx (Essay Press, 2025) a collection of essays & memoir poems, in 100 sections, all in the 1st person, notes during the pandemic. She teaches at Brown & said this was her 1st time in Troy, NY. She began with a piece about her father & a cold wood stove, another piece was a memoir of high school on “Slow Dancing to Heaven,” another was a dream of sex (or, was it really happening). She ended with a new poem, “White Noise White Smell” either the title or the 1st line. 

Darcie Dennigan read new work from the manuscript of “Commander,” again all in the 1st person, what could be a novel, funny, sexual, playing with gender roles, the Commander a character, & references to Russian writers. One section was a Marxist take on pregnancy, read with a friend joining her to read the other voice.

Sylvia Jones also said this was her 1st time in Troy (she lives in Baltimore, MD), she read from the actual page proofs of of her new collection of poems Dope Calisthenics, due out in October from Relegation Books. Since the pieces are all short, she was able to read a bunch of them, often based on statements from others, famous or otherwise, random thoughts, long titles to very short poems, often the title giving some context to what seemed like notebook jottings. But easily relatable topics & situations, including politics & government.

The final performer was Tia Brown with a full-fledged multi-media act including projected photos, some even from TV news casts, an amped ukulele on loop, & a guitar with split-screen videos. Some of the photos, documenting events with images from a plane, or a highway, became nearly abstract images. One series included TV interviews & videos of the streets of Buffalo during a snowstorm.

Catch this series on the last Saturday of the month at Upstairs Arts Collective, 403 Fulton St., Troy, NY at 7:00PM, donations (& purchases of the authors' books) gratefully accepted. Authors & artists from hither & yon. 

Third Thursday Poetry Night, May 21

The night’s Muse was the recently gone Mary Lou Streznewski who had been the featured reader here back in March of 2023 & who recently passed away this past April. I read her poem “Women Who Sit on Victorian Porches in Summer” from her poetry collection Sitting in the Shade of My Own Tree (Kelsay Books, 2019). Then on to the open mic.

Avery Stempel was first on the list, he updated us on the legislation introduced to the New York State legislature to legalize the use of psilocybin for medical purposes, then read an excerpt of a longer memoir about the death of a friend, about finding his body. 

David Gonsalves read 2 really short poems (he often does), a pantoum with one word lines “Fam,” then “After,” perhaps a couple after dining outdoors.

Amina had arrive early & had helped me set up the chairs; her poem was titled “Suprnovas In Sudan” about how satellite photos have found evidence of the genocide happening in that war-torn country.

John Allen read a couple pieces, beginning with what he called “an elliptical poem” about a woman he knew briefly, “My Dry Ophelia (for Emilia),” then “The Carnival Tarot” another exercise in emulating the Surrealists of old.

I read a new poem about my son Jack’s fascination with outer space, “Jack’s Diner on the Moon (for the Artemis II astronauts)” mixing in memories of my own early job in a lunch counter with his family as the workers at the diner.

Tonight’s featured reader was Eric Wasileski whom I met through Veterans For Peace. He is the founding President of Daniel Shays VFP Chapter 186, Berkshires, Home of the Mohican. He began by reading from his collection of poems, Live Free (or die) (Human Error Publishing, 2014), “Forward Deployed” about his experience in Operation Desert Fox 1980 (“I knew these people were not my enemies”). Then on to a series of poems not in the book, mostly about his military experience, read from his laptop, although the poem “Bibliophile” he described as “not political” but could be. Earlier, I had shared with him a story from my own military experience during basic training about drill sergeants who would call recruits with long names they couldn't pronounce “Alphabet,” Eric read a humorous poem titled “New Nicknames” about a similar experience.  “Gathering in Ogunquit” was a shift in tone & subject, a  peace walk from Maine to DC in 2024. Then back to a couple poems again from military training, “Poor Deer” about the slaughter of a deer on a firing range  (but no targets died), & the humorous “Yes Sir” about the class distinction between enlisted personnel & commissioned officers (saying “Sir” but thinking “asshole”). He returned to Live Free (or die) for his ending poems, “A Veteran’s Remembrance On Memorial Day” & “Talking About War.” Poetry, another form of peace work.

Please join us at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY on the third Thursday of the month for a reading by a local or regional writer, with an open mic for the rest of us — start time 7:30PM, your donation supports poetry events in Albany & the work of the SJC.

Book Launch & Signing - An Armsfull of Birds, May 15

Some of you reading this have heard me say (perhaps more than once), “If your family & friends don’t go to your readings, who will?” The truth of that was evident by the audience of this reading by author Cara Benson of An Armsfull of Birds: A Personal Field Guide to Love, Loss, and Commitment (Health Communications, Inc., 2026) at the venerable Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza — standing room only. I first encountered Cara as a performance poet in 2004 & saw her many times since at venues locally & regionally. She has given many writing workshops in the area & many of the folks at this event that I talked to had met her at workshops or at peer writing groups.

This day was the official publication date of An Armsful of Birds & the bookstore had not yet received a shipment, nor had I received my pre-ordered copy; Cara had a stack of her author’s copies which some in the audience had. I would have to wait.

She was joined by her friend, author Amy Halloran, as a moderator/interviewer. Care began with reading from Chapter 1, “American Goldfinches (Jon and I meet);” each chapter is titled with the name of a bird as if it were a guide for birders,. She said that the book started as an essay, from thoughts she had walking in the woods after Jon’s death. 

When asked “how was the process of writing the book different from the process of healing?” she replied that the writing brought him to life again. The importance to her of walking in the woods for her writing process was emphasized again in her reading of Chapter 21, “Winter Wren (The dream that is not a dream)” which she characterized as “a long prose poem.”

I have since received my copy of An Armsful of Birds & hope that you seek it out. It is the work of a poet, descriptive, lyrical & introspective. As Cara said at the reading, “We need to take care of each other.” 

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.