Live from the Living Room, May 9

Ah, such a cozy setting. The feature was P.R. Dyjak, who will soon be leaving the area for a teaching position in Utah -- one of the "fuds" (PhDs) who knows where the true energy is. Her work is strong enough to draw not only the usual open mic junkies but also Bernadette Mayer & Judith Johnson, poet/teachers with whom Pat had studied, a tribute to her work. So we were treated to a reading of dreams, Poetry as a Necessity (Audre Lord), The Search for Knowledge, her dog Molly, angels a couple times & the job market. We will miss her.

The host each 2nd Wednesday is Don Levy who read his poem "To the Fag Bug". Jim Masters has been coming around for a couple months, finally got up to read some poems about an old family clock. Likewise, Tim Verhaegen has been coming around & reading for months, read his poems about leaving the movies with his friend, a work that is changed each time I hear it, then another on the homeless in Montreal.

Phil Goode read from his ongoing coffee poem, which I guess keeps it ongoing. Shaun Baxter read his "No Man is a Number" & one of Charles Simic's. Then me, then Bob Sharkey, getting ready for the Albany Tulip Festival with "The Dutch Girls" and "Tulips" with the 2 Moses.

Next, the the "2 T(h)eresa's": Teresa Marta Costa drove up (with Roberta) to tell us "How I Recaptured My Teeth" & about Spring & chickens & bears; & Therese Broderick on an old man in NYC. At the end, last month's feature, Roberta Gould, like a dividend with 2 of hers & one by George Wallace.

7:30 PM, 2nd Wednesday, Hudson Ave., Albany.