October 26, 2008

Woodstock Poetry Society, October 11

At the Woodstock Town Hall, with our host Philip Levine. I haven't been down there in a while, but it's always worth the trip. I like to point out that these Blog entries are not reviews, but reports, & I have a "business" interest in this reading, being the publisher of the chapbook by one of the features, Mary Kathryn Jablonski. But let me know if you think there is a different tone or emphasis in this posting. There are usually some very interesting open mic poets as well as the features at this reading & today was no exception.

The first open mic poet was Georganna Millman who read in the Poets in the Park series this summer announced that her manuscript is a finalist in the Ruffian Press contest -- we wish her luck! She read 2 fine poems, one from the Kabbala, "Darkness is the Garment of Light" & "Creation was an Act of Passion" (yes, yes).

I did my fantasy memory piece "Shaken, Stirred," & the american haiku "Yom Kippur 2004." "Johnny Jive" was the man with the guitar & got us all singing "Thank you for being my friend." Bruce Weber read the anaphora "I'm Writing..." (I hope we all are) & "Diary Entry October 1." I was glad to see Kate Haymes again with the short, seasonal "Autumn."

Donald Lev did a couple of his own, "Bogart" & "The Festival" & in the middle read one of Enid Dame's, "The Woman Who Was Water." If you don't know about his Home Planet News, was amatter wid you?

Although her poem was missing a page, what Cheryl Rice read of "The Yard & Its Tree" was just fine. Modern day vaudevillian, Ron Whiteurs, did "Shofar" & the hilarious "Don't Let Him In Your Underwear."

The first of the day's featured poets was Mary Kathryn Jablonski, whose chapbook, To the Husband I Have Not Yet Met I recently published under the A.P.D. imprint (for more information email apdbooks@earthlink.net). She read 2 new poems as a prelude, "Fever 3" in which her refrigerator speaks in Spanish, & the haunting dream poem "Heart Nebula (Running Dog)." Then she read a selection of the husband letters (#1, 3 - 7, 9 & 10). She likes to tease, leaving the final letter to those who buy the book.

The second featured poet was Will Nixon, who began with a tribute to his friend & Woodstock poet, the late Saul Bennett, reading Saul's "On the Menu at the Asian Food Shoppe," "Glass," "Listen Carefully," & John Keats' "To Autumn." Then on to his own poems, "Autumn Leaf," a couple Zombie poems, then a few from his new book from FootHills Publishing, My Late Mother as a Ruffed Grouse: "Pride of Pumpkins" (set in Woodstock), "America," & the title poem.

Our host, Philip Levine finished out the afternoon with "Poet En Pointe," & a rambling, prosy piece that tried not to say anything, "At Oblique Angles Sliced Thin."

The second Saturday of each month, at the Woodstock Town Hall, Woodstock, NY, 2PM. And check out more of my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwlcx/

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