Third Thursday Poetry Night, August 20

A hot & steamy night, but it's never too hot or too steamy for poetry, as our poets gathered from north & south.

After we invoked the muse of Denise Levertov, the open mic began with Sally Rhoades, being very much a nurse, "The Deafening Silence". Bob Sharkey's "Memoir for Poor Mary" was his grandmother's story. Terry Zacuto (Bat-Sonja) had to borrow glasses to struggle to read her poem in MySpace-small-print "Just Black" (which is also on her FaceBook page if you want to find it).

Even the elusive Mary Kathryn Jablonski was here tonight to honor her friend Georganna & coincidentally ended up in a mini-grouping of poets published by A.P.D. Mary read her meditative poem "Multiplication." The second A.P.D. poet, Anthony Bernini, read "Not Alone."

Georganna Millman, the featured poet, began with poems from her recently published Formulary (the winner of the 2008 poetry prize from Astounding Beauty Ruffian Press): "Apothecary," "Alchemy," "Painting Swastikas," "The Happy Drawer," "Pharmacognosy," & "Lobotomized." As she described it, her "day to day life is contained in this book". Her new poems contained some on the theme from her book, "Pharmacist's Lament," & "Side Affects," & some nature poems, "Seduction" (a green heron), "Marriage" (a love poem to her husband, also about a green heron), then the brand-new "Boys," & the honorably mentioned "Hearing Voices."

I read a 10-year-old poem recently re-written, "Thru the Circle," inner space vs. outer space. Moses Kash III contained about 5 pages of his life in his poem "Whereas". I think Alan Casline's introduction was longer than his poem "Seed of Vision." W.D. Clarke's poem told the story of "The Bear." Thomas Brinson calls his memory prose poems "poemoirs" & read one about seeing a woman in Woodstock wearing a second-hand "Pleiku Jacket," bringing back memories of Viet Nam.

Every third Thursday at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany at 7:30 PM -- come hear the featured poet & bring a poem of your own to read.