Live from the Living Room, August 11

This is always what some call an "intimate" gathering of poets -- tonight it couldn't get more intimate (unless we took off our clothes & had sex on the plush furniture of the Gay & Lesbian Community Center) since there were only 2 poets (not including the definitely-a-poet host, Don Levy), Tony "the intern" Geras with his camera & notebook, & no featured poet this month.

Since I beat the only other sign-up to the Center, I got to go first! Don had suggested a summer theme, so I pulled out a mixed bag, from last year's "Summer in California," to the really old (late 1980s) "Spice Rack," to the Gloucester beach inspired "Poems About Poetry."

The other sign-up was Carolee Sherwood, back from the beach herself. She read a poem from a series of letter-poems to her friend Beth, this about death, then "Perfume from a Dress", based on a line from Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," only more hopeful, & on to the apocalyptic "Once the Men were Gone." I think most of these poems (if not all) can be found by wandering around her website.

The same is true for the poems read by our genial host, Don Levy, where you can find him living on Facebook. His "Smear the Queer" takes on homophobia & intolerance & bullying, while "Brave New Google" is an almost-scary commentary on the takeover of everything by Google, and the recently posted on Facebook "Kiss my AARP: to the Class of 1978" ponders getting old too quick.

Tony took pictures & later the four of us had a wide-ranging discussion of Albany, poetry, along with dollops of gossip & sour cream (for the quesadilla) at DeJohn's. But it's not usually like this, usually there is a featured poet, but the setting remains relaxed & straight-friendly at the GLCC on Hudson Ave. in Albany, NY 2nd Wednesday of the month, 7:30PM.