Albany Poets Presents!, January 4

Guys hanging out doing Jeopardy (getting most wrong), this was the open mic that almost didn't happen but did. Marcus showed up early (i.e., on time) then left when we shrugged when he asked, "Is it happening?" But he had more important things to do, but then Screamer arrived & she didn't & she was only half a block away. That's when we knew we could (maybe) do it.

As Keith was setting up the mic in strolled 2 more poets so there we were, a real open mic, not just the guys drinking beers at the bar (is that so bad?).

el presidente, Thom Francis began, correcting my earlier Blog entry, with "Write, Right?", trying to write, "waiting." I was interrupted as I started by a call on my cell phone from Don Levy, so I thought it was OK to take the call, since Don should've been here too, then on to my poems "Looking for Cougars," & "Standing Vigil."

Screamer (we don't ask why) aka Amy Fortin read an unfinished piece from her notebook, "Fire," about the aftermath of a house fire, based on a relative's experience. Keep writing on this, Screamer.

Danielle Charleston arrived just as we started & read a moving piece, "Femmes Haitiennes," about her homeland, the women, the neighborhood mothers.

Sue Cerniglia comes to lots of the poetry events but rarely reads; tonight, she had a small cluster of poems for us, the first titled "The Certainty of Things Not Done," then the moving piece about her visit to a Nazi death camp "The Sediment at the Base of My Heart, then the description of "Sunshower."

Shantala Thompson came along with her friend Danielle & read an untitled notebook piece about a man exposing himself to a young girl on a train.

So we just hang out & sometimes a poetry reading breaks out, like a hockey game. It's on the first Tuesday of any month at Valentines on New Scotland Ave. in Albany, NY, say, approximately, perhaps 8:00 PM. Check out Albanypoets.com.