Live from the Living Room, July 13

Another informal gathering of poets around the coffee table of the Pride Center, with our straight-friendly host, Don Levy.

The featured poet was Glenn Werner, who arrived with his entourage, & with copies of a new broadside of his poems, "Mongrel Poet #1," to sell. In fact, a number of the poems he read were from this broadside & it was nice to be able to bring them home with me. He opened with "Words About Words" a poem by a Latvian poet, then on to his own "What the Cherry Tree Said," responding to a line from Pablo Neruda. Throughout his reading he weaved in a number of his "Dream Abbreviations," short, occasionally humorous pieces based on dreams. Another recurring theme was modern painters, including "No. 14 (White and Greens in Blue)" based on a painting by Mark Rothko, & a poem using his persona Walter contemplating a Robert Motherwell painting, also a poem on a painting "The Angelus," & "Leto at Delos" with technology as its theme. Others he read included the NYC poem "Canarsie Line 5AM," "Spartacus" (working tech support), & a poem he said was inspired by a comment made by Don Levy on FaceBook. I've heard Glenn read "180 Bibles" before, a poem on changing technology, & was pleased he included it here, & was equally pleased by the wonderful new poem, "Walking Brooklyn Bridge." He ended with the philosophical "The goat sings itself ready for the pyre." Check out his website at www.mongrelpoet.com.

I started off the open mic with a poem that appeared a few years back in a journal called Gender on our Minds, "Homage to Lesbians" & the poem written last month "Imagining the Mews."  Sylvia Barnard has been going through her old poems & brought copies actually done on a typewriter (!), one about whining lovers, the other "Easter" (1988). Christopher "Pinky" Gazeent had travelled with Glenn, read 2 gay-lover poems, one in 5-parts, the other "The Factory." Adriana Delgado was also in Glenn's entourage, read 2 poems with lush images, & rich with repetitions, "Sunflower Seeds" & "The Sky Inspires Without Want."

Bob Sharkey read a couple of pieces inspired by a recent trip to the Southwest, "The the Monument" (a picture of the morning light), & page 21 of his ongoing work, "Sustenance" with Sonny & Earl. Carolee Sherwood read a couple of her new poems from her new collaborative Blog, "Triage" contemplating packing, & the urban crumble of "Reading poems to Warehouses." Shannon Shoemaker dreamed of Summertime happiness in "March 2011," then read the sad poem of lost love, "Your Pillow Doesn't Smell Like You Anymore." Don Levy ended with his recent poem on the New York State Marriage Equality Act, "Poem for Bigots" & the old favorite about growing up to be gay, "Everything is Coming Up Show Tunes for Your & For Me."

A pleasant urban poetic experience at the Pride Center on Hudson Ave. in Albany, NY on the second Wednesday of each month -- usually a featured poet followed by an open mic; join us at 7:30 PM, our host Don Levy.