Live from the Living Room, August 8

The scheduled featured poet, Algorhythm, was in North Carolina with the Nitty Gritty Slam Team so it was just few of us open mic poets, with our straight-friendly host, Don Levy in the living room of the Pride Center of the Capital Region.

We went around the room twice, each reading 1 poem each time. I began with a piece I'm grooming for the Slam, "Vitiligo, or Michael Jackson & Me." This was Kevin Peterson's 1st time here at this venue now that he lives just a few blocks away; he read a piece he found on YouTube, "This is My Voice" by Shane Koyczan  which generated comments by Sylvia on the poet's false etymology of the word "politics." Sylvia Barnard read a poem she had read recently at McGeary's which somehow didn't make it into my Blog about that event, about reading a Victorian novel about homelessness & turning good into evil. Don Levy read his rant, "A Letter to Queer Youth," pissed-off about gay teen suicides.

Coming back around to me I read a poem I don't think I've read out before, "Support the Bottom." Kevin Peterson tried to recite a poem by T.S. Eliot (not Prufrock) but ended up in a discussion of memorizing, including even Green Eggs & Ham. Sylvia Barnard read another Victorian-era-inspired poem, "The Work House School" & like the previous poem in rhyme & meter reminiscent of popular Victorian verse.  Don Levy ended the night with an outrageous tongue-in-cheek piece written today, "Obama at the Nursing Home."

This reading is often like this, casual, conversational, friendly. There is usually a featured poet, always a chance for open mic poets to read to an attentive audience, at the Pride Center on Hudson Ave., Albany, NY, 7:30PM, 2nd Wednesday of each month.