Live from the Living Room, September 11

We gathered at the living room of the Pride Center of the Capital Region to chat, waiting for the (proverbial) tour bus to arrive before listening to the night's featured poet & the poets of the open mic.

Judith Prest began, as all good poets do, with "A Good Poem," then "Naming the Scar" from the new anthology from Codhill Press, A Slant of Light: Contemporary Women Writers of the Hudson Valley, edited by Laurence Carr & Jan Zlotnik Schmidt -- lots of familiar names in this important collection. "Wardrobe Alchemy" was a poem for her mother, while the work-in-progress, "Wild Woman Closing in on 62 Takes Stock" looked back to her youth. Some of her poems are products of workshops, such as "Migrant Dreams," & "The Poet Prays to the Ocean," while "April Morning South East Connecticut" was a result of a poetry retreat. She included a couple poems from her collection Late Day Light (Spirit Wind Books, 2011), then ended with the humorous list of excuses, "Why Poets Are Late for Work." Great to see this fine poet out reading once again.

This being the anniversary it is, I read 2 poems for the day, "Another Tuesday" (on September 11, 1973 & 2001) & my impressionistic notes from that day in NYC, "2." Carolee Sherwood was back out on the poetry scene & read 2 new poems, "The Falsification Principle" full of images of wasps, apples, deers & thighs, & a carpe diem poem for a poet with cancer, "Anna Will Lose Her Hair."

Brian Dorn impressed us all not only with his recitation of his poem/manifesto "We All" but also with his adroit juggling. Our host, Don Levy, read a poem he would've read last Wednesday at Caffe Lena if he'd been there, "10 Years" (for Carol & Caffe Lena), & a poem from his recent trip to Italy, tasting the sunset "Last Night in Priano."

Each month on the 2nd Wednesday, our host Don Levy gathers us together "Live from the Living Room" of the Pride Center on Hudson Ave., in Albany, NY -- 7:30PM with a featured poet, followed by an open mic.  Relaxed & always straight-friendly.