Live from the Living Room, January 14

A cold night in Albany with a warm welcome from our host at the Pride Center, Don Levy.

The featured poet was Tim Sneider, the “biker poet” from the North Country, who read from his book Changing Roads: Motorcycle Poetry and More (AuthorHouse, 2014), beginning with a poem written by his mother in 1946, showing his roots. “Old Age!?!” is for his grandson & “In like a Lion” about dandelion bouquets, then he brought back memories of growing up with “Life’s Country Garden.” Tim’s poems are characterized by regular meter & rhyme, often clever & funny, as in “Beer” or the tour-de-force in a style reminiscent of Robert Sevice the triple sonnet “Three Feet Right of the Line.” Other biker poems were the short prose poem “Riding Autumn,” “Q&A” (“would you ride with me…?”), & a response to a writing group exercise “I Ride.” His book is illustrated with photos from his rides & is also available as a download.

Tim had brought is own cheering section of fellow poets from up North, Barbara Garro & Brian Dorn.

Barbara Garro read from a series of books she called “the Jesus series,” first a prosy memoir of her father “Holy Heritage” then “This too is God” about confronting challenges. Brian Dorn, who reads at lots of open mics, read a love poem he said he has never read out before, “Taking it Slow,” then another love poem “Arousing Reflection.” I read a couple poems written this Autumn, “Garrison Keilor” & for my friend Sylvain “September Song.”

Our host, Don Levy, read a poem you can find on his FaceBook page, “Poem for Leila” written for a teenage trans-gender person who committed suicide, then a poem that also brings in the Grand Jury decision in the Eric Garner case, “Tree Lighting at Rockefeller Plaza.” Then we all headed back out into the cold, but basking in the warmth of poetry.

Live from the Living Room takes place each 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7:30PM at the Pride Center of the Capital Region, 332 Hudson Ave. (in the Garden Room downstairs), with a featured poet, & an open mic, for a quite modest donation.