Live from the Living Room, September 9

Another quiet night in the Garden Room of the Pride Center for the open mic, just me, Sylvia Barnard & our host Don Levy; no featured poet scheduled. So we agreed to do a round-robin reading of 3 poems each.

I was first in each round, began with a new poem, not yet typed out, “Naming the Parakeets,” then an old one from my brand-new poetry chapbook, Gloucester Notes (FootHills Publishing), “The Cold Clean Sea,” & my last poem was a recent one “Hidden Cafe Table Poem.”

Sylvia Barnard has been on a tour of Ireland, mainly the North, & has missed a few of the recent open mics. Her first two, brief poems were from her trip “The Book of Kells” & “The Giant Causeway.” Her last poem was one I’ve heard her read before, but enjoy it a lot, about the poets listening & reading in the July Poets in the Park series.

Our host, Don Levy, had 2 new poems, fresh from the week’s news, “St. Kim of Rowan County” with county clerk Kim Davis as a ironically mis-guided Joan of Arc figure done up in Don’s signature humor, as was his description of “Homophobic Heaven.” He ended with a poem from his recent trip to Paris, on writers’ block & other stoppages “Constipation.”

Often there is a featured poet who reads first, followed by an open mic for the rest of us, each 2nd Wednesday, 7:30PM at the Pride Center of the Capital Region, 332 Hudson Ave., Albany, NY — a modest donation to pay the feature.