An Evening of Poetry & Prose, June 30

This was the latest of the quarterly(?) readings coordinated & hosted by Harvey Havel at the Hudson River Coffee House. Tonight there were 4 readers, in addition to Harvey himself, a variety of prose fiction, essays, poetry, both rhymed & unrhymed.

Harvey Havel read first, a short story titled “The Sleeper Cell,” a story of a pre-9/11 terrorist underground in New Jersey, waiting for the day of the mission.

Thérèse Broderick read from a new series of poems, “Idylls on Cutting the Grass with Scissors” (I’m not kidding about the scissor landscaping!), descriptive, even conversational (with the plants she is cutting), & a haiku. She also read from Albany-born poet Gregory Orr (check out his poems in the latest issue of American Poetry Review).

Joe Krausman described the poems he read tonight as mostly about desire, with a bit of aging thrown in. His poems ranged from being turned on by young beauties, to Mary Baker Eddy, to Hollywood script writers, & the women’s magazines at the supermarket. All told with humor & the occasional rhyme.

Brian Dorn, who has been a regular fixture in this series, read from his collection of poems From My Poems to Yours: the Live Version. His poems are rhymed expressions of love & a positive outlook on life, & like Joe, knows the value of a little humor in rhymes & to how write positive poems without being preachy or maudlin.

Mary Panza gave a rare public reading of some of her Housewife Tuesday Blogs from the AlbanyPoets.com website. She began with an early one, “Doomed,” on the pajancho, then one about her daughter, another about aging & choosing to spend more time on her face than trying to get skinny, & one on (of course) PMS. They are funny online, even funnier with Mary strutting her stuff.

You just have to stay tuned to messages from the poetry world to find out when the next reading in this series will take place, & who will be reading, but it will most likely take place at the Hudson River Coffee House on Quail Street in Albany, NY.