2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, June 11

This was the last session for the season; Nancy Klepsch & I will be back in September for our 8th year at the Arts Center.

Joe Krausman started us off with 2 versions of his poem titled “To Go It Alone.” Mike Conner read a seasonal piece titled “Springing Forth,” then the autobiographical “My Character Molded Like Clay.” I followed with a new little poem about the Buddha in my yard “Amithaba,” then the latest in the series “What Makes America Great” #20. Nancy Dunlop read 2 poems from her series of Hospital poems, “The Best that Money Can Buy” about a patient watching TV, then one about another patient who was a reader “The Kid.”

Peggy LeGee read a new episode, “Enter the Shopping Cart Man,” to her dumpster cat graphic novel. Dan Curley’s list poem “I Wish” also included cats, & corporations, & more. My co-host Nancy Klepsch began with a biographical portrait of “A Shipbuilder,” then one about her father, with a title taken from Joni Mitchell, “God Must Be A Boogie Man.”

Kathy Smith also used a line from a pop song for her poem “If It Be Your Will” this from Leonard Cohen, then what she introduced as her first political poem “An Immigrant Song.” Howard Kogan began with a funny story about an upscale cooking-utensil store “Sunday in the Exit Lane,” then a piece about an encounter in Utah “Rattled.” Rick was new to this venue & gave an emotional recitation of a memoir in rhyme of being in Viet Nam “American Refugee,” then another piece in rhyme, new, “John Philips Who” juxtaposing musical instruments & weapons. Jil Hanifan, for Rick, recited “In Flanders Field,” then read from a longer work about being a classical musician, with new lines recently added.

2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose will be back in September on — you guessed it! — the 2nd Sunday, here at the Arts Center of the Capital Region on River St. in Troy NY — 2 poems or a piece of prose no longer than 5 minutes.