Poets Speak Loud!, October 30

It was an extra-special night at this monthly open mic with my fellow 3 Guys from Albany poet, Charlie Rossiter as the featured poet, with host Mary Panza stirring disorder to create order. There were even some new names on the sign-up sheet. First, some open mic poets.

The first was me (Charlie & I had gotten there early for dinner), with 2 brand-new poems, “Golden Shovel for Split This Rock,” & “Waiting for Jacqueline Robinson” dedicated to my daughter Anna. Joe Krausman followed with a tale of a lost car & a lost job “Holyoke 1973,” & the more humorous “Pandering to the Pandas in the National Zoo.”

Next up was a new voice, Carol Durant, who read 2 poems from her brand-new collection Whole Phat and Gluten Free Poetry (Troy Book Makers, 2017), “Lobed Out” & the defiant “PJ Promenade.” Samuel Weinstein read a poem about insanity “Big Pink Fluffy Hats” & an untitled piece written on the way here. Kareem did his poems from memory, both love/attraction pieces, the 2nd titled “A Dilemma Called Time.” Sylvia Barnard’s poems were both childhood memories, both scary encounters with animals, “Dogs” (which is a re-write from when she read it last), & “The Bull.” Carol H. Jewell announced that she has a book of poems coming out “next month;” tonight she read the anaphoric “I need a poem…” then a pantoum with cats (surprise!) “Appetite.”

Charlie Rossiter had been in Chicago for almost 20 years, is now back in the Northeast; he began his reading with 2 poems from the Windy City, a Carl Sandburg-style piece “Chicago” (but the city as a dog, not a cat), & a jazz poem “Night Life.” Then on to “The Tie that Binds,” the iconic “Of All the Cheap Motels I Best Remember,” & “The Giggling Teenage Girls of Wallace Lake, MO.” His poem titled “Grateful & Full of Affection” is an imitation of many Billy Collins poems,” then in his own voice “Listening to Ce’Cile, Thinking Sexy Thoughts,” & “How to Be an Atheist.” He ended with selections from Cold Mountain 2000: Han Shan in the City (FootHills Publishing, 2014).

Alan Casline continued on the open mic with “This Is How to Love Me,” & the associative, “post-modern” (as he said), “After the Predicted Storm.” Thom Francis & Carissa had a night out & he read an inventory of what he found in his pocket, then a poem about his daughter Molly being courageous in a crowd of strangers. Julie Lomoe, in a costume of sorts, read a Halloween piece written today, with some other poets in the audience correcting her pronunciation of “Samhain” (to Julie’s credit, since it is a Gaelic word, the pronunciation is nothing like it looks from the spelling).

Sally Rhoades read “an opinion piece” harkening back to her days as a young journalist “The President Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight.” Brooke Kolcow read a couple pieces about an accident where she cut her thumb, “Reduce, Recycle & Shred,” & “Angel #9” counting the stitches on her thumb — then curtsies at the end.

Evelyn Augusto read poems on gun violence, “Belize” from her period of love poems, & one about how she doesn’t like guns, but her husband does; she wanted to read a 3rd poem, but Mary stuck to her guns, so to speak, with the 2-poem limit. Alifair Skebe read poems in honor of Samhain, “Painting a Meal” about the death of her grandfather before she was born & her grandmother’s cooking, & another about her grandmother some years later, dying. Rob Smith also had a poem for Halloween, a horror story about how our minds have all been grabbed by the Government — hmm, could be.

Poets Speak Loud! is a gathering of poets for a featured reader & an open mic on the last Monday of the month, at McGeary’s Irish Pub on Sheridan Square in Albany, NY, 7:30PM — come to read & eat & drink.