Third Thursday Poetry Night, January 18

The first of the new year, & we began like we ended last year, with the scheduled featured poet unable to be here. But there are always plenty of poets ready to read in the open mic — 2 poems each! & tonight, a cluster of new voices & some others who haven’t been here in a while. But first, I invoked the Muse, the recently-gone local poet/philosopher/aborist (founder of the Pine Hollow Arboretum in Slingerlands) John Abbuhl, & read his poem “What Brings You There.”

First up was one of the writers who hadn’t been here in a while, the poet formerly known as D. Alexander Holiday, now as the author G. Douglas Davis, IV of a new book Kith & Kin: a Klannish Klownish Tragik Komedy (Troy Book Makers), an encyclopedic work of prose, poetry, extensive quotations & a 16-page list of sources; he read from the poetry section “Brace Yourself” then “King of Kapricorns” (for Muhammad Ali). Joe Krausman followed, talking about fake news, read “Bedside Monologue” from a husband to his wife, then on another topic in the news “Molesters Beware.” W.D. Clarke, the future-feature here in April, read a poem from years back “Down & Our in Reno,” then one about a wedding “The Reception,” both in his characteristic ballad style. Avery showed up to performed a song about addiction “How Do We Heal?” then on to a short piece “What Makes Us Family?”

Then on to a cluster of new faces/voices. Angela Gordon talked about her work of fiction Manipulation Unto Death: Vow of Control (Xlibris), a suspenseful, fictional melodrama, a mystery solved by autistic identical twins. Another new voice was Clarese Portofino who read parts 1 & 2 from a longer piece, “The Disconnect.”

Brianna K. was a first-time reader (a “poetry virgin”) who began with a political piece titled “King Trump” then quickly into a longer, more personal piece “Check Yes, No or Me.” I read last, a poem about my recent trip to Italy, “Walking Rome.”

Each third Thursday of the month we are at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY for a poetry open mic, usually with a featured poet, 7:30PM, your donation supports poetry & the work of the Social Justice Center.