Poems -- & musings on the Albany (NY) poetry scene.
"It's not the Truth, but it's pretty darn close."
January 30, 2018
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.
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