Poetic Vibe, August 13

With the coordinator of this weekly series, D. Colin, off to the Slam Nationals tonight’s open mic was hosted by Jordan Taylor Hill, with the night's featured poet, Mary Panza, waiting in the wings. Jordan started us off with one of his songs done a cappella.

No matter where I go, to what open mics, no one wants to sign up in the #1 spot, so I am compelled to take mercy on the #2 person signed up who would be #1 if I signed up for a later slot — I read the anti-war rant “Buttons Not Bombs,” then, because I saw Peggy LeGee in the audience, I read my poem/joke “A Traney Story.” I was followed by Elizag whseo poem “At the End of the Movie 5 Pieces” was a string of advice. The next reader was introduced as “formerly known as Kid Flash” (& I suspect I’ve seen him under various names elsewhere) who read Gregory Corso’s long poem “Marriage.” The always colorful Peggy LeGee read pieces from her phone rather than her frequent notebook, “You’re Addicted to Distraction” & a piece from childhood “Revise the Echos.”

Amanda, who was new to me, read long, richly descriptive pieces in a manic, anorexic manner about guys, “Going Dutch” (with the provocative repeating line “I want my underwear back…”) & “Mall Men.” This was my first time seeing Alison Lennon read her work, whom the poet George Wallace had referred us each to the other; she did a short 4-act play, more a male/female dialogue with Elizabethan diction, from memory no less. Jordan performed another piece “What Now?” then brought up Josh RA Dundas; I was relieved to see he was wearing a vest over his naked chest, but then he took that off as he does when he is wearing a shirt, then proceeded into a long preachy sermon & 2 sections from his ever-present book he is promoting. Rose read from her journal/notebook an interesting progression of thoughts on words & concepts linked by the phrase “… translates to…” This was Sam’s first time reading & she read poems by a friend.

Mary Panza was the night’s featured poet & that certainly added motivation for me to get here tonight. She began with a cranky piece about spilling coffee in her cup holder & trying to soak it up with a Maxi-pad (which I must admit is not something I would have handy in a similar situation), then a piece pondering “those black & white photos.” She read her poem “The Little Blonde” for her daughter, one of my favorite pieces, then 2 about mentoring a young girl who had also been raped, full of self-affirming advice from her own experience. Mary doesn’t read much as a feature, or even at open mics, but when she does it is always worth the trip & the price of admission.

Jordan finished up with a reading of the group poem, as the Surrealist would say, “an exquisite corpse,” written by the audience as is the tradition here.

This weekly venue takes place each & every Monday in Troy at the Troy Kitchen on Congress St. where you can get food, drink, & poetry all in one place — 7:30 — bring poems for the open mic.