Poets in the Park 2018

July 14 - Ghost Fishing: an Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology Reading
Back in Albany’s Washington Park, at the foot of the statue of Robert Burns for another edition of Poets in the Park, the 29th year of this series started by Tom Nattell. Tonight’s reading was by poets in the recently published anthology of eco-justice poetry Ghost Fishing, published by the University of Georgia Press & edited by Melissa Tuckey, who was our first reader.

Melissa described the book as containing “poetry at the intersection of social justice & the environment,” with diverse work with roots in many cultural traditions. The first poem she read, the first in the book positioned like a dedication, was by Ross Gay, “A Small Needful Fact,” about Eric Garner; then her own poem in the voice of the chemical company “Monsanto Drunk in the Garden.” She ended with Chen Chen’s poem “Set the Garden on Fire”.

Karen Skolfield, who had read here last year with the late Jay Wenk, read her poem “Mid-Western Zoo” from the anthology with a conversation with her son about a polar bear. Then on to
a coupl poems from her book Frost in the Low Areas (Zone 3 Press, 2013) “Art Project: Earth” a school project with her son, & then “Lost Mountain.” Another poem also starting with a moment with her family & expanding to the larger issues was “Mining a Bath is Not the Same as a Bath.”

Gretchen Primack’s poem from Ghost Fishing was a grim true story of finding the bodies of coyotes that had been shot, “The Dogs & I Walk the Woods.” She talked about being a vegan, & on to related poems, including one from her next book about an imaginary prison like where she has taught, “Knowledge,” a prisoner’s hard task to be a vegan while confined, then the list poem “The Caged” & “Restriction” on the pleasure of food.

I also have a poem in Ghost Fishing, “Water” conflating Hurricane Katrina & a lake in Saratoga. I’m sure that if Tom Nattell, who created this event back in 1989 was still alive that he would have a poem or too in Ghost Fishing, so performed his chant “Save It” — thanks, Tom.

July 21 - Coast to Coast: The Route 20 Anthology Reading

The following week we were back at the Robert Burns statue for a reading by some poets from the just published FootHills Publishing anthology, Coast to Coast edited by Charles Rossiter & Michael Czarnecki. As folks gathered with their folding chairs for the reading, Dave Seely a musician from Louisville, KY, whose parents had poems in the anthology, entertained us with his songs & guitar.

Standing barely a tenth of a mile from Route 20, aka Madison Ave., Michael talked about his love affair with America’s longest highway, running 3,365 miles from Kenmore Square in Boston to Newport, OR on the Pacific coast. Her served as host to introduce poets local & from as far away as Buffalo who read in the order their poems appear in the collection. These were Tom Seely “Thanks, Route 20,” Alan Casline “The Bear’s Song,” Me (Dan Wilcox) “County Fair Poem,” Martha Deed “Housatonic Sam,” Tom Corrado “Eating a Footlong in the Car on the Way to Ballet,” Peggy Seely “Ghost Hunting” & “Coming Home Late One Night on Route 20,” Mark W. O’Brien “Shunpiker,” Michael Czarnecki “Seeking ’the West’” & “Soaking in the Hot Springs,” Charles Rossiter “At the Idaho/Montana Border” & “Somewhere East of Bend,” & Alan Casline again “Carla, Jewel of the Ocean.”

Michael ended with a reading of just the titles of a number of the poems, making another poem of sorts in homage of Route 20.

July 28 - poetik & Bob Sharkey

The final reading in this year’s series took us back to the traditional format of 2 poets, tonight both local, poetik & Bob Sharkey. Unfortunately when I arrived there was a loud revival meeting of sorts going on in the parade ground just beyond the statue with music loud enough to fill the Park & Willett St. & beyond. It’s hard to compete with Jesus, but then we are poets who have had to compete with punk rockers at Valentines & we did it.

I’d been impressed by poetik’s poems & performance the times I’ve seen her at open mics at Nitty Gritty Slam in Albany & at Poetic Vibe in Troy. Tonight she was up against Jesus & she held her own. She read mostly from her 2017 book Labyrinth of a Melaninated Being, her poems are unabashedly 1st person, strong, assertive, even humorous & sexy when need be. She began with the title poem, then on to “confessions of a fat black girl,” saying she writes a lot about bodies, & continued to prove it with “i dream about brunch.” Then on to a couple poems about people she hadn’t met yet, “to a child named kadyn” & “to the next person who will be the love of my life,” both letters to the future. One more from the book was #26 from the series “following the steps…” & she finished with a new, untitled, poem about being a poet, with the refrain, “i’m trying to be a different kind of poet…” characteristically in your face & personal.

Bob Sharkey has been on the open mic scene for a number of years, frequently reads at area open mics, &, with his family, runs the annual Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Contest, getting submissions from all over the globe. His first poem was the boyhood adventure tale “Cave,” then to a rhapsodic family history/memoir/fantasy “Bridget [Connelly] Visits East Latham” taking his ancestor from Galway on tour; next one of his series of re-written fortune cookies poems “Washington Park Fortunes.” Inspired by a poem by Barbara Ungar, Bob's poem “Their Own People” is a series of answers to questions that he had, relating to Syria & the Syrian civil war, & contrasting other world facts about the US, East Latham & the world. “Questioning” was about his longings, identity, with one of his granddaughters making an appearance; another granddaughter is the subject of “Johanna in the Maze” at the Clark art museum & their delight together. He ended with a Cento he wrote from lines from poems submitted to the most recent
Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Contest, many of the lines from local poets.

This year’s Poets in the Park, as other years in the past, was co-sponsored by a grant from the Hudson Valley Writers Guild. We hope to be here next year for our 30th year of bringing poetry to the Robert Burns statue in Washington Park, Albany, NY on Saturdays in July. Thank you to the poets & poetry fans in Albany for your support.

(Additional photos from Poets in the Park can be found here at my Flickr site.)