Arthur’s Market Open Mic, January 9

Tonight's host, Alan Catlin

This was the last open mic here at Arthur’s Market in Schenectady. The building has been sold & will undergo extensive renovation, according to news sources. But that didn’t deter us from being there this night & celebrating the written & spoken word. The host for tonight was Schenectady poet Alan Catlin.

I had driven up with Mary Panza riding shotgun & when she went to sign up for the open mic the 1st & 2nd slots were available. Voila! I read 2 new poems, the first a beach/political poem “The Drone” then a short piece I’m titling, for now, “writing.” Mary Panza’s poem was “No One Escapes the Pain of Being a Person,” a lesson we all learn sooner or later. Susan Kress read a piece titled “Age of Innocence” about the all-too-common experience of looking for one’s car in the Mall parking lot. Carol Graser’s sad poem, “I’ll Give You Something,” was about father dying in the hospital. Catherine Norr, founder of this series, began with a poem about her pet cat “January Interlude with George” & ended with one about her niece “7-Year Old Teller of Fortunes.”

The featured reader(s) tonight were all from a local writing group, “All Write Together,” led by Colleen Wygal (who has read here in the open mic in the past); she explained that the common theme, developed in different ways was that of “balance,” & that most of the readers had not read in the open mic before tonight; she began by reading her own poem to start us off.
Shamia used rap-style rhymes in her poem titled “Life or Death.”
Chris (one of the 2 men in the group) read 2 short pieces about putting off abuse, & the need to listen & “unload.”
Sandy had a descriptive poem “In the Market.”
Julia’s poem titled “Tiles” was about a bunch of teen-agers’ game.

Amanda’s poem was about walking through life with love & pain.
Leah had 2 poems, the first about the tug of war of contracts, the next a love poem titled “The Space Between Us.”
Sheila’s poem “When I Wake Up…” were her wishes for after her death.
Michael ended the group reading from his laptop a message to a friend in rhyme.

After a break, our host Alan Catlin read a poem about remembering the protests about the Viet Nam war “After Reading 64 Shots: the Shooting at Kent Sate,” then a poem about how Sharon Olds got bumped from the news by the bombing at the Boston Marathon. Sarah Provost described a vision of “The Angel in Front of the Fountain, “ then “2 Little Pieces About Poetry.” Scott Morehouse cracked us up, as he frequently does, with a faux account of “A Brief History of Arthur’s.” Tommy Holecek was back with “Homage to Cronkite,” “Light House” (a love poem), & “Meteorologic.” Donna Dakota read “Childhood is Grimm” a critical look at “Little Red Riding Hood,” then a portrait of a loving couple, the woman with a cello “The Breath.” It was good to see & hear Caroline Bardwell again, her poem “The Snowy Lean To” a tender, descriptive memoir of young love, then a piece in rhyme “Butterfly Wings.”

Shawna Thompson was here for the 1st time & read a richly descriptive piece wondering about the origin of the name “Queen Anne Lace.” Ginny Folger was also descriptive in her poem “At the Nature Preserve." Jessica Sanders, after quietly listening all night, capped it off with a brief quote from a poem.

& that’s the way it was, for the last open mic at Arthur’s Market. But with all the interest in poetry in Schenectady, I expect that something, if not “Arthur’s Open Mic” then another event/venue, will rise up & give us a night of poetry each month in Schenectady.

Arthur’s is closed, long live poetry.