Caffè Lena Poetry Open Mic, September 4

It’s many months since I’ve been able to get to this long-running poetry event in the historic Caffè Lena. Tonight the featured reader was a poet I’ve known since the early days of the Readings Against the End of the World & whose work I gladly follow, Suzanne S. Rancourt. But first a bit of the open mic, introduced by our poetic host Carol Graser.

First up was a duo, Sue & Doug McKenzie, with Sue reading a marvelous descriptive piece about rooftops based on the current show at the Hyde Collection “From the Rooftops: John Sloan and the Art of a New Urban Space” while Doug provided musical punctuation on his guitar. D. Alexander Holiday began with memories of the late Toni Morrison, then read 2 poems both with the lines “If I were an artist…” one by him, the other by someone else, & finished with the last lines from Morrison’s Beloved. Brett Petersen began with a piece of local interest, “The Entity I Saw in the Woods at Sacandaga,” then a bit of more characteristic automatic writing “Shedding a Tear for De-coherence.”

Leslie Sittner’s poems both had a touch of humor, “Glass Mushroom” on lust, & “The Full Buck Moon.” This was Joyce Rubin’s first time here, although she has apparently published a book of poems, & she read about “Different Gardens” then one from a workshop prompt “A Nursery Rhyme for Adults” based on “Jack & Jill.”

Suzanne Rancourt read exclusively from her new book from Unsolicited Press, Murmurs at the Gate. She began with the harrowing poem “The Execution” about a famous photo from the ‘60s of a general administering street justice in Viet Nam. Then a couple poems of childhood memories “Fathers Gone” & “Survivability,’ but most were about violence, as in “Gates of Ur,” even the final poem “The Smell of Blood.” She read 8 in all, with her connecting commentaries. After the first poem she instructed the audience on how to listen & to not applaud (which I reluctantly consented to), but ironically urged us to question authority (so then perhaps should I have clapped?).

After the break, Carol Graser was back to reference Brett Petersen’s poem & read “Back at the Great Sacandaga Lake.” Alex Gilmore was a new face/voice to me, he read the aptly titled “The Love Affair” & a portrait of perhaps a poet &/or lover “The Illusionist.” Jeffrey Stubits has a unique voice & style of reading, & tonight he said he read a couple assignments from a class (with poet D. Colin), “Assembled Poetry” from poets’ post-it notes, & a ballad “Unnamed Baby.”

Amanda Blodgett read a piece about a painter & a poet “The Two Artists,” then one about her childhood memory of her grandfather “The Unforgettable Voice.” Effie Redman is one my favorite Caffè Lena open mic-ers & read a bold piece about an encounter on a bus “Don’t Look.” Jackie Craven, who hosts the open mic in Schenectady on the 2nd Wednesday of the month read the intriguing “The Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion,” then a poem titled “Undersea Calder Mobile 1969” a series of images connecting her back to her parents.

I have seen Frank Desiderio read often with his sister the poet Mimi Moriarty, but tonight he was on his own & read 2 very descriptive pieces, “Exiled to Lake George for Good Behavior” from his laminated copy of the poem, & “My Driveway is a Wide Place.” Malcolm Willison read the beginning & ending poems from his forth-coming book about Elizabeth Bishop’s former house in Key West, Florida (where Malcolm & Martha Winter), A House of Her Own, the “Prologue” & the “Coda.” Rodney Parrott read from his philosophical pondering “Universal Loss of the Universe” a piece about handshakes being the sound of “OM.”  I read 2 pieces I wrote in an exercise with Melissa Tuckey at the Kateri Peace Conference last month, “The Meadow” & “The Meadow: Prose Poem,” on the place where we go to listen.

Carol introduced Mary Ann Rockwell as a librarian, who coordinates the program here at Caffè Lena just before the open mic, who read “The Moon Rises” by Federico Garcia Lorca. The final poet, Austen Morehouse, was the youngest to read here tonight, a brave piece about her dog & its healing presence when she struggled with her own demons.

The Caffè Lena Poetry Open Mic happens each 1st Wednesday of the month at the historic venue at 47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs, NY, $5.00, free to students, sign-up at 7:00PM, readings start at 7:30P.