Poetic Vibe, December 9

Troy weekly open mic with our host the energetic D. Colin. Tonight, a long list of open mic poets, including some I hadn’t seen in a lonnngg time, but I didn’t know that until I got to the Troy Kitchen. But the draw tonight for me was to see the featured poet, Kwesi Akosa. He had read a couple times in the past in the open mic at the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center; I had liked the little I heard & wanted to hear a bigger chunk of his work.

D. Colin started us off with 2 poems, the one about a professor who said not to write poems about poems, then her rebellious response “Why I Write.” I was first on the sign-up sheet (it was nearly empty when I got there but quickly filled up as the night when on) & read for the season Enid Dame’s “Holiday Poem.” Lyfe read a quick piece titled “Recognize” & was off before I could get his picture. But I got lots of other pictures.

Roseena Muir read a couple of relationship poems, including a jewell-like 3-liner about hearing the lover’s footsteps. Isa Polly read from his book of poems (but didn’t give us the title) an historical piece on slavery & the meaning of freedom, then another piece “for the ladies.” Joshua Bauscher did a free-style in hip-hop rhymes about why artists do what they do: to make the dreams beautiful. Lilly Perry read from her phone the wistfully nostalgic & sexy piece titled “Do I Miss You or Just Want to Fuck You One Last Time?”

One of my favorite poets who hasn’t appeared on the scene is some time is Bless & here he was tonight with a weaving, intricate piece paying homage to soul food, the gathering at the table, & the wish to bring soul food back to what it was, even if isn't all that healthy. Poetik is frequently here & tonight & began wondering when did you last feel the presence of goodness, & then on to a tribute piece. Liv read a new poem, complaint in blunt sexual language about a lover.

I don’t think I’ve see or heard Jeannine Trimboli previously (although we are Facebook friends); she read from a spiral notebook a poem titled “I Release You,” then one about speaking honestly “My Unconscious Saved Me.” Dre Love began with a long intro that was a stand-up routine about being a lesbian, then read the sexually explicit “Deep” with lots of hoots & hollers from the audience, & a new piece written today about a pick-up wondering “what’s your name?” Another poet from the past, Algor, returned to the stage with an aphoristic, positive poem pondering “What is Love?” then on to a piece mixing autobiography & metaphysics about being a poet on the scene.

Krystyn Knockwood was also new to me, read from her phone personal pieces, the first about a friend “I Let You In,” then one about being free & herself again after a relationship (perhaps with the friend in her first piece). Truth performed a combination of spoken word & song titled “Mold.” Slay the Dragon read what he said was an early poem “Hot Girl at a Drug Party,” then one from his job “Clinician’s Lament.” Hannah banged on the stage for accompaniment & mumbled her way through something called “Hurt Me.”

To cap off the open mic Danielle read what she calls her “Take Aways,” lines from the open mic performers, she does pay attention.

Tonight’s featured poet, Kwesi Akosa, had turned up a few times a couple years back at the Third Thursday Poetry Night when he lived in Albany. He was introduced tonight as now living in Connecticut. His reading was a mix of old & new work. When he arrived he gave out copies of his book Journey to the Back of a Black Man’s Mind (Akosa Enterprises, 2008), mostly prose essays & stories, with a few poems tucked into the last 10 pages, & included half a dozen of them in his performance. He did his poems from memory, but kept his set list on his phone. There was the portrait “Mr. King’s Room,” the response to 9/11 & a tribute to Gil-Scott Heron “The Wise Man,” & a portrait of a crack user. “The Projects” was a look back to the ‘70s, & a couple poems came from his experience working with mental health patients, “Devolution,” & “My Brother’s Keeper.” He described the poem “The Slave Ship Jesus” as a communal poem, proud to black, to be African. For his finale he played bongos, backing up a poet with the handle (perhaps) “The Deep Thinker” whose free-style piece began “I am…” through the history of African & American blacks, right down to specific references this very night here at Poetic Vibe.

Danielle brought the night to a close with a reading of the Group Poem, at least what she could decipher, from the clipboard that had been circulated during the reading, a fascinating exercise of the group anonymous creative process, with its roots in the early 20th century Dadaists. I understand that a collection of past group poems is in the works to be published & I will be one of the first line to get it when it comes out.

Poetic Vibe happens each & every Monday night at The Troy Kitchen, 77 Congress St., Troy, NY, 7:30PM, often a featured poet, always an open mic, & always fun.