Bennington Area Arts Council 2nd Tuesday Open Mic & Mary Oliver Celebration, January 14

Trying something new this monthly open mic started last month with a tribute to Emily Dickinson & based on that success this night the tribute was to Mary Oliver. Apparently it worked as a few folks showed up for that reason & not to read in the open mic. The host is Charlie Rossiter who also hosts the poetry podcast Poetry Spoken Here. He began with one of Mary Oliver’s poems “When Death Comes.”

I had driven over for the event & read a couple of new poems “The Phrasing Must Change” inspired by a Rumi poem with the same title, then “Red Boots,” & “Reading Mary Oliver While Masturbating” which samples lines from many of her poems.

One of the regulars here, Laura Ellzey read Mary Oliver’s “Watering the Stones,” then one of her own “Intimacies with You is Heart to Heart.” Another regular, Kenn Ashe read Mary Oliver’s “The Moths” & “The Angels,” then his own, “My Knowledge of Now…”

Bridgit Elder read from a series of little poems written on 3x5 cards about being out in the Winter woods. Our host Charlie Rossiter read “Don’t Make that Resolution” which had appeared recently in the Bennington Banner, then another titled “Concerning the Muse,” then Mary Oliver’s “The Poet with His Face in His Hands.”

Charlie offered us a 2nd go-around, so I read my poem “for Peter” to the late Gloucester writer, Peter Anastas. Laura read about painting, knitting, doodling, “The Beauty of Mindlessness.” Kenn read about an encounter with himself one night, then sang his song “Getting Too Old to be Young.” Charlie read “Sometimes There is a Glimpse” originally written for Mark O’Brien’s Haibun project.

One of the folks who had shown up because of their interest in Mary Oliver, Ellen, grew inspired to come come up & recite a short poem “Ah Ha!” which was our reaction to this surprise ending.

But not quite yet, at the very last minute Walt Klinger showed up & read a divorce poem, “So Glad (that you’re not my Valentine).” & that was it.

This open mic — for anything, not just poetry, but all acoustic, no amplification — takes place at the Tap House, 309 County Rd., Bennington, VT, on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, 7:15PM.