2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, January 10, 2021

Nancy Klepsch has opened up this on Zoom to everyone so that, as she said, “even the Taliban can get in.” I’ve felt that Zoom is  not much different than having the open mic in a public place; I’ve had street characters wander in at the Social Justice Center, the worst that happened was they were tedious, briefly disruptive, sometimes smelly, usually they just got bored & left. That said, there were still folks who had trouble getting in today; I use my desktop computer & rarely have problems, but I don’t know about dialing in on a cellphone.

Julie Lomoe started us off with a dialogue between “Super Don” & “Baby Don”, a new piece in-progress -- as for me, I always felt that he is always baby Don, although from my experience raising kids he seems more like a spoiled, bratty 10 year-old.

I read 2 pieces written in the last few months of 2020, “Content Advisory,” & a poem that takes on the annoying use of “do” to mean “have” as in “I’ll do the sausage sandwich.”

Charlie Rossiter, host of the 2nd Tuesday Zoom open from Bennington, VT read a funny piece about getting in the mail a catalog of church supplies (maybe they thought he was pastor of the First Church of Poetry in Bennington).

Host Nancy Klepsch began with pondering the beauty of the world (“why is the world so beautiful?”), then read one filled with grim images “Send Me Danger” based on the work of performance artist Chris Burden (1946 - 2015).

Tara Kistler had her phone set so that she appeared to us upside down, which made me dizzy, her poems were short “drive-bys” so I barely had time to take notes, the first titled “The Buddha’s Dilemma,” the other about particles colliding.

Joel Best read a piece titled “There to Remember” a story of waking up, swirling images of the start of his day, a meditation in free association -- you really got to pay attention.

Bob Sharkey read another piece from an assignment in a Bernadette Mayer workshop to “write about your job” & since Bob & I had both worked for the same Department it resonated with me, titled “Overwhelmed.”

Nancy posted the year’s schedule of these open mics, but since it is called “2nd Sunday @ 2,” it’s not difficult to figure out when it happens, check the Facebook page for the link, whether you are a Tally Man or a Taliban.