Caffe Lena Poetry Night, April 7

1st Wednesday of the month poetry night, formerly with an open mic, but now with only featured readers. Tonight’s readers were Rana Bitar & Robert Bensen. Stuart Bartow had originally been included but that was not to be the case. The host was our traditional host & founder Carol Graser.

Rana Bitar read first. She is a physician practicing in hematology & oncology, & is originally from Syria. She has published her poetry in a variety journals & her poetry chapbook, A Loaf of Bread, is from  Unsolicited Press, 2019. She read poems from a manuscript titled “Corona & Cancer,” on the impact of the pandemic on everyday life, her parents & her patients. She followed with a moving, un-polemical poem about the death of George Floyd, & ended with a tender love poem, “Savoring.”

Robert Bensen is a well-published poet who has taught at SUNY-Oneonta among other places, & conducted poetry workshops at Bright Hill Literary Center in Treadwell, NY. He began with Rana Bitar still on stage to join in a reading of a translation of “Lesson in Drawing” by the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani (1923 - 1998), with Rana reading the Arabic, the poem a moving conversation, a question & answer really, between the poet & his son. It was a treat to hear the words in the poet’s own language, not just the Englishe version. From there Robert went on to a series of his own poems, that went from music, the rain forest of St. Lucia, home repairs, memory of Little League, & what happens “Before You Know It.”

In pre-pandemic times there would be an open mic, but, alas, no more, but at least on this night there was a small audience in attendance as Caffe Lena has been able to open up to in-person audiences — see their website for details. 

But with the pandemic there is frequently a dark cloud & a silver lining, which in this case the silver lining is that these readings are recorded & available on YouTube. Check out this link for a recording of the night’s reading https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zHDNg7SSrk