Open Mic out of Bennington, April 13

Charlie Rossiter is our head-phoned host, Zoom-ing in from Bennington Vermont.

First on the virtual sign-up list was Bill Thwing out in Western PA, who read from Poems of the Masters anthology edited by Red Pine, & his own haiku. In the 2nd round he took out his guitar to perform a recently written song, leftovers from the Trump era, titled “Riding on a Hurricane.”

I reprised a poem by the recently gone Laura Boss titled “My Lover is Typing” from her book Reports from the Front (Cross-Cultural Communications, 1995), that I had read at the open mic on Sunday,  then later read “The Transit of Venus” which had recently appeared in lips 51/52, a poetry journal that Laura Boss had edited since 1981.

Mark O’Brien read, in both rounds, from his Blog spontaneous sonnets, in round 1 “69” on Flaubert, like an ad, & in round 2 #71 “an Easter poem,” he said, but actually about Holy Thursday.  

Barbara Sarvis was the first Vermonter of the night & in the 1st round she read a children’s book she had written & illustrated, Pesto & Caesar, about the joys of eating healthy food, then in the 2nd round she read a piece titled “Objects of Intolerance” about keeping an Aunt Jemima doll. 

Our host, Charlie Rossiter, read as a tribute to Laura Boss, one of his poems Laura had published, & one I’ve heard many times with the 3 Guys from Albany, “The Ex,” then in a nod to the special Lyn Lifshin (1942 - 2019) issue of lips, a memoir of a literary magazine he helped run, a piece titled “The Madonna Who Ignored Submission Guidelines.”

Jim Madigan was another far-flung attendee, joining us from Oak Park, IL, & began with “Fire Season,” then in round 2 a memoir of seeing “The Clash in Cleveland” but inspired by  a poem by David St. John. 

Naomi Bindman read memoir pieces in both rounds, in the first round segments about her daughter, her mother, holding bodies, filled with the little details of experience, then in the second round a memoir about a dog from her childhood “Old Sammy” as well as “Stardust” about a memorial service for a daughter.

Joel Best’s first was titled “Madcap” in his signature style of linking random images, thoughts, but in the 2nd round his poem “A Distant Thursday” was more focused, about being at the ocean with the whales & gulls.

Sally Rhoades' 2 poems were both responses to the work of Oklahoma writers, in the first round her “Girl on the Bridge” was after Dorothy Alexander’s tender memoir  poem about taking in a young girl, while the 2nd poem, “We’re All Sitting with You Rilla,” was after about novelist Rilla Askew’s chilling story of a rape when she was young, that I also heard at the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival in Ada, OK.

Tom Nicotera took a trip down memory lane recalling the the sanitized version of life on TV, that was all about to change, “Safe & Sound with Ozzie & Harriet,” then on his 2nd time around a piece about a hawk at the window of an office window.

Kenn Ash managed to squeeze in 2 pieces in each round, first with the rhyming “No Deposit No Return,” & “Distance,” then later a 2-parter, again in rhyme, & again time about eating away, with the 2nd part to a recorded rhythm, while he played his trumpet.

Elaine Frankonis read “a double” Haibun titled “A Fables Coat-tail” a story of a fancy Egyptian coat, & on her 2nd round a piece about the end of Winter & the need for seeds, “Nether Season.” 

This open mic, on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, does much better with attendance on Zoom than it did formerly in person at the brewery, because I doubt that folks like Jim Madigan would drive in from Illinois, & even relatively-nearby New Yorkers & folks in far-flung parts of Vermont would rather not drive when they can sit home in their jammies. Contact Charlie at charliemrossiter@gmail.com for a Zoom link if you want to join us.