Caffè Lena Poetry Night, October 6

Caffè Lena has gone back to In Person Readings & to the famed open mic for local poets. They had persisted during the pandemic with live-streams of featured poets, then in-person readings, but no open mic, & have finally been comfortable enough to have the open mic. The host was, is tonight, Carol Graser.

This night the featured reader was Catherine Arra, whose reading was live-streamed & on YouTube. She is a sensitive poet who is a retired teacher from the public school system. As such her poetry is grounded in the “real world,” eschewing theoretical “poetic” techniques. 

She began with poems from her latest book, Deer Love (Dos Madres Press, 2021), about a relationship she established with a doe, that she named Forest, who visited her back yard, read the poems “Ode to Forest,” “Estrus” (a deer sex poem), & “Some Sweet.” The book includes the poet’s photos of Forest & other deer. I admit to not being a fan of animal poems, but these pieces, largely descriptive, are emotionally sensitive & avoid the sentimentality of similar work without making me gag.

For some of those same reasons I am a fan of Cathy’s Her Landscape: Poems Based on the Life of Mileva Marić Einstein (Finishing Line Press, 2020). She read “Mileva,” (Mileva was the first wife of Einstein, a partner in mathematics & the mother of his 2 sons), “Lieb,” “Corseted,” & “Old World.”

From her 2019 (Women in Parentheses) she read “Transparent Pants” about a student with “a boner” from her years of experience teaching. She ended with a poem from a manuscript “about being in corona solitude,” a persona poem based on the Tarot deck “The Moon.” I admit to being a fan of her work & had booked her to read in the Poets in the Park series in Albany in July 2016.

Then on to the open mic, which historically has drawn poets not only from the Saratoga Springs community, including students from Skidmore College, but also from the larger, upstate region. It was good to see that pattern continuing tonight. Our host, Carol Graser, started us off with the meditative, descriptive poem “Maybe Six Robins.”

Rachel Baum was the 1st of the night’s 1st time readers (i.e., poetry “virgins”), she read a piece titled “Montana 1975,” then one about being in Synagogue as a kid, “We Did Not Think About Prayer.” I followed with a couple of my “poem cards,” a poem from a reading right here at Caffè Lena “The Poet Listening,” then a recent one from a visit to Good Harbor Beach, “Beach Sutra.” James Niven read 2 poems from a forthcoming book, the 1st about tinnitus “The Sound of Injured Rabbits,” then “Moon” built on surrealist sounds & images.

The second of the night’s poetry “virgins” was Fiona Lacey, a young Skidmore student, with a moving, tender piece titled “Today I Hit a Trash Can,” diary entries addressed to her deceased mother about her own struggles. Amanda Blodgett read from her journal, what she called her “morning pages,” an entry titled “God,” then one about her 2nd-hand car “Charlie.” Elaine Kenyon’s 1st piece was an excerpt from a longer poem about herself, “I Am E,” then one titled “What Is This That Rises You Out of Bed?” — a very good question.

Apparently Ishan has read here in the recently re-opened open mic, tonight he read a couple of recently written untitled pieces, about longing & rain & thunderstorms. Jan Tramontano is a well-known poet & novelist from the area who had re-located to Florida, & now is back off-&-on in the area, she read from her new book The Me I Was With You (Finishing Line Press, 2021) a poem about her father “Undertow,” then a new poem, also a memoir, this about her grandmother watching TV, “The Guiding Light.” The final poet of the night, Judith Prest, read 2 poems from her book Geography of Loss (Finishing Line Press, 2021), “In the Apple Barrel Parking Lot,” & “Father” about the surprising results of a DNA test. Judith had also provided the cover art for Jan’s The Me I Was With You, the way the poetry community here intersects with each other.

While Caffè Lena has been able to persist with its acclaimed music & poetry programming during the pandemic it is most gratifying to see the return of poetry open mic with its diversity & range of writers. I guess the message is Keep Writing.

The Caffè Lena poetry night takes place on the 1st Wednesday of each month at Caffè Lena, Phila St., Saratoga Springs, NY, 7:00PM, featured poet(s) & an open mic for community poets.