Invocation (of the Muse), November 1

The Fuze Box on Albany’s Central Ave. was recently purchased by a former employee from years back & has “reopened” — sort of — no liquor license yet so no booze, just water & bad coffee in styrofoam cups. 

The history of The Fuze Box goes back to 1997 when the building was the QE2 & The Fuze Box was across Townsend Park on Washington Ave. where it was the back room dance hall of a bar called The Power Company. & back in February 1999 a young poet started a poetry open mic there, that poet was the host of this night’s poetry open mic, R.M. Engelhardt. After the QE2 closed in January 1999, & The Fuze Box moved into the building sometime in 2000, there was an open mic hosted by Don Levy for a while. Then in mid-2005 Rob brought his School of Night open mic series to The Fuze Box when he left doing poetry open mics at Valentines. & now he’s back here again.

This night there were a mix of old-timers who had read at not only The Fuze Box but also the QE2, & folks who weren’t even born when swing dancers were twirling on the floor of the original Fuze Box on Washington Ave. Rob got us started with a reading of poem by Alan Kaufman, editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, an anaphoric piece “Let us …”

Then I ended up 1st on the sign-up sheet to read 2 poems, “This Is Not Trick or Treat” combining a black cat with Election Day, & the an older poem I wrote back in the time of the open mic at the QE2 about the false prophets (aka bullshit artists) some mistake for beat characters. Sally Rhoades is one (of many) who first read her poetry out to an audience at the QE2 on Central Ave., & continues to read at various poetry open mics in the area, tonight reading the celebratory “I have Danced with the Druids,” then a consideration of life after the pandemic titled “What is the Answer?”

Joe Krausman has also been around for awhile, in life as in the poetry scene, & received a round of applause making for it to the stage, to read 2 of his popular poems, “Specialist” & “Gratitude” which address where we come from, sort of. Austin Houston is a more recent poet on the scene, reading at open mics & even featured in Poets in the Park, the first poem he read, “Corporate Greed,” is in his recent self-published book Existence: Chaos in Our Own Backyard, then read a new poem about those who deny the riot on “January 6, 2021.”

Sami Ring, the first poet of a string of new voices here, began with a break-up poem, then read one pondering the question “what is the true me?” titled “Identity Rusts MRI.” Our host, R.M. Engelhardt, was next up, took up donations to “go to the bar,” read poems from his new book, We Rise Like Smoke, the poems titled “A Hundred Thousand Poets” & the other titled “Epitaph.” 

Billy Stanley has also been to many open mics in the area, tends to do his poems with humor, in his distinctive New Orleans accent, & from memory as he did tonight, the first an apocalyptic piece about “strolling on the streets of madness” confronting the dental hygienists of America (seriously (or not)), then an outrageous rant about ranting in a toilet. Sydney has also read at other venues in the area, such as Poetic Vibe & a couple venues in Albany, began with an angry poem about “shitty guys,” then one about her need to apologize to her “great boss” the poem titled “Sorry Sorry Sorry.”

I also recognized John as someone who had read at pre-pandemic open mics in Albany, both poems tonight in a style that used a bewildering string of images, the first one titled “The Same Thing Many Times” & the second one I missed the title but had images of gulls in a poplar tree. 

El, the final poet of the night, had also read out in the pre-pandemic days & began with a the last poem she “wrote about a year & a half ago” about doing the best we can, then  one about her family talking together in Spanish about each other.

So this new series, Invocation, was off to a good start, at least as far as the poetry goes, but the venue itself needs some work, like getting a liquor license, & adding some chairs. Check back next month on the 1st Monday of the month, at The Fuze Box, 12 Central Ave., 7:30 sign-up, 8:00 start; don’t get there too early, the doors might be locked.