Jackie Craven, our host here at Writers Mic, has developed a stable (& a stable) of reliable readers for this open mic on Zoom on the 2nd Wednesday of the month.
Once again I was 1st on the list, tonight with a couple of political poems with anti-war seasoning on the eve of Veterans/Armistice Day, “Marching Against the War” which uses military-style marching cadences that were used in past peace marches, then an erotic commentary on “Patriotism.”
David Graham followed the anti-war theme with his favorite anti-war “At the Un-national Monunment at the Canadian Border” by William Stafford (1914 - 1993), then one of his own, an old poem set in Wisconsin about “the 54th best small town in America,” “Ode to Baraboo.”
Scott Morehouse had another hilarious tale for us to laugh at, set in the mythological town of Swiss Gasser, Wisconsin (again), with a wedding, a gay political candidate, a man with a duck (not a turkey), titled “Echos of Thanksgiving.”
Jackie Craven read a poem set to come out in the on-line literary magazine Fatal Flaw, a poem about time getting all scrambled up.
Susan Jewell shared an image of a painting “Rossetta Stone” from the Rattle ekphrastic contest, read her poem in the form of a “duplex,” a form invented by the poet Jericho Brown, “Duplex Rossetta Stone,” that sounded to me like a love poem, then showed another image, that of Maya Angelou, Susan’s poem based on it was titled “The Poet Breaks into Blossom.”
Nathan Smith was new to this gathering, said he found it as a Facebook event & on the Albany Poets website, he read a poem like a letter to a gone love “Broken,” the a more up-beat poem written today, about letting yourself cry & walk with confidence.
I like to think that a good poetry open mic is one that has a number of “regulars” who show up, & that has new poets show up to read as well. Writers Mic seems to be doing that. Do what Nathan did, find it on Facebook, or on AlbanyPoets.com.
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