Writers Mic, March 9

There were about 9 of us tonight with our host Jackie Craven for this Zoom open mic, formerly out of Schenectady, which can now can be from anywhere or nowhere for that matter.

I led off the open mic, beginning with a new “eco-poem” instigated by my friend Mark Tremont of the I Fill Inkjets shop in Delmar, NY a poem titled “2 Dreams,” then my entry in the Moonstone Arts Center anthology for International Women’s Day “Waiting for Jacqueline Robinson” dedicated to my daughter Anna.

David Graham read 2 poems with an anti-war theme, the first by William Stafford, “Entering History” from a collection of his writing on peace & war, “Every War Has 2 Losers” (there’s an old Wobbly saying, “a bayonet is a weapon with a worker at each end”), then David’s own poem from the 1st Iraq war (Oil War I) playing on a quote from the Book of Isaiah that all flesh is grass, “Air Supremacy.“

Kate McNairy, fresh off the Caffe Lena open mic read 2 short Winter poems, the first that “loss is never easy,” then one about stars “Lit Up.”

Susan Jewell read 2 poems written in January, exploring how language articulates, “2 Men Talking” (on a beach in FL), & “The Starling Mission,” about the Elon Musk project putting “more junk into Space.”

Kathleen Herold’s poem was titled “Brain Spacing,” about calming her brain to get more words out -- good idea.

Alan Catlin read from his Anxiety Dreams series, “#2 St. Patrick’s Day as Hell” grim images from his bartender days, & the more dream-like “St. Patricks Day 10 Years After.”

Scott Morehouse regaled us with an excerpt from the autobiography of Clarese, a psychic cow, with jokes & references about Earl Butts from the Nixon administration, &, as he said, “I’m very fond of cows.”

Naomi Bindman read “Lake of the Shining Waters,” a chapter from a memoir, this section about paddling as a child in a canoe on Lake George, then returning as an adult with her daughter as a recurring generational experience. 

Our host Jackie Craven brought the evening to a close with an old one, “Many Happy Returns,” a memory piece set up like a tax-form complete with line numbers.

You can find the link to this monthly Zoom open mic at Writers Mic on Facebook, held on the 2nd Wednesday, starts at 7:30 — join us & add to the variety of the mix of writers with your voice.