2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, July 10

We had recently lost another poet to that great Open Mic in the sky (or wherever it is), Carol H. Jewell, who was a frequent reader here, as she was in other venues in the area. A Celebration of her life had been held just yesterday in Albany. My co-host, Nancy Klepsch read Carol’s poem “Nancy Wants Me to Go Deeper,” a pantoum from her 2017 book Hits and Missives (Clare Songbirds Publishing House), sure who the "Nancy" of the title was, but it fit.

First poet on the signup sheet was up & through her dark notebook jottings so quick that I never got my camera up until realized she was done — I hope Amber Lockhart comes back & spends a little more time. Me, I read my poem “Kerouac” which as been accepted for a centenary memorial anthology of poems about that great American poet & novels, then read one of my poem cards “In My Neighborhood.”

Joel Best has been showing up at the 2nd Sunday open mic since we were at the Arts Center down on River St., the poems he read today were titled “As Part of the Equation,” & “On the Porch” which he describe as “a leftover” from a story he was writing. The proprietor of Collar City Mushrooms, Avery, performed a piece about picking strawberries & eating them in the field.

Bob Sharkey read his Cento composed of lines from the poems that were finalists in this year’s Stephen A. Dibiase Poetry Contest the poem titled “Love Was the Vessel," then a pieces inspired by his re-reading of the 2014 novel Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, wandering through his home town, the names of streets & places, & the current mass shooting. Kate Crofton read a moving poem in 2 parts, the first about a birth, the 2nd the killing of George Floyd.

Julie Lomoe read a connected series of Haiku titled “Gaia Cries Out for Help” published in the 2022 anthology of Haiku from Moonstone Press of Philadelphia, then “a dead cat poem” titled “Quartet of Elders:” herself, her husband, the dog & the cat. Laura Ellzey read a couple of autobiographical poems, “Parabola” about growing up, singing, traveling, & “The First Move” a sonnet about her first kiss. 

Sally Rhoades read 2 poems about flying, the first about the 1st time we flew to the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival in Oklahoma, the 2nd about coming home, anxious to be with her grandson Cole “I Want to Make Time Go Faster.” Co-host Nancy Klepsch read a political piece with grim images of the Trump era “Attack,” then one titled “Before You Know Gratitude” for Naomi Bindman (who is frequently here).

& there you are, & there we were, as we are each 2nd Sunday @ 2PM with an open mic for poetry + prose, at Collar City Mushrooms 333 Second Ave., Troy — no featured reader, just an open mic — & it’s Free! Join us, even if you haven’t done anything like this before.