Caffè Lena Poetry Night, July 6

Carol Graser has been hosting this reading/open mic for an amazing 19 years! This event attracts open mic poets from all over the upstate region so each event is full of surprises — & good poems. She began the night with a poem by the recently-gone local poet Carol H. Jewell, “The Embrace,” a pantoum a form for which Carol was known, from her book Hits and Missives (Clare Songbird Publishing House, 2017). We will miss her.

Caffè Lena is one of the few venues in having the Featured poet read first, & who is live-streamed, then a live open mic (not streamed). I assume to supplement the $5 admission that the live audience pays the home audience is asked to make a contribution, but I have no idea how many of those folks watching  actually make a contribution. Just counting the poets who read in the open mic they would have taken in $100, not counting the “+1”s not reading. Fortunately the usually get a good crowd here for poetry.

Tonight’s featured poet was Dan Hubbs, who began with song on his banjo “The Moon Tattoo,” then on to a bunch of poems about being a super in building in lower Manhattan, other jobs he has held, & at least one childhood memory piece, working class tales & stories of characters he has known. You can find the video of his reading here.

Then immediately on to the open mic with Rachel Baum, a regular here, the 1st reader with a narrative portrait of a “Rodeo Winner” & his girlfriend. Carol (not sure of her last name) read a piece titled “Iris” for a friend with pancreatic cancer, then a poem about a canyon in Sedona. Michael Carroll read “Sorry Not Sorry” & said he didn’t like that title, then a more interesting piece about religion titled “Snake Oil.” Amanda Blodgett strung together 3 Haiku as 1 short poem she called “Discovering Peace.”

Jan Tramontano read one of her own pieces about processing her rage over recent events, then read a Richard Blanco poem “Looking for the Gulf Motel.” Victoria Twomey read a poem titled “Stadium Gods” the title itself a poem, then a delirious description of “Standing in the Presence of a Cornfield." I was next & read 2 recently written poems, “June 3, 2022” (Allen Ginsberg’s birthday), then one that was a gloss on a section of the Tao “Bright But Not Dazzling.”

Leslie Sittner is a frequent reader here, tonight with a humorous piece taking us through the seasons titled “How to Procrastinate & Slide into Sloth,” then read a sonnet she said was written to her “pergola birds.” Naomi Bindman read of her recent poems that has become a personal favorite about a gift of tulips “No Small Thing,” then one titled “Wonder” full of birds & fireflies, sugar & strawberries, & dreams. 

Vivian Nesbit was reading here for the 1st time, read one of her own about resolving to live as things are, then one by her brother, a narrative of driving & death titled “The Ned I Knew.” ER Vogel read “The Way Language Works” which he said was from “a just-published book” but didn’t tell us the title/publisher (in case someone wants to look for it to buy it), then one titled “Lying to Myself” a humorous take on looking at his beard in a mirror, from a book-in-progress. Frank Phelps joined in by reading from his phone Robert Frost’s “Stopping by the Woods.” 

I’ve been seeing Elaine Kenyon in lots of poetry venues lately, here she read “July 6” which she said was her late mother’s birthday. Cassie read from her journal a love poem to someone from a distance. Frank Desiderio was back in the area for his annual sojourn/assignment at Lake George did a piece from memory about a Buddhist sand painting, scattered in the wind, then an effusive recitation of Gerard Manley Hopkin’s “God’s Grandeur,” like a sermon. Rodney Parott read 2 politcal pieces, one about a visit from his friend Lonnie who was carrying a pistol “in his butt crack,” then one in which he imagines running for President & debating “DJT” on TV.

Jeanine Laverty read a poem by Ashley M. Jones, the Poet Laureate of Alabama, “Photosynthesis” thinking of her father gardening on land he owns, not a slave. Lance Legrys repeated himself in a poem about his fears of repeating himself, “Again.” Alex Legrys followed her father with a descriptive piece about the ski-town of Dover “Mountain of Masks.” Carol Graser brought the night to a close with another descriptive piece “Beach on the Great Sacandaga.”

Another grand night here at the historic Caffè Lena on Phila St. in Saratoga Springs where each 1st Wednesday of the month the poets gather for their turn on the stage, starting promptly at 7:00PM with a featured poet (live-streamed for the stay-at-home audience), then on to an open mic for the rest of us — $5.00. See you there.