Third Thursday Poetry Night, July 21

It wasn’t only the weather that was HOT! so were the Poets! Sadly, we recently lost a poet in the community that often graced us with her work, particularly pantoums, at many of the open mics in the area, Carol H. Jewell (1959 - 2022). So tonight I invoked her presence as our Muse & read “The Embrace” from her collection Hits and Missives (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, 2017). Our featured reader was Jeffrey Stubits, but first we heard from the open mic poets.

First on the list was Aron, making a rare appearance, reading about his weird dreams lately, being haunted by the various versions of himself. Joe Krausman (responding to my poems titled “Joe Krausman”) read his poem titled “Dan Wilcox” in which we meet in Heaven but return to Earth where the action is.

A new name tonight Alyssa Talanker said she was just back from a 2-week trip to Alaska, talked about the effects of climate change there, read about the native hunters on thin ice, “One Seal Down.” Josh-the-Poet has made himself a regular here & tonight performed from memory "Voice to the World," thinking about his writing & the souls he touches with it.

Joan Goodman slipped in after we started to read her poem set wandering in an Israeli village thinking of her father, of ancestors, & of love. I brought the open mic to a close with a poem about the heat, “At Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago,” for my friend Charlie Rossiter & his son Jack. 

Jeffrey Stubits, tonight’s featured reader, has read at many of the open mic venues in the area & I’ve always enjoyed his performances, a word carefully chosen, as would be expected about someone who is an actor. The poems he read were also evidence that he is also a humorist. While his style is to read fast — eliciting one audience member to ask him to slow down — his diction is crystal clear making the poems easy to follow. He read exclusively (almost) from his self-published collection Lilies for Olivia by Jimmy Wonka; in fact the closest his name appears in the book is for the cover design & book design by a “Jeffrey S. Tubits.” He read the poems in order, there are 71 in all in the book, some like notes to his reactions to the world around him, others imaginative fables, sometimes tiny, sometimes extended jokes playing with tongue-in-cheek metaphors, sometimes effusive, always entertaining. He surprised me by expressing his admiration for the work of the poet Langston Hughes, but it’s there. The last poem he read was “Free to Be Me,” by a friend Travis Regan. After his reading he sold or traded or simply gave away copies of his book, as well as DVDs of some of his monologues, & crystals his gathered in his travels -- a night of goodies.

You never know what kind of ride it will be here at the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center, with a featured reader from the great pool of local (or regional) poets, & the faithful, & new, poets who show up for the open mic — 7:30 PM, $5.00 donation helps pay the feature, supports poetry events & the work of the Social Justice Center. Join us.