Poetic License - Albany Reading, September 14

Rebecca Schoonmaker

This was the first of 2 readings by poets included in the exhibit Poetic License - Albany which pairs poems & the visual artwork inspired by the poems. The reading was held in the Art Associates Gallery in Albany where the poems & art work are on display. The event included an open mic.

Laura Whalen’s poem, “The Ode to the Blue Milky,” inspired a painting by Deborah Adams, & Laura began her reading with that poem. Then on to other poems, “The Universal Ball” (which she said was “for every dog you’ve ever loved”); “Elegy for E.” (based on Emily Dickinson’s poem #1395) a poem included in an earlier Poetic License at the Poetry Barn; “Marriage” with the image of a roller coaster; & her translation of fragment #2 by Pablo Neruda from a posthumous book of his unpublished fragments.

Brian Liston began with his cinquain, “Rounds,” which inspired Natasha Pernicka to paint. He also read “Synergy,” another cinquain; “The Role We Play,” written on a playing card; “Autistic SuperKid” the title poem of his book; “The Poets’ Ball;” “A New Beginning” for students graduating; a 9/11 poem “Cities Still Standing; “Deal;” “Rebirth”  another cinquain; & “Penny.”

Randall Sutter was the last of the poets included in the exhibit to read & he began with the poem, “Please Wait,” that inspired Rebecca Schoonmaker’s painting; Rebecca is the president of Upstate Artists Guild who had organized the visual art part of the project, including mounting the exhibit at the gallery. His other poems were “Good Medicine;” “Fixed Object;” a couple poems that can be found on the Hudson Valley Writers Guild website, “Eden’s Gardener” & “On Being Remembered;” & a song lyric, “Green Leaves,” for which John Irizarry wrote the music.

Then on to an open mic, & I was up first with 2 poems written about paintings at the former UAG Gallery on Lark St., “The Clever Cleaver” (responding to a painting by Tommy Watkins), & “My Matisse” (responding to a painting by Thomasa Nielsen).

John Irizarry, mentioned above, had driven up with Randall Sutter, he’s a musician, but tonight recited the lyrics to a song he wrote about the murder of students at Sandy Hook Elementary “Who Decides Our Destiny?”

Mary Panza is one of the local poets & artists who worked to make this exhibit happen & has been active in the local poetry scene since she as, well, much younger; her first piece titled “Micro-dosing” was about an encounter with another mother at her daughter’s school; the second piece was untitled, but it began “Water doesn’t judge…” a rant about a reading Mary described as "the bro sausage rant.”

Thom Francis was also instrumental to making this event happen, creating the website, among other things; his first poem was a love poem sharing the joy of gardening, then one that is one my favorites of his “Radio Man” a 9/11 poem.

You can find out more about the Poetic License - Albany exhibit at the website https://www.poeticlicensealbany.com. The event is co-sponsored by the Upstate Artists Guild & the Hudson Valley Writers Guild.

           

2nd Sunday @ 2PM: Poetry + Prose, September 11

It seemed like I just doing this & indeed, close enough, I was yesterday only a few blocks from Collar City Mushrooms poets from this very open mic series read at an event called “River Poems” in a benefit for the Lansingburgh Historical Society at the Herman Melville House. Three of the poets reading in the open mic here today also read at River Poems yesterday. 

I headed off the sign-up sheet with a 9/11 poem, “Another Tuesday,” about the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 & about the US-supported coup of the Chilean government in 1973.

A new poetic voice in town was Anthony, recently arrived from Spokane, WA & read a moving, descriptive piece titled “Char Fishing in America” about a fish he caught & killed & his reaction to having done that.

Bob Sharkey read 2 poems connected thematically, “Altar Boy Stories,” about the things he saw, experience as a young altar boy, then “3 Years Later” during the war in Viet Nam.

Laura Ellzey read from a long memoir written by her father, Will, titled “The Ellzey’s of Sand Hill.”

Desmond Gonzalez brought his guitar & performed 2 songs, the first titled “Archie Marry Me,” on similar themes with the same chord changes that ran seamlessly together.

The proprietor of Collar City Mushrooms, Avery Stempel, arrived back from an event where he had been peddling his wares just in time to be the last reader, & read a poem he had just finished “Puttering Down the Mountain.”

Another 2nd Sunday @ 2PM Open Mic, you might say 2 in a row, except that yesterday was not a Sunday. But we are here each month on — you must have this by now — on the 2nd Sunday @ 2PM, Collar City Mushrooms, 333 Second Ave., Troy, NY, bring a poem to read, & you can buy a variety of mushrooms to bring home.

River Poems: a Reading by Poets from the 2nd Sunday @ 2 Open Mic & Special Guests, September 10

This gathering of poets & attentive audience was held on the lawn of the historic Herman Melville house as a benefit for the Lansingburgh Historical Society, & it was fine day for it. The readers were primarily writers who had read previously at 2nd Sunday @2: Open Mic for Poetry + Prose, originally held each month at the Arts Center of the Capital Region & now at Collar City Mushrooms. Nancy Klepsch & I served as tag-team hosts of this event, just as we do each month at the 2nd Sunday @ 2.

Joel Best introduced his poems with a brief description of his writing process; the poems he read included a love poem & a sci-fi narrative, among others.

Carrie introduced a touch of formalism with a Cento composed of lines from the writings of Kurt Vonnegut, then a villanelle.

Bridget Elder, who came over to Troy from Bennington, VT read untitled poems inspired by the natural beauty of her surroundings, including some by the beauty of Costa Rica.

Karen Fabiane read poems on water themes from her chapbook Dancing Bears (Bright Hill Press, 2011).

Co-host Nancy Klepsch read a variety of pieces, about her “cool” mother, about the River, on teaching, including the chilling “Targets” playing on the word in the context of teaching.

Julie Lomoe read a single poem about the River & it’s place in her life at various times.

Cheryl Rice read her poem that was selected for the Poetic License - Albany exhibit currently up at Art Associates Gallery, 21 Railroad Ave., Albany, NY & which inspired artist Tina Johnston to create a painting in response to the poem.

Rhonda Rosenheck performed one piece, with a hand-out for the audience to join in, “Sin No More! A Biblical Sea Shanty.”

Rebecca Schumejda read poems about the coast, Long Island (“Lobster”), Boston (“Whale Watching”), & Coney Island memories.

Bob Sharkey read one piece, a sequence poem titled “Trains to the Coast.”

Laura Ellzey, another Vermonter, read a piece about exploring & naming the rocks & trees along a river with a young companion.

I read a new poem, then a couple of Haiku written on Cape Ann, & ended with an old, cynical piece about the River titled “Troy.”

The Herman Melville House is the home of the Lansingburgh Historical Society & is located at 2 114th Street, Troy, NY. You can find out more at https://www.lansingburghhistoricalsociety.org

Ann Charters at Gloucester Writers Center, August 25

Many of my readers know how much I like Cape Ann, & that I go there throughout the year. I haven’t been there, except for an overnight in April. I was able to book 2 nights at the Good Harbor Beach Inn, then found out that Ann Charters, the 1st biographer of Jack Kerouac, would be giving a lecture for the Gloucester Writers Center on my 2nd night of my stay. The talk was held at the North Shore Arts Association just down the road from the renovated GWC, where Charters was staying as writer-in-residence. 

I was an avid reader & collector of the works of Jack Kerouac from the time I read about him & other writers, such as Allen Ginsberg, in a Look magazine article about 1960, & found a copy of On the Road in the Delmar (NY) Public Library. I remember where I was (in my girlfriend’s dorm) when I heard he had died in 1969. So when Kerouac: A Biography by Ann Charters was published in 1973 I immediately bought a copy, $7.95, hardbound, could not wait for the paperback. I brought my copy with me this night to have it signed by Ann Charters.

Henry Ferrini, Executive Director of the GWC set the stage by reading Allen Ginsberg’s early description of Kerouac’s work, then a passage from Charles Boer’s memoir of the last months of poet Charles Olson, & Olson’s own poem from Maximus III, “I live underneath the light of day…”

Charters said she was testing out a paper she was about to present at an academic conference, the paper titled “Kerouac’s Concept of the Duluoz Legend” & read excerpts. She included a handout which arranges Kerouac’s books by the Duluoz legend (see attached illustration). This is similar to my shelf's chronological arrangement (following Kerouac’s biography) of his books, not by publication date, but where they fit in his life events, i.e., “the Duluoz Legend.” He had hoped to publish his books with the real names of his friends & players & characters in “one long novel.”

This raises a question I have always wondered about, that if Kerouac was writing his books today, with the market being flooded with Memoir, would they be marketed as Memoir, rather than Novels as they were when first published?

Once again I am grateful to the Gloucester Writers Center for having this event, for the lively discussion it opened up, & for the opportunity to meet Ann Charters.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, August 18

The weekend before our scheduled open mic at the Social Justice Center, the writer Salman Rushdie was brutally attacked on stage at a reading in Chautauqua Institution in Western New York State. On the following Monday, Paul Grondahl, Director of the NYS Writers Institute called me. Paul had interviewed Rushdie back in December, 2019 at a W.I. event that I had attended. You can read about the history of the W.I. with Rushdie in Paul’s article in the Albany Times Union dated August 17, 2022.

Salman Rushdie (left), Paul Grondahl, December 2019

Paul called to say that they wanted to do something as a tribute to Rushdie who was recuperating in the hospital, he said that the only day that would fit the W.I. schedule was Thursday, August 18. They were aware that that was the night of the Third Thursday Poetry Night, moreover at which Joe Krausman would be the featured reader, & they didn’t want to conflict with us, particularly with Joe as the featured reader. He asked if we could combine the events & have the tribute to Salman Rushdie as part of the open mic on the Third Thursday. I enthusiastically embraced the idea, touched by the consideration of the W.I. for our community reading & open mic.

So with only a few days to put out the word, the W.I., with the support of Casey Seiler, Editor & Vice-President of the Times Union, including the aforementioned article by Paul, as well as my own network of email lists & social media, we put out the word that in addition to open mic at the SJC the night would include a tribute to Salman Rushdie. I anticipated a huge crowd & put out every chair available (I usually put out 15 - 20 chairs, which is enough). We had Standing Room Only, & my sign-up sheet had 20 names on it, while it is usually half that number.

It was fitting that the first few readers were folks who were familiar faces/voices to this open mic. Readers could either read their own work or something from Rushdie’s great body of writing. A.C. Everson led off with her characteristically enthusiastic rhymes done from memory. Sylvia Barnard rarely misses a third Thursday here, began by expressing her horror at the attack on Rushdie, & drawing a comparison to the decimation of the Classics Department at SUNY back in 2011 to a form of “cultural book-burning,” then read her poem “Pont du Gard” about seeing recently the old Roman ruins in the South of France. 

Julie Lomoe paraphrased a piece she had left at home & read/sang/rambled “I can hear clearly now…” about getting hearing aids, instigated by wanting to go to a women writers conference. Marylou Streznewski spelled out her name phonetically on the signup sheet, talked about Rushdie’s book for his sons Haroun & the Sea of Stories, read her own poem “Saving Strawberries.” Z. Johnson was a new name to me, was here for the 1st time, talked about Love then read from an anthology of inspirational verse. Kathy O’Brien read a poem about aging & the joy of awakening to the sounds of the morning.

William Kennedy, whose gift many years ago created the NYS Writers Institute, talked about meeting Salman Rushdie in 1988 in London, & invited him to come to Albany. But that visit was delayed by the fatwa, & it wasn't until years later that he was able to make it to Albany. Kennedy quoted Rushdie about story telling, then read the opening chapter from Rushdie’s novel Midnight’s Children (Random House, 2006). 

Joe Krausman on Bill Kennedy's Cellphone

Tonight’s featured reader, Joe Krausman, has no trouble following an esteemed author, Joe has his own special appeal. He began with a poem for Salman Rushdie, “The Medicine of Words,” then on to an reading based on the theme of “shall I rhyme or shall I not rhyme,” with many of his popular pieces, such a “Houdini on the Death of his Mother,” the related “Deceptions,” the award-winning “The Passionate Accountant to His Love,” & a tale about a man who marries a woman with 2 heads. 

But I like how Casey Seiler captured Joe’s reading in one paragraph in a piece published in the Albany Times Union Sunday, August 21, 2022:

“If Rusdie symbolizes the modern global writer, the 86-year-old Krausman is as New York as the Bowery Boys. A former legislative staffer, he reads a clutch of his wry, frequently laugh-out-loud poems (“I dreamed I had the popcorn concession at Houdini’s grave” was an opening line that made me bark). I would say Krausman’s verbal footnotes to his work were priceless, except that he seemed to have a photographic memory for how much he had been paid for every piece that found a home. He was like a flinty elf.”  

To which I will only add that at the end of his reading when Joe mentioned he had left out a poem that he had intended to read the audience asked him, like a rock-star being called back for an encore (think Leonard Cohen), to read it (titled “Shipwreck”), which this “flinty elf” indeed did.

After a brief break during which I passed “the hat,” generously filled by the lively audience, we returned to the open mic. I invoked the droit de seigneur to read next, or rather recite, my old poem from 1991, “Joe Krausman,” the first of 2 with that title that I have written. Next up was a once-&-future feature here at the SJC, Jan Tramontano who read a brief section from Haroun & the Sea of Stories. 

Casey Seiler referenced a documentary about Bill Kennedy that he had worked on & Kennedy’s concept of “writers in communion” such as here tonight, then read from the Prologue to Salman Rushdie’s non-fiction Joseph Anton: A Memoir (Random House, 2013), about the immediate days after the fatwa was declared. Paul Grondahl acknowledged the “defenders of free speech & expression” in the audience, described Rushdie as “a gentle, wonderful person,” & read from Quichotte: A Novel (Random House, 2019), a funny take on Don Quixote woven with Rushdie's autobiographical details. Josh the Poet has been coming regularly to open mics of late, read a new, short poem titled “Sinful.” Anthony Bernini goes back to the earliest days of Albany’s poetry scene, tonight joined us to read his poem “The Birds of America, John James Audubon, 1937,” of “the skill of knowing with no need to kill.”

Joan Goodman was back here again, read her poem “Alive,” hearing a bird song as she awakens, the sounds of birds worked into her poem, & “stay alive” their message. Frank Robinson is out & about in Albany's lit scene, read “Sardine” written after seeing a nature documentary on PBS, birds again, this time eating sardines, only part of the “meat chain.” Alexandra Peraza was here for the 1st time, saw the notice about the event on the Writers Institute website, read a recent, moving poem “The Letter I Never Sent to My Mom.” 

While not usually as crowded here as it was this night, we gather each Third Thursday at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany at 7:30 PM for a featured poet & an open mic for the rest of us — your donation supports poetry events & the work of the Social Justice Center, as it did so generously tonight. Join us & help make it more crowded here & share your words.

Invocation of the Muse, August 1

This open mic series run by Albany poetry impresario R.M. Engelhardt seems to have settled in at Lark Hall, in spite of the rather uncomfortable seating, the limited selections at the bar, & problems with the lights & sounds — but the poetry remains varied & interesting. Tonight there were 2 features, which is not usual here.

Engelhardt started us off with a piece that went on & on with the running refrain “I ascend, I ascend…” (not sure where to?). Then on to the open mic list. When I had arrived there were a lot of poets signed up, but still the #1 slot was open, so that was where I ended up; I read a couple of urban/bus poems, “The Meadow” (what was once there where the Lark St. bus stop is now), & a transcription of the rants on the bus of “The Window Washer.” Pat Williams was surprisingly formal with 2 villanelle, “A Long Weekend” (based around “what a fucking day”) & one titled “Have You Seen Dahlia?” Amanda Alden read about an experience we’ve all had, “I Woke Up Like This.”

Alan Catlin, who was the night's first featured reader, & who has a lot of books out there, read mostly from 5 — count ‘em, 5! — new books, with a few other stray poems, including the title poem from the 2021 Sunshine Superman (Cyberwit). Satan’s Kiss (Gutter Snob Books, 2022) follows his 1997 Killer Cocktails as bar stories based on the names of drinks (or the other way around), then a selection from Dead Men Reading Postcards (Replika Press, 2022); a poem about Stephen Crane’s wife, “Cora Crane” from Shadow Play of Life (Iniquity Press, 2022); & 3 from Exterminating Angels (Kelsay Books, 2022), the last in his series of books on film noir titles (not all are real titles). He ended with a poem not in a book titled “Wasted” about a character on Jury Duty.

In contrast, Josh the Poet is a young poet who has recently found his way to some of the area open mics; he recites his poems from memory, tonight pieces titled “My Love,” “Playing Games,” & “Poetic Justice.” Harvey Havel frequents open mics & other literary events, he is primarily a novelist & doesn’t often read but tonight read a gruesome tale titled “Obese” from a collection of short fiction, The Odd & the Strange. Gordon Kindlon read a string of hippy, stoner, preachy advice titled “Poetry Comes to the Rescue.” Austin Houston has been featured in area readings, tonight had 2 pieces “Stallions” neatly combining images of a junked car & horses in a field, then a piece from his experience working in the ER, about the death of a patient “12:04.”

Back when The Low Beat still existed on Central Ave. & was home to the Nitty Gritty Slam & the open mic Getting Down to Brass Tacks, Alyssa Michelle would show up quite frequently to read her poems about relationships. Tonight she was the other featured reader & shared many of those same pieces, some of which seemed to have been gathered in chapbooks. Some of her pieces sounded more like prose, & tended to be preachy, such as “Introvert,” “Solitude Thoughts,” & “Don’t Give Up on Love.” But others effectively used images & language to true poetic effect, such as “Little Mother,” & “Tomorrow” (about death & her youngest daughter), “Sweet Dreams,” & the stunning performance piece “My Melanin.” I had wanted to ask her about her chapbooks & hopefully get a copy, but she slipped out before I had a chance.

Our host, R.M. Engelhardt read a couple poems from his 2019 collection Darklands (Whiskey City Press), “Born Witness” & a piece on civilization & history “Repetition.” Joan Geitz enjoys being in walking distance of open mic venues, she read a poem originally in Spanish “Madre” from 3 years ago, then a piece on freedom from religion. Shannon Grant described what she read as “untitled, unedited bullshit” — I’ll take her at her word. Sam Maurice read pieces from his recent reading at The Fuze Box on Central Ave., short, descriptive urban notes like automatic writing.

Bevan was new here & read her notebook jottings that sound like responses to another, perhaps relationship poems. Juliane also read notebook jottings on her emotions, & an angst-filled “Truth in My Life.” Alex Stokes did a bit of white-boy hipster hip hop rhyming about love, but a better performance than a poem. Amelia McNeil read (a bit too fast) her notebook ramblings from her phone, about getting up in the morning, & a titled piece “Daddy Issues.” Samantha Perry finished off the night with a piece titled “Inadequate” about body issues.

Invocation of the Muse is an open mic for writers with occasional featured poets each 1st Monday of the month at 8:00PM, at Lark Hall, on the corner of Lark St. & Hudson Ave., enter on Hudson Ave. — $5.00.