Invocation of the Muse, October 3

This open mic/reading series has settled in at Lark Hall, tonight with plenty of new faces/voices. The host is poetry entrepreneur of Albany, R.M. Engelhardt, who introduced the night by reading a poem by Elliot Richman “The Death Camp at Walden Pond.”

First up in the open mic was a new face, Danni McCabe, who said “Love is my Muse” & read 2 poems about love, “Love Myself” & “The Lost Boy Kind of Love.” I was next with a poem about another kind of love, “Reading Mary Oliver while Masturbating,” then a poem for the season, “Yom Kippur 2004.” 

Another new face, Kealia Bonacci, read a poem that sounded like it came from a workshop prompt (i.e., “write a letter to your younger self…”) “A Letter to Younger Me on Much Older Men” full of advice that sounded like it came from personal experience. Pat Williams has been a regular here of late & will be the featured reader in November, he read in rhyme “Spring Rain,” & a poem about a bear “The Trapped Beast.”

Speaking of featured readers, Austin Houston was this night’s featured reader. He said that this reading was of poems that tell a story, said that he started writing about 10 years ago. He has, in the intervening years, attended many of the open mic venues & was the featured poet at the Third Thursday Poetry Night when I restarted that series after the pandemic in January 2022.

He began with a beginning poem, “My First Time,” then continued through a cluster of poems about dealing with depression. Then on to an in-your-face poem titled “Corporate Greed” from his 2021 chapbook Existence: Chaos in Our Own Backyard, then more recent poems, “We All Bleed Red,” “Golden Years,” “The Other Side” (visited by a spirit), & ended appropriately enough with a poem titled “If I Had Another Chance.”

After a short break, our host, R.M. Engelhardt, returned with a couple of his own poems, both sort of preachy, “The World Doesn’t Stop” (i.e., it goes on without you), & one introduced as “Here’s a poem about shit …” Josh the Poet recited his poem “Goddess of the World” dedicated “to the ladies” (I didn’t see any here). The next reader signed up as Irby Poetry, said he was “a man of faith” (whatever that means), & did an appropriately energetic performance of a poem titled “Caffeine.” 

Vanessa Bilanceni read 2 untitled poems, one about waking up in a tent in the dark, the other a love poem. John Decelles seemed very self-conscious or simply shy, or perhaps his on-stage persona, read a poem titled “Neglect,” then another titled “This is Not a Poem About Walking Outdoors.” Dan Williams began with an untitled love poem, then one contrasting “left eye, right eye.”

Having reached the end of the sign-up sheet, Rob opened up the chance for late arrivals to join in & got 2 takers. Alex said he was here for the 1st time (as were quite a few tonight), read from his phone a piece titled “Norma Jean” like a letter addressed to a “you,” as was his next poem “Dreaming of a Head-On Collision.” & the final reader was Lucious (? spelling) with 2 poems of teen age angst, born sad.

You can find this open mic each (most) 1st Mondays at Lark Hall, on the corner of Lark St., & Hudson Ave., (enter on Hudson Ave.), Albany, NY — $5.00, brings a couple poems to read.