Caffè Lena Poetry Open Mic, November 2

Back to Saratoga Springs again this month, a somewhat different night, giving fellow poet Joe Krausman a ride, we had dinner at Hattie’s before signing up for the open mic. The host of the open mic is Carol Graser who begins with a poem by some other poet, tonight she read Ada Limon’s “The Mountain Lion.”

The featured poet here starts on time & reads first because they are live-streamed on the Caffè Lena YouTube channel (which means you can use the link now to see this night’s reading by Susan Comninos). She read entirely from her recent book Out of Nowhere (Stephan F. Austin State University Press), not just poems but the 2 epigraphs as well. The reading seemed to not have been planned, but put together on-the-fly, at one point with only a few minutes left, she asked for audience input on themes to read. Her reading style suggested by the tone of her voice & pregnant pauses that many of the poems seemed to have ended before it was actually done, & I almost clapped a number of times at what would was only the middle of the poem. But you can check all this out online.

What is not online is the great variety of poets who read in the open mic portion (which is what poets need to do to practice & develop their onstage skills). First up was Mary Ann Rockwell (from the Saratoga Springs Public Library) who read W.S. Merwin’s grand poem “Thanks.” Michael Carroll read a poem that shared a title with a song by Donovan, “The Season of the Witch.” Pauline Boehm read a poem titled “Ennui” about Southern ladies & their mint juleps, then one that was a memory of wild horses. Todd Fabozzi read from what he said was his 4th book, finished this year (without telling us the title of the book), 2 rhyming pieces “All Days Turn to Night,” & “Emergence.” My traveling companion, Joe Krausman, responded to one of Susan Comninos’ themes with his poem in rhyme entitled “Gratitude.”

I hadn’t seen Mia Farrington here previously (but then I did miss some months in the Summer), she read a piece titled “Intimate Recap” a sort of introduction to who/what she is. Jan Tramontano has been a feature poet here, most recently in December 2021, her first poem tonight was one to her daughter, “Matryoshka Dolls,” then one titled “At the Nursing Home Window.” I read next, an anaphoric poem about Saratoga Springs that I’ve been adding to for months “Solevo.” 

I don’t easily have access to the sign-up sheet which Carol sweeps into her bag as she scurries out, so I can’t confirm the spelling of the names of the poets that she introduces; many I know from the past, or I simply resort to common spellings. The next poet was named Erin, or Aaron, who began with a colorfully descriptive piece about clouds, then, alternating from paper to his phone, read a sad love poem. Carol Graser read a piece on death titled “Mirror Nonet,” in a made-up form from, a favorite assignment at a Bernadette Mayer workshop for which Carol wrote the poem.

Fred Zieman (? spelling) read a descriptive piece about a town from his youth. Melissa Anderson has been showing up a lot at open mics recently, began with a short piece titled “How the Ancients Named the Seat of Passion,” then a piece inspired by a fragment from Marilyn Monroe’s poems, “Time Which Has Not Drowned Me Yet.”

E.R. Vogel is another new poet on the scene & read a philosophical, descriptive piece from his recently self-published chapbook Love Poems & Other Stuff. Rodney Parrott is a regular here at Caffè Lena, but still read 3 pieces (Carol said to read 2) from his series “Lucid Remembering.” Katherine Parker said she was reading a Haiku “string” but each section she read seemed too long to be either Japanese or American Haiku, so I’m not sure what it was she read but it was interesting lines.

Elaine Kenyon, who also has been reading regularly here, read an untitled piece of notes, descriptions of herself. Peggy said the piece she was reading, titled “Exiting Education,” about retiring, was unedited, uncorrected.” 

Cris Greco read here last month a noisy factory piece, this night read another poem about workers, a sociological poetic essay titled “ECR,” then a piece titled “The Last Man Standing.” Julie Lomoe who frequents lots of open mics read a piece from her ongoing memoir in-progress of her sub-dural hematoma “Gin on the Rocks.” 

I believe this is the only poetry open mic in Saratoga County, & has been for years. You can join it on the 1st Wednesday of any month at the historic Caffè Lena, 47 Phila St, Saratoga Springs, NY, — sign up for the open mic at 6:30PM, featured poet at 7:00PM. Or you can just watch the featured poet on the YouTube Channel.