2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, December 11

A snowy afternoon, but it was early & we all know how to drive in this, right? No problems getting from Albany, thru Troy to Collar City Mushrooms, & by the time we were done, 2nd Avenue & I-787 had been plowed & I was home again. There were 5 of us for the open mic.

First on the sign-up sheet was Kate Crofton, over from Albany, who read 1 extended piece, “Store #224,” apologies to a lover while shopping in the Summer at Price Chopper on Central Ave.

Alexander Perez was here for the 1st time, also from Albany, began with a poem in the persona of a spider, “The Spinster,” then another with images of insects, bees, “On Bitterness,” then ended with “On War.”

Tim Verhaegen, who has been here often, read an essay about working for the State of New York for 30 years, & the endless meetings interrupted by meetings, “The New York State Division of Blah-Blah-Blah.”

I was the host for the open mic, as my co-host, Nancy Klepsch, hunkered down at home during the storm. I read, as I like to do each Xmas Holiday Season, Enid Dame’s (1943 - 2003) moving “Holiday Poem” with it’s stunning ending, “… we don’t need the solace of bought objects. We need each other’s light.”

The proprietor of Collar City Mushrooms, Avery Stempel, began with a poem about crows in Troy mocking him, then moved to images of Albany from the past, “A Trojan Reflects,” then brought us on home with a poem titled “Finding the Globe” captured by the song “The Last Dragon.”

& so that was the last of the year’s open mics at Collar City Mushrooms, but we plan to be back in 2023 each 2nd Sunday @ 2PM — bring your poetry &/or prose & read among the mushrooms. Happy New Year!