2nd Tuesday All-Genre Open MIC OUT OF BENNINGTON, December 13

At 5:55PM, my computer informed me that “Traffic is moderate. It will take 59 min. to arrive on time." I had a better idea: I stayed home, a good choice because this event is on Zoom, there is no there to arrive to. I guess the computer was directing me to Charlie’s house.

So, Charlie Rossiter, our host, signed me up as the first reader & as a tribute to the late Bernadette Mayer I read a couple poems, one in each of the 2 rounds (as is the custom here), written at a poetry workshop held in Bernadette’s home in East Nassau, NY; in the first round “Saturday Hawk,” then later in the 2nd round “Triple Time Jacket.”

Cheryl Rice was “here” for the 1st time from Kingston, NY, & in her 1st round read a poem about a sign in the bathroom on a plane, “Turbulence;” then in her 2nd round a poem inspired by Diane Di Prima, “Ask For Everything,” wondering what to ask for. 

Bill Thwing dials in regularly from Western Pennsylvania & tonight read in his 1st round his Haiku responses to reading from Japanese Death Poems (Tuttle Publishing, 2018); then in his 2nd round a string of political Haiku.

Alexander Perez, who had shown up recently at Collar City Mushrooms 2nd Sunday @ 2 Open Mic in Troy, NY joined us for his 1st time in the 1st round with a poem titled “The Fire Dies Out Anyways” in which he screams at the fence post about mortality. In his 2nd round he read companion poems “Christmas Poem for My Dead Mother,” & “Hand Me Down,” his partner’s, his fathers, his own.

Our host Charlie Rossiter’s 1st round piece was a Vermont list poem “I Meant to Write About An Italian Deli Hotel Room Feast;” then in the 2nd round a seasonal poem, “The Xmas Letter,” a parody of such things.

Nancy Dunlop in her 1st round read Robert Creeley’s “I know a Man” (a poem about being in a car with a friend), then her poem based on it “A Dream with a Car in It.” In her round 2 she read a piece titled “Ex Machina.”

Sheryll Bedingfield, who is also a regular here, read a sweet piece about her 2 sons as grown men, “Dessert;” then in her 2nd round an older poem, another sweet one, about her parents, “Your Mother With Her Head on Upside Down Your Father Secretly a Poet” based on Chagall’s painting “The Yellow Room.”

Tom Nicotera began with a descriptive Xmas poem with blue birds; then in round 2 another one with birds, this about his daughter in his old sweater looking like a crow.

Julie Lomoe entertained us in the 1st round with singing her rendition of “It’s the Most Over-Hyped Time of the Year;” then in the 2nd round, ending the evening, from 2016, a memoir of her apartment on Broome St., NYC, & a cat, “Bela & the Rats.” 

That wasn’t quite it, as the reading devolved into a critique group, which, fortunately, it doesn’t usually. This is a Zoom event each 2nd Tuesday of the month at 7:00PM. If you are not yet on Charlie’s Zoom list & you want to join us, email Charlie at charliemrossiter@gmail.com & ask for the link.