Writers Mic, December 14

This Zoom open mic has a hard-core of regulars with an occasional new voice, & this night there were a few, a sure way to judge its success. Our host is Jackie Craven.

Susan Jewell, definitely a regular, is a chronic participant in the Rattle Magazine monthly ekphrastic challenge & started off the night with her entry from October in the “duplex” form (invented by poet Jericho Brown: starts & ends with the same line, in couplets, 2 things going on at once) titled “Married to Sisyphus.”

I also read only 1 poem, a piece by the great, gone poet Enid Dame (1943 - 2003), a season piece titled “Holiday Poem,” ending with the moving lines, 

“… But

we don’t need the solace of bought objects.

We need each other’s light.” 

Mia Tharrington was new to this gathering, said that she used to drive tractor trailers, & read a poem titled “I Know” about the places she has known, her experiences moving forward.

Scot Morehouse’s piece tonight he said was true, “for the most part,” titled “A Letter from Helen,” a funny holiday letter like some folks send out with their Xmas cards, about Helen & the goings on of her family. 

It was good to see Catherine Norr, who used to host this open mic when it was at Arthur’s Market in Schenectady, now dialing in from Arizona; she read “Goat Farm Road,” from time spent this Summer in upstate NY, that she said is from a forth-coming collection.

Nathan Smith read a poem titled “My Heart is a Poet” which he said is from his first poetry book titled Cotton Candy Sun.

Suzanne Rancourt was also here for the 1st time, said she has a new book coming out in October, Songs of Archilochus from Unsolicited Press (the ancient Greek poet Archilochus, 680 - 645), read pieces for the anniversary of Sandy Hook, “Ordinarily She Marched, Uvalde,” & “When the Elephant in the Room stops Singing,” about a bugler. (Coincidently I had been reading some of the poetry of Archilochus who was referenced in a poem by Carolyn Forché in her latest collection In the Lateness of the World.)

Alexander Perez popped up again (see my last 2 Blogs), with an introductory piece titled “A Simple Poem,” then a poem he wrote today “Feeling Good.” 

 

Jackie Craven read a new piece, “Memory,” in which she invites Memory to move in with her.

Jackie noted there was still time left & invited folks to read another poem. Catherine Norr was the first to take her up on it with a poem in her persona as a 6 or 7-year old. Susan Jewell read one written for Rattle in 2019 “Love in the Time of Elon Musk.” Mia Tharrington read another poem written on the road titled “Haiku” that was not a Haiku but a longer piece in fractured rhymes. 

Writers Mic is a Zoom open mic held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month, starting at 7:30PM. You can find the link on the Facebook page for Writers Mic https://www.facebook.com/groups/378958103086510