Third Thursday Poetry Night, February 16

In January The Third Thursday Poetry Night here at the Social Justice Center was cancelled due to the weather, so this was the first event in the series for 2023. Gordon Davis who had been scheduled in January has been re-scheduled for July, 2023.

Paul Lamar

Tonight’s featured poet was Paul Lamar. The night’s Muse was the recently gone poet Bernadette Mayer (1945 - 2022), who was associated for many years with the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s in the Bouwerie in NYC, but since 2000 she had lived in East Nassau with her partner the poet Philip Good. She had been a featured poet here at the Third Thursday Poetry Night & in Poets in the Park, as well at most other poetry venues in the region. This night I read her poem “Helen Green” from Bernadette’s 2013 New Directions Poetry Pamphlet (#3) The Helens of Troy, N.Y.

The night’s sign-up sheet included not only some “regulars” here but a couple of writers new here, drawn in by Paul Lamar. First up was Francine Berg with a moving funeral oration to a gone veteran, “Hallowed Ground.” Robert Knightly read a short prose memoir about being a pro bono attorney representing people incarcerated at Rikers Island, NYC. 

Catherine Dickert has been here previously, &  has been a student in Paul Lamar’s writing classes/workshops; the piece she read tonight was a richly descriptive memoir of her early years in school.

Paul Lamar began his reading by talking about the creative importance of titles for poems & other pieces of writing, & what he read this night all had titles that were like doors opening to the poem that followed, for example “The Clarinet Teacher,” “For a Man to Whom I May Have Caused Some Embarrassment,” “Theatre de la Pergola” (in Milan, a classical music concert with a companion), the anaphoric “When Love Goes,” & “Phone Call for Neal.” Paul contributes the notes on the composers for the programs for the Albany Symphony Orchestra so it is no surprise that a number of poems contained references to classical music, “August 11” from a cool weather concert outdoors, “Opus 90 Early Morning” (Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 in F), & the aforementioned “Theatre de la Pergola.” A poem for his mother was titled “St. Peter’s Hospital Waiting Room,” & he ended with a poem for his partner, “English Sonnet for Mark.” It was apparent that he carefully orchestrated (pun intended) the selections & sequence of the works he read for his appreciative audience.

Catherine Dickert

We took a short break while I passed my hat through the audience that was as generous as they had been attentive. Then we continued with the open mic, & I read a poem I had written in one of Bernadette Mayer’s writing workshops, “Saturday Hawk,” based on listening to Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins & other jazz musicians of the be-bop era.

Alexander Perez has been reading his fine poems at many of the local open mics, many of them in the voice of other creatures, this night it was a whale looking for love “Humpback Love Song.” Joe Krausman regularly reads here but he had trouble reading, even with his trusty magnifying glass, his much-published poem (& one of my favorites), “The Passionate Accountant to His Love,” so I stepped up to read it for him & I saw that it was a page from a published version printed in about 11 point type.

Sylvia Barnard, another frequent-reader here, read a 2-part urban elegy starting with the image of the now vacant site of Ralph’s bar on the corner of Madison & New Scotland Avenues, then ending with a dream of her gone friend. Tom Bonville read a chilling & moving piece of poetic prose with images of the shooting at the supermarket in Buffalo, NY then crows visiting the scene.

The Third Thursday Poetry Night happens regularly on the, well, third Thursday of the month at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY, starting at 7:30PM, a featured reader with an open mic for community poets/writers — even William Kennedy has read in the open mic, why not you?

All Genre Open Mic Out of Bennington, February 14

Charlie Rossiter (our host) & I go way back even before 3 Guys from Albany. When he moved to Chicago many years back Tom Nattell & I would visit him there & participated in open mics that he organized where he developed his opening, hip-hop-inspired rant ending with “the mic is open.”  Which it then was.

Since this was Valentine’s Day I decided that the poems I would read would be on the theme; in the 1st round I read one from my single days in the mid-1970s in NYC written from the point of view of a gorilla in a cage in Europe “And a Venus on a Half Shell;” in the 2nd round I read one titled “Adirondack Life,” from 2006.

Bill Thwing’s poems in both rounds were based on Haiku, actually his 1st round poem was a song he wrote on a Japanese Death poem, he played the song on his phone, the recurring line was “I love people but then I loathe ‘em;” in the 2nd round he read from a Haiku anthology edited by Charlie Rossiter in the late 1970s, at the end Charlie talked about his experience editing it the volume.

Sheryll Bedingfield in the 1st round read a love poem from her 2016 book The Clattering, “Isabele & Ian Early On” set in 16th century Scotland; then in the 2nd round one titled “Mountains” filled with “grey-green giants,” also, perhaps, a love poem.

Alexander Perez’s piece had the strange historical title “The Apocryphal Note to St. Valentine” but was a love poem to his boy friend; in the 2nd round he read one titled simply “Juniper,” a portrait/meditation.

In both rounds Tom Nicotera stayed on the theme of the day with love poems, in the 1st round the short “Midnight Lovers,” then in the 2nd round the tender “Waking with You in the Morning (to Sherry).”

Our host, Charlie Rossiter was next, said he has been digging around in his files again, found a descriptive piece about Santa Fe “Plaza Morning;” then in round 2 one from the old days in D.C. about a restaurant gone now “One Summer Day at the Pig’s Foot.”

Julie Lomoe was distracted by her dinner & when Charlie announced she was next she said, “I thought I was after Charlie;” in both rounds she read pieces that had been published recently in a publication titled New Authors Journal; in the 1st round she read one written for this past Fall’s Herman Melville reading titled “River Reminiscing” the sections in the order of geography, not time; in the 2nd round, “I Can Hear Clearly Now” a memoir about getting hearing aids. Clearly Julie, with a couple of ample novels under her belt, & a long-time habitué of open mics, is not a “new author,” but I guess that is just the name of the journal.

Naomi Bindman read in the 1st round the somewhat revised “The Shape of Wind” 2 hawks flying, a description as the title says; in the 2nd round she read another visually captivating piece that she screen-shared (the wonders of Zoom) “heart space.”

Always fun & filled with poets from everywhere else — every 2nd Wednesday from Bennington, VT, but you don’t have to be. If you are not on Charlie’s ever-expanding list & you want to join us, send him an email (charliemrossiter@gmail.com) & ask for the Zoom link — see you “there.”

 

2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, February 12

My co-host, Nancy Klepsch, was back! albeit with a cane — we missed her. & there was a mixed bag of open mic poets from far & near.

First up was Rhonda Rosenheck who explained that she does a Wordle each day & writes a poem using the words, did a series of 7 tankas (was that more than the 2 poem limit?) from the Wordle poems.

I was next on the list with a poem from Earth Day 2022, a challenge by Mark Tremont to write a poem based on the texts in the windows of his I Fill Ink Jets shop in Delmar, my poem titled “2 Dreams,” then my annual Birthday Poem this year titled “Magic in Gloucester.”

Avery Stempel, who each month opens up his shop for the poets (he’s one too!) for this open mic, read 2 “morning poems,” the first titled “Waiting for Coffee,” the next “A Brief Encounter” with crows.

Alexander Perez said that his poem “Breath Bank, or How to Save Moonlight” was based on a video he saw of people taking turns inflating a weather balloon with their own breaths, the poem played on “Moon” & love.

Joel Best’s poem, “July 1967,” set up as a discussion with a friend about Viet Nam (“worries in retrospect”), was a rare foray for him into autobiography.

Kathy Smith said that she hasn’t read out in 3 or 4 years but one wouldn’t know from the poems she read, the first in the persona of Sarah, the wife of Abraham, then her take on “13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”

Cheryl Rice read from a collection of her poems that came out just before the pandemic, Love’s Compass (Kung Fu Treachery Press, 2019), a love poem “Morning Has a Life of Its Own,” & a poem to the late, great poet Donald Lev, “Ponies.”

Our co-host, Nancy Klepsch, was back after a few months hiatus, with a poem she said was coming out in the esteemed Trailer Park Quarterly about one of her students, “Mama I See Your Daughter.”

Laura Ellzey almost didn’t get to read, she had signed up on Avery’s email list rather than the open mic sign-up sheet, but we got her in; she read 2 older poems, the imagistic “Depression,” & what she called “a recording of my inner brain” “Bad Words.”

You can join us each 2nd Sunday @ 2PM here at Collar City Mushrooms, 333 Second Ave., Troy for an open mic for poetry & prose. Maybe even go home with a bag of mushrooms.

Writers Mic, February 8

Our host, Jackie Craven, has returned to the Schenectady area from Florida, which doesn’t mean much if you are on Zoom & can be anywhere on Earth (or elsewhere?) — which is also a good thing. Although online, there is a lot of warm interaction among & between the poets.

First up on the list was Sue Oringel starting with 2 “tiny,” as she said, Valentines poems starting with a 1958 childhood memory of her parents arguing, & a limerick from 2015 by her boyfriend then/husband now. & a poem inspired both by her family history & the romance movie Dr. Zhivago, “The Cold Reminds Me.”

David Graham began with a meditation on aging as he turns 70 this month, “Nearing 70” a conversation with his doctor post stroke & learning to speak; then some tiny poems, funny, linking nature & politics.

I was next with an old poem brought to mind by the recent “green comet,” a poem about the 2017 American eclipse, “Spathe is the Plathe,” then my annual “Birthday Poem” subtitled “Magic in Gloucester.”

Ellen White Rook’s first poem responded to an XJ Kennedy poem on Duchamp's “Nude Descending the Staircase,” then a more personal one titled “Tender at 2 Am” about a conversation with a “mad brother,” as she put it. 

Scot Morehouse usually reads hilarious/outrageous prose stories, tonight he read a couple of Valentines poems, “When You Care Enough To Send the Very Best” where love comes from, & “Another Valentines Day Without a Card From You” in which he talks to the ashes of a past lover.

Beth B said she was dialing in from outside Woodstock, NY, that she had found this even "by mistake" but hung around to read some poems, in rhyme, “For Teddy” a sad poem to one who had died, then a more cheerful piece, & another about looking for the happy life “Waiting for Life.”

Alan Catlin read from Altered States an old file that had been corrupted & now restored by his wife, the poems “The State of New York,” & “The State of Massachusetts” about an old new Bedford whalers, then a new one “The Naked Room,” about his early years, & visiting an old hospital.

Alexander Perez read from a poetry magazine his work had be published in, short pieces from others, then one of his own, an elegy for the past “Touch My Fingers with Fire as if They Were Candles” trying to capture the heat of the past of lovers. 

The 1st three poems that Naomi Bindman read can be found on the Hudson Valley Writers Guild website “Lament,” “Why Write when it’s All Been Done Before,” “Found Poem: Texting with My Brother,” then she read a longer piece she has worked on for a year “The Shape of the Wind” with images of hawks flying, a piling up of sounds & visions of the wind.

Francine Farina was here for the 1st time with a couple of descriptive poems “The Final Visit” at a gravesite, & “Northeast Winter.”

Jackie Craven read a surrealistic prose poem, “Surveillance Video Shows Suitcases Resisting Arrest” just out in Pleiades.

Whether you know how to get “here” or just stumble in it by accident, you can get the Zoom link from the Writers Mic Facebook page  so you can join us each 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7:30PM. Have some poems handy to read.

Caffè Lena Poetry Night, February 1

I’d missed the last couple month’s readings at Caffè Lena so I was glad to get back to Saratoga Springs in 2023. Our host, Carol Graser, got us started with a poem by May Swenson, “The Process,” then on to the featured poet, Hajar Hussaini, whose reading was live streamed & you can view it on YouTube 

Hajar Hussaini is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at nearby Skidmore College. I was not familiar with her work & was more than pleasantly surprised by what I heard. She read about a dozen poems from her debut poetry collection, Disbound (University of Iowa Press, 2022), in the order they appear in the book. There were poems about her native Kabul, such as the opening poem “notes from Kabul,” also “losing sight,” & “simple café;” a “classic American road trip poem” (“road trip”); &, wonderfully, a love poem (“peopleless”). Her last poem was a poem not in Disbound, “Look at the Moon” in multiple parts. Her work is a combination of word-play, informative spacing, & surrealistic leaps in the things/images, just the kind of poetry I like, but you can judge for yourself by watching the YouTube, &/or buying her book.

Then back, without a pause or a break, to the open mic list. Since I was able to snag a photo of the sign-up list I was able to see why Carol often just announces the first name of the reader, or even has trouble with that, the legibility of the names on the list for some, but not most, was mysterious. I will do my best to report the correct name here, but I offer no guarantees. If you are reading this & I mis-report your name, please email me at this Blog & I will correct it.

First up was R.J. as Carol announced it which was what it looked like to me, with a couple untitled pieces, the first like a letter, the other in rhyme.  Anne Brennan use her walker from her seat to get to the stage & eschewed the stairs to read from her walker; her first piece was, she said, “her father’s song” about gardening, her next was a meditation on violence &  the recent murder by police of Tyre Nichols. Robert Preuse was a flash-from-the-past, a poet from the early days of this long-running open mic, tonight he did a long intro to his clever poem titled “Word He Made Up,” then another short one that may have been untitled.

Alexander Perez has been making the rounds of the open mics in last few months, tonight his first poem was titled “On the Roads We Traveled,” then a piece about a butterfly in the garden, “The Crush of Mint.” 

Amanda Blodgett is a regular here & read 3 Haiku, as she said, “on my current situation.” Also a frequent reader here, Leslie Sittner read a piece titled “The Roach” about her dog who had to be taken to the vet for mysterious symptoms until it was determined it had eaten a joint.

Pauline Bame read an elegy to Bob Dylan’s former girlfriend, who died in 2011, “Suze Rotolo is Dead,” then a poem by Barbara Crooker “Praise Song.” Iffy Redman has been coming here to read since the early days, tonight read a poem titled “Beneath Bone” & mentioned she has a memoir coming out next year. Chuck Coperspire said this was his first time reading on the East Coast; he began with a self-parody titled “Mixed Bag,” then a piece titled “Check on Your Strong Friends,” & squeezed in a short 4 line “spell” “Serendipity.”

As far as I can tell, Todd Fabozzi has been coming to the Caffè Lena Poetry Night since 2008 when he published his first collection of poems Umbrageous Embers; he has gone on to publish other collections & tonight read from his latest, Poems & Anti-Poems, Book 4 the poems “The Muse on His Shoulder,” & one on rhyme like a greeting card, “Happy Valentines Day.” Jan Tramontano has been a featured poet here, & a long-time habitué of readings & open mics in the area; she noted that Holocaust Remembrance Day was on January 27, read her poem “What We Remember” from her chapbook Woman Sitting in a Café and Other Poems of Paris (The Troy Book Makers, 2008), inspired by a poem by Edward Hirsch. 

Our gracious host, Carol Graser, was the next reader with a seasonal poem titled “Icicles.” Sally Rhoades was yet another of the fine poets who have been at Caffé Lena often & way back, & way before that at Albany open mics; she began with a poem about the great, gone poet Stanley Kunitz, “Nonpareils, for My Father” then a poem from her 2022 chapbook Greeted by Wildflowers (A.P.D.) “I Have Danced with Druids.” & I had the pleasure of following all these other poets with a poem for another Albany poet, Tom Nattell, my elegy “Chasing Tom;” on this past Monday a number of us held our annual memorial Beret Toss in his memory at the Robert Burns statue in Albany’s Washington Park.

Tonya Wile began with a piece titled “A Lesson in Losing,” with a Buddhist-like line “all will be lost,” then a descriptive piece “Meditating.” Melissa Anderson’s first piece was the short “Dark Star,” then “New Years Countdown” which was a literal countdown. The pieces that Jenna Kitchen, who was new to me, read were titled “Gleaners” & “Oblivion.” Elaine Kenyon’s poems, written on loose pages, were both about teachers, the first about a teacher she worked with who died recently, “The Van Keeps Moving,” the other “Dear Niki” to a Kindergarten teacher. Rodney Parrott also read a death/tribute poem titled “I No Longer Have a Guru.” The final poet for the night, E.R. Vogel, read 2 poems with questions, but seemingly without titles, from a book he published last year titled Love Poems & Other Stuff (if memory serves me correctly, since he didn't announce the title of the book tonight).

The Caffè Lena Poetry Night is usually packed with open mic readers (tonight there were 18), & there is a featured reader, who is live-streamed at the start of the night, at 7:30PM — 47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs, NY, $5.00. 

 

Sand Lake Center for the Arts Authors Series, January 12

“It was a dark & stormy night…” is perhaps not the best way to start a story, but this description of the night it was indeed accurate, but inside the Sand Lake Center for the Arts (SLCA) it was warm & cozy. This was the inaugural Authors Series of readings, writers talk, & book signings here at the SCCA in Averill Park, NY. Tonight’s kick-off of the series featured author Paul Grondahl who was interviewed by Chet Opalka. Paul is the Director of the New York State Writers Institute, was a long-time reporter for the Albany Times Union, & still contributes regular columns to the TU, & biographer of Mayor Erastus Corning, of Theodore Roosevelt, among other books. Chet Oplaka is a local businessman, community leader & philanthropist, founder of the Opalka Gallery at the Russell Sage College Campus in Albany, & known for wearing a button that says “Collaborate, Collaborate.”

Paul began by talking about his arrival at the University at Albany in 1981 as an English major, immediately meeting William Kennedy (who was here tonight in the front row, as he is at most the the Writers Institute events). Paul said that he never took a journalism course, but felt that his job as a reporter at the TU gave him a privilege & a sacred trust to be invited into the homes of community people for them to share their stories of their tragedies, their struggles.

The ensuing conversation included his work on the Corning biography, & how he learned so much about the history of Albany by reading through the newspaper’s files of clippings on the Mayor & on the Democratic Party boss Dan O’Connell. Among the mentors & elders that Paul mentioned were, of course, Writers Institute founder William Kennedy, legendary newspaper editor Harry Rosenfeld, & journalists Andy Rooney & Walter Conkrite. 

Back on October 21, at the Opalka Gallery in Albany, there was a celebration of 20 years of the Gallery honoring Chet & his wife Karen & for their ongoing support of the collaborative arts community. The program included pop-up performances by Albany Pro Musica, the REP, the Black Theatre Troupe, Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company, & the NYS Writers Institute, who had commissioned me to write & perform a poem on the theme of “Collaboration” for the event.

The SLCA Authors Series, which has a schedule of literary events in many genres, continues through November 9. For a full list of the events, including theater & musical productions visit their website at https://slca-ctp.org

Writer’s Mic, January 11

Since this open mic is held on Zoom our host, Jackie Craven, can be in Florida this month, & we can be wherever we are, as always, & still be "together."

I continued my current practice of reading poems written in 2022, starting with “Last Night’s Dream,” then one work still in progress/not-yet-abandoned, “I Have Some Masks,” based on Joy Harjo’s “She Had Some Horses.”

Scot Morehouse read another of his richly-imagined, hilarious tales, this titled “Reading is Believing” set in Paris, TX, about a character, Hank, whose vasectomy was announced in the newspaper, & subsequently he is visited by “an amazingly mature” Girl Scout, Brittany, & the eventual court battle.

David Graham read the poem, “Cameo Appearance” by the recently gone Charles Simic, then David’s own, recently written, “Epiphany.”

Susan Jewell said she has been writing some short things like koans, she said & read a series of them, with titles like — Seaside Zen (by Clark Carroll - Jackie & Susan) — “Craft Talk,” “Electronic Ignition,” “The Tides End with Moon,” “Tables of Content,” “The First Time,” “House & Home,” “Rental Cars,” “Vegetables,” “Practicing Daily Astonishment 1,” & “Rationalized Existence.”

Jackie Craven describe her piece as an absurdist poem in 9 short parts titled “Compact Florescence,” on the theme of light, some like koans as well.

Naomi Bindman apologized to me for reading the same poems she read last night at the Zoom open mic from Bennington that I also attended — but I like to say that it is always good to hear good poems again (& again!) — to quote myself from the previous Blog: 

"Marble Goddess,” responding to a poem by Rosemary Wahtola Trommer, also a grieving mother; then … she read a new poem written New Years Day titled “Burning Wishes” for her daughter, Ellen, 14 years gone.” & a third one she had recently posted on her FaceBook page, one word per line, titled “My Poem."

Always good to see Alan Catlin here, tonight he read childhood memory poems, the first titled “The Last Summer We Went to Coney Island,” the in the voice of a child about her mother driving, & one set in the town dump about his "socio-path" cousin Doug.

Alexander Perez’s poems were “God is the Ultimate Party Planner” imagining the world expanding while going to sleep, “On Snow” an imagistic meditation, & the grim narrative of “On Loneliness.” 

Nathan Smith read poems from his recently published book Cotton Candy Sun, one, “Broken Heater,”  written a year ago today, on his father & the man fixing the furnace, following his thoughts strung together, on writing, & one simply titled “Lover.” 

You can find the Zoom link for this monthly open mic, 2nd Wednesdays, 7:30PM EST, on FaceBook at Writer’s Mic. Join us.  

All Genre Open Mic out of Bennington, January 10

Nobody had to drive to Bennington in the dark for this open mic, except for our host, Charlie Rossiter, who was already there. I Zoomed in from the warmth & safety of my home. One piece each round.

In the early months of the New Year, I’m reading at open mics poems written in 2022, some of which I have read at 2022 open mics; in the first round I read “The Rescue” about an encounter at the Caffe Lena Poetry Open Mic; then in the 2nd round a poem I think I never read out previously, “What I Saw at the Mall.”

Bill Thwing frequently brings out his guitar as he did this night for his 1st round piece, a sad song based on a restructured poem about helping the homeless, what a church is for; in the 2nd round a response to a Haiku in an anthology, thus a renga.

Cheryl Rice dialed in from Kingston, NY; her 1st poem, the descriptive “Spring in the Village;” in the 2nd round she read a piece from the early days of the pandemic, “Two Weeks.”

Bruce Robinson began with a sonnet based on a painting by Hendrik Abercame; in his 2nd round he read a piece about being on a bus, in16 lines, “Seat Yourself.” 

Alexander Perez read a descriptive narrative about being at an Adirondack lake “Holiday’s End;” then in the 2nd round his poem “In the Catalog of Smiles” was an interesting take on searching for one to fit his face.

Our host, Charlie Rossiter, read 2 poems he has submitted for publication recently; in the 1st round, “Spirit Days” based on a used copy of Ginsberg’s Indian Journals with lines left behind, like a letter to the previous owner; 2nd time around read “A Fable for the Times” about bears at the door.

It was great to have poet Naomi Bindman back after a hiatus during the Fall with a piece titled “Marble Goddess,” responding to a poem by Rosemary Wahtola Trommer, also a grieving mother; then in the 2nd round she read a new poem written New Years Day titled “Burning Wishes” for her daughter, Ellen, 14 years gone.

Mark W. O’Brien talked about the places in upstate New York he has been reading about in old records, such as an 1888 newspaper; then read a sonnet based on characters from his work-in-progress.

Jim Madigan regularly dials in from Illinois, in the 1st round read a poem written on random pieces of paper, like a list, “Slipping Poetry Across the Border;” then in his 2nd round a poem about the anniversary of the walk on the Moon, “From Above.”

Tom Nicotera said he was reading “another hopelessly romantic poem,” “Her Voice New Year’s Eve 2022 for Sherry;” then his 1st poem of the New Year, in 2 parts, New Years Eve & New Years Day, about being alone with COVID, numbered lists.

Julie Lomoe read only in round 1, left to watch the Golden Globe Awards, she read a serious, anaphoric list poem about her dead dog, Sirius.

This open mic (for all genres) is a monthly Zoom event held on the 2nd Tuesdays at 7:00PM EST. If you haven’t made it to Charlie’s list yet you can email him at charliemrossiter@gmail.com & ask for the link.