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.