Zooming Around in the Poetry Scene

One of the reasons, perhaps the main reason, that I started this Blog back in January 2007 was to archive a record of the poetry events that I attend. It was, & remains, the digital equivalent of the stacks of hand-written notebooks that I had accumulated over the years, filled with names, dates, titles of poems, etc. During the pandemic many of these events I documented were held on Zoom, & many of these readings & open mics & readings have continued to flourish online, even as more & more in-person events have been reborn or have started anew.

Many of these online events are being recorded & it has occurred to me that this is how it should be. For example, the NYS Writers Institute program of in-person readings & craft talks by writers are video taped & archived, & links can be found on their website.

One series that I have attended online is Jules’ Poetry Playhouse Reading originating from Placitas, New Mexico run by the poets Jules Nyquist & John Roche. On March 28 of this year the featured poet was Mary Oishi, the former Poet Laureate of Albuquerque. It was an entertaining 40 minutes or so of poetry & rather than offering my summary, here is a link to the Jules’ Poetry Playhouse YouTube channel. Enjoy! & check out their website for future events.

Another event that introduced me to 2 fine poets I hadn't heard previously was the Zoom gathering sponsored by the South Florida Poetry Journal (SoFloPoJo) on April 25, hosted by Judy Ireland. The featured poets were L.J. Sysko & Sean Singer, 2 very different poets in terms of content & style but equally engaging & both careful presenters of their work. 

L.J. Sysko is the author of The Daughter of Man (University of Arkansas Press, 2923), a revision of Rene Magritte’s iconic The Son of Man; her poems are a feminist “clinic in irony,” humorous, irreverent social commentary. Sean Singer’s Today in the Taxi (Tupelo Press, 2022) is a diary of a cab driver in New York City, & was a National Jewish Book Awards Winner. Check out the separate links to each poet; there are other links up for past readings.