2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, July 9

My co-host has returned from a vacation in P-town, good to share the hosting duties with Nancy Klepsch. & there were 10 poets signed up on the list.

First up was another local poet who has recently returned from a trip, Rhonda Rosenheck recently returned from Iceland & read a piece titled “Another Problem with Being a Poet,” then a piece in 8 parts, 1 part for each of the students in the writing workshop she attended in Iceland. 

Joel Best read a piece from his bedside notes “After Here,” then an older piece he said he doesn’t remember writing, “Love Starved Ends Badly.”

Avery makes his space here at Collar City Mushrooms available to us each month to read poems, & likes to join in too; today he read snippets about places he has seen driving around, such as “6th Ave.” (a church), & the canvas of the sky seen at “The Delmar By-pass, Route 32.” Sally Rhoades read a new memoir poem, sparked by being on Amtrak, about her mother in the mental hospital, “Just Before Poughkeepsie.”

Alexander Perez read one piece, about 3 pages long, an intricate introspective pondering, titled “Gone,” about an empty space inside him that had given him meaning. My co-host, Nancy Klepsch began with a poem on the perennial debate between upstate & downstate, “Bad Bagel;” then a longer poem about wanting to be doing & being, to be safe, brave & free. Amber began with an Haiku from the news, then an elegy for a gone friend, poet, “To Carol.” 

Anna B. was new here, started with a love poem, “3 Women in the Woods,” then a short, but intricate, poem “Take Care.” Cat S. was also new here (is it the mushrooms?) read a long list poem, seasoned with humor, “Lessons in Fear.” I was the final poet with 2 poems submitted, but not prize-winners, in the Hudson Valley Writers Guild poetry contest, the Facebook-inspired fantasy, “Lily White,” & a true story told to me by a friend “Red Boots.” & that was that.

You can join us for a Sunday afternoon of poetry or prose, 2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, at Collar City Mushrooms, 333 2nd Ave., Troy, NY, — the name of the event tells all.

Caffè Lena Poetry Night, July 5

I hadn’t been here in months, for one reason or another, but was especially pleased to be back again to hear my dear friend Jill Crammond as the featured poet. Our host is Carol Graser who started off with a poem by someone else, the poem titled “Not This.” This night also marked the 20th anniversary of the Poetry Night at Caffè Lena, the first of which was actually held on July 23, 2003 — more on that some other time/some other Blog.

The reading by Jill Crammond was live-streamed & you can enjoy the whole thing on the Caffè Lena Youtube Channel  I think the first time I heard Jill read was at an open mic at Border’s on Wolf Rd, Colonie, NY back in 1997. Tonight she read mostly from her delayed forth-coming book Handbook for Unwell Mothers (Finishing Line Press), poems, she said, written over the last 10 years about her life as a woman, as a mother, although the poem she started with, “How to be a Bully,” is not in the book. She is also a visual artist & arts teacher so some of her poets are titled “Still Life …” Another poem not included in the book was a recent one titled “My Daughter Says an ‘Possum is a Strange Graduation Present.” Her reading was characteristically ironically humorous, but I urge you to spend 25 minutes or so watching the Youtube video.

The open mic is not live-streamed so you will just have to believe me (or my terse notes), but fortunately this night I was able to grab a shot of the sign-up sheet so at least I can spell the poets' names correctly.

First up was Catherine Clarke who read 2 poems from her chapbook Oh Shining Moon, the first a love poem, then the title poem (no information on publisher, etc.). Mary Ann Rockwell began with a poem titled “The Auction,” then one about NYC “In Mid-town.” Frank Desiderio was in the area for the Summer but read a poem about Boston along the “Freedom Trail,” titled “Tourist Trap,” then a ghazal (you can look that one up) “Town Crier.”

Brittany Maldanado must have looked around the room & seen all the grey hairs, decided we weren’t woke to the latest poetry trends, & asked “Do you know what spoken word is?” (a snarky retort was on the tip of my tongue but I let her question die in silence), she went on to recite a typically long example with the requisite stylized gestures about the first time she “spoke to god.” Rachel Baum, who is frequently here, read a poem about a particularly memorable day in January a couple years ago “Tomorrow’s Civics Textbook,” the a piece titled “I Would Be That Bud,” another long-COVID poem.

Leslie Sittner read a narrative of the return of a red-haired boyfriend, “The Boy Toy & the New Man,” then a piece titled “Respite,” & then another what she called a “pull-out” what amounted to a short version of the other poem; even Carol wondered if that was 3 poems, or perhaps 2 +. 

David Graham who is a regular & has been a featured reader read “Forgetfulness” about the sequelae of his stroke, then a poem about men, “Hard to Tell.” At which point we took a short break.

Back to the prodigious open mic sign-up list, our host Carol Graser got us back in rhythm with her poem about a woman & her children “Here with the Rugged Picnickers.” 

Naomi Bindman’s first poem was a recent one, an eco-, list poem “I Am the Lake,” then a poem from last year celebrating “Wonder.” Wendy Daniels' 2 poems were about her gone mother, the first titled “Loved Me the Most,” then one written this morning titled “Stuck.” My 2 poems were also related, the first from an encounter right here in Caffè Lena in October, a fantasy, “Witches in the Attic,” then a mysterious follow-up “The Witch’s Necklace.”

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard Jodi Frank read her poetry, let alone sit at her table, she read just 1, “The Lord is Crying” an eco-poem in which “The Lord” is a woman. Dimitri Dow began with a political piece on modern “slavery” titled “Freedom,” then a sad poem on a high school suicide, “What Lies Beneath the Sleeve.” 

Jackie Craven hosts a long-running Zoom poetry open mic on the 2nd Wednesday of the month, Writers Mic, which I try to attend, so this was a rare chance to see her read in person; she read 2 prose poems about Real Estate, “Realtor,” then one about a bill-board blocking her view “Super-Sized.” Sarah Craig is the Caffè Lena Executive Director, tonight took a spot on the poetry open mic list to read an eco-poem talking about “when the rain fell down,” then an elegy for a cat titled “It’s Hard to Let Go.”

Lin Murphy read a rhyme about training to be a yoga teacher in her 60th year. Crystal Horn read notebook entries on being in the desert, then a piece titled “I Think” in which she ponders the uncertainties of her poems.

Sally Rhoades, a mother & grandmother, read a poem titled “How Do Children Grow Up?” a meditation on guns prompted by watching children playing in an airport, then one titled “Rock Courage.” 

Although Sierra DeMulder has published 5 books of poetry she has only been making an appearance locally at open mics during the last year; tonight she read from Ephemera (Button Poetry, 2023), but without mentioning the titles, the first, with grim humor, about regretting her marriage vows, the 2nd about reading Mary Oliver, thinking of her grandmother, discursive, pensive poems.

The Caffè Lena Poetry Night takes place each month on the 1st Wednesday, 6:30PM sign-up, 7:00PM for the featured poet who is live-streamed, then an open mic for the rest of us, with a 2 poem limit — $5.00. Check out the menu for food & drinks. Let’s see if we can make it last another 20 years …

Troy Pride Night Poetry Reading: Alexander Perez, June 23

In conjunction with a Pride Month celebration in downtown Troy, there was a reading by poet Alexander Perez at the opening/unveiling of his poem “Origins” mounted on the South wall  of the Troy Architectural Program (TAP) building at 210 River St., Troy. Alexander’s poem was the winner of the Pride Poetry Contest sponsored by TAP & the Hudson Valley Writers Guild. The contest was developed and organized by Nancy Klepsch, local poet and Shawn McCann of TAP, Inc., & was judged by Atsushi Akera (she/her), the general manager of Cafe Euphoria in Troy.

Alexander began his brief reading with a poetic intro including a piece beginning “Love is a queer thing…” then on to a reading his poem on the wall, “Origins;” there was even a poem titled “Origins 2.” What he read were mostly descriptive, story poems of a tender relationship, including “Poem for 2 Men in Love,” “Making a Living,” “Black Locust” (the tree as metaphor), & “In the Poet’s Garden.”

In his statement in the press release announcing this event, Alexander said, “Without the uplifting force of love, I would not have found my calling as a writer. My husband and I celebrate my creative achievements as an artistic victory over the spiritually, mentally, and materially life-destroying forces of hate, and only wish for a world where loving one’s self or another could be less conflictual.” 

The poem/mural will be up as long as the forces of Nature allows. 

Poetry Open Mic at Pine Hollow Arboretum, June 16

This open mic with featured readers held in a house among the trees is back, it seems. This night there were 2 featured poets, Philip Good & the host/coordinator of the series, Alan Casline, but more on that in a few paragraphs.

First up on the open mic list was Philomena Moriarty who read her latest work, a list poem, “What Is In the Blood,” then an Irish tale “Shape Shifter.” 

There is a type, or category, or genre of poems that are introduced by the poet by saying, “I wrote this poem in a workshop run by Bernadette Mayer…” I read one of my entries in that category, “Saturday Hawk,” the a recent poem carved on the street in Philadelphia, based on a poem with the same title by William Carlos Williams, “The Great Figure.”

Frank Robinson began with a rhyming piece on metaphor, then a poem on death, “Fearing Nothing.”

The first of the feature poets was Philip Good, who began with a poem from a short-lived zine, Tsatsawassa, then on to a cluster of “untitled” poems (except for the numeric designation) he did in collaboration with the recently gone poet Bernadette Mayer from the 2010 collection The New Decade Poems. Then on to new work from an East Nassau writers group, with a list poem titled “More Things to Do in East Nassau” (if you ever want to know), followed by other poems all with titles, unlike the ones he began with, titles like “Harmony,” “Punctuation,” “In the Corner,” but the titles don’t tell you much, they just go on from there. Philip has read in the past in many of the local venues, including as a feature at the Third Thursday Poetry Night.

The second featured poet, our host Alan Casline, continued the Bernadette connection with a poem written for the assignment “Imagine a Poem by Bernadette Mayer” for which Alan wrote “Why I Live in the Country” (for a further take on this exercise see the recent collection by Mayer from New Directions (2022) Milkweed Smithereens with a poem by Mayer, “Imagine a Poem by Alan Casline”). The rest of his reading were “newer poems” — “Song for Road of Dreams,” “Casual Nightmare,” “Black Helicopters Fly Fast & Low,” “How the War Goes,” & “The Beauty Wait.”

Joe Krausman led off the rest of the open mic list with another poem on mortality “You Can’t Take it With You” with the requisite dose of humor, & one that sounds like a love poem on "Comfort.”  

I haven’t seen John Mason read his poetry out in years, tonight he started off with a poem he said was dated June 5 “Who Put the U in Guilt?,” then, appropriately enough for the Arboretum, “A Week in Trees.” Tom Corrado, known for his hundreds of “Scream Dumps” read what he called “a proto-dump” titled “That Was Then … This is Now” a multi-play ramble with an undefined “you” which you (the person reading this) can find on his Blog dated June 16, 2023. 

Francesca Sidoti read a family poem, referencing the up-coming Fathers Day, titled “Consanguineal 2”; then a beach description with word-play “Niche.” 

Kathy Smith read 2 poems from her recently published book Let the Stones Grow Soft (The Troy Book Makers, 2023), “When I Was Four and a Half” & “Three Ex-boyfriends.”

Mark O’Brien mentioned the late Cormac McCarthy, then read a meditative piece on aging & death, McCarthy’s favorite topics, then, after mentioning another dead celebrity, Treat Williams, read a memoir of riding bikes as a kid “And I Dreamed I Was Flying.” Tom Bonville read the family memoir piece I believe he read at the Melville reading in Troy last year, “Fish the River Troy 1959.” 

Paul Amidon began with a re-telling of the Biblical prophecy from the New Testament “Four Horsemen,” then a personal tale of trying to fall asleep “Pastrami on Rye.” Mimi Moriarty was the final reader with the meditation on aging “I Understand,” then a philosophical pondering, “Instructions on Flying.”

I’m not sure of the frequency of this series, but right now it seems to be monthly on the third Friday, apparently a featured poet (or 2) with an open mic for the rest of us, out among the trees at the Pine Hollow Arboretum in Slingerlands, NY.

 

Third Thursday Poetry Night, June 15

A roomful of community poets & friends showed up to support our featured poet Darcy Smith. But first I invoked the Muse, tonight not a poet (except in the broadest sense of that word), but a painter & great friend of the local arts community, Wren Panzella, who left us in May for that great art gallery in the sky.

The open mic list had filled up quick, but I was able to squeeze Sylvia Barnard into a slot at the top of the list (her favorite spot), & she read a humorous, true poem about a squirrel & “The Race” a frequent occurrence in her neighborhood on the Park. Francesca Sidoti read a Father’s Day poem, a memoir of fishing, titled “A Day with Dad.” Ellen Rook, a recent former-feature here, was back with yet another poem with a squirrel, “At Halliwell School” in Rhode Island, on her way to a funeral.

Valerie Temple read a new poem, in rhyme, “Do You Know What I’m Trying to Say?” looking for love & respect. Joe Krausman’s poem, titled “3-Part Invention,” was also in rhyme 3 short parts. Jenny Ezzo came to support her friend Darcy, said she reads poetry daily, & read “Singularity” by Marie Howe.

Darcy Smith, our featured poet tonight, has a debut book of poetry out from Fernwood Press, River Skin, from which she read. She started with a poem translated into American Sign Language, “Egg Shells” remembering Nana’s kitchen under anesthesia, then a tritina (a smaller version of the sestina) about resilience set along the river, with lilacs, “Be the Quelling Breeze.” A poem set at the Duchess County Fair was the richly descriptive memoir “After the Tilt-a-Whirl” filled with dizziness & violence. “Persistence Roots” took us back to the woods, as did the repeated lines of “Loose Gravel” & the trash along the tracks by the Hudson River. “Dior & Lobster” had perhaps the most unusual title, a funny piece with a lobster as a sexy woman; “This Art Has Eyes” was inspired by a computer generated version of Munch’s famous painting “The Scream.”  “If You Meet My Father” was a tender, beautiful portrait as an introduction, & she concluded with the voices of other poets, a Cento that borrowed lines from poets Ocean Vuong, W.S. Merwin, & Wallace Stevens, among others, titled “Dear Mother of Beauty.” Then it was time to buy River Skin.

After the break I started off what remained of the open mic list by reading a poem inspired by Wren Panzella’s painting “Missing Pieces,” another of her characteristic swirling jazz paintings, apparently a portrait of the jazz musician Sun Ra. Melissa Anderson read about being on a quest to buy antique sewing machines, found herself “5 Miles from Maple St.” in Vermont, & wrote about it. 

Geri Walsh had read with us at the Walt Whitman Birthday celebration, tonight came here to listen, signed up inadvertently, so read a Haiku about biking along the Erie Canal. Another new name on the list was Anthony Willins who read a poem about being out with friends listening to a band, resisting a void. Josh the Poet, who is a regular here,  recited a new piece, returning us to rhyme, “A Chosen Love,” pondering what may be in the future for love. 

Joan Goodman squeezed in at the end with what was more accurately described as a comedy routine, in costume & in the voice of a Jewish grandmother.

Join us each third Thursday of the month at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY at 7:30PM for an open mic with a featured poet — your donation supports poetry programming in Albany & the work of the Social Justice Center. Hope to see you there.