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.