Book Launch: Ephemera by Sierra DeMulder, July 27

This was a rare trip for me to Caffè Lena twice in a month, both times for poetry, & a rare event here as well: a book launch. However, this being Caffè Lena, the opening act was a singer-songwriter (the mother-in-law of the feature performer, poet, Sierra DeMulder) Peggy Lynn, who was clearly a veteran of this stage.

Peggy Lynn’s set was what most think of what Caffè Lena is all about, a performer on the famous stage with a guitar, or banjo, singing songs of social import, or about going on down the road, or rebellion. Such as her opening “Color Outside the Lines.” Actually, Ms. Lynn played both the guitar & the banjo (not at the same time, of course), her banjo piece was a funny song about god. There was also the obligatory “new song,” hers about being on St. Regis Mountain. It was fun, the songs left you feeling good about yourself.

You can find a recording of her performance, as well as that of Sierra DeMulder, on the Caffè Lena Youtube channel. 

I first saw Sierra DeMulder read at "Invocation of the Muse" at Lark Hall in Albany in December 2022, but prior to that she had published 4 books of poetry. Tonight was the launch of her 5th book, Ephemera (button poetry, 2023), which she described as “about the peaks & valleys of life” & she offered up a generous selection of over half the poems in the book. There were poems about the death of her grandmother, about her ectopic pregnancy (more death), as well as poems about her daughter’s birth, & some tender love poems for her partner, with the ghost of poet Mary Oliver hovering over.

DeMulder has a professional, well-honed reading style & stage-presence, as you can see on the Youtube segment, undoubtedly from coaching & her time spent on the Slam poetry circuit. She was twice a runner-up for Slam Champion at the Women of the World Poetry Slam (WoWPS): in 2010 in Columbus, Ohio she was the 11th runner-up, & in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2013 she was in a 3-way tie for 8th place. In her reading tonight she avoided the ubiquitous stylized Slam gestures & clichés, while using her best stage voice to present her work.

If you are into poetry, the Caffè Lena Poetry Night, now in its 21st year, happens each 1st Wednesday of the month with a featured poet & an open mic for the rest of us, sign-up at 6:30PM, the featured reader at 7:00PM. The rest of the month you can find jazz, & more folk singers than you ever thought existed. Worth the trip from anywhere.