Poetic Vibe, August 14

Finally, I made it back to Poetic Vibe in Troy, the weekly open mic/featured reading now at The Fish Market Gallery, the host still D. Colin. Mondays are difficult nights for me to get out to Troy after the Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace Vigil in Delmar, particularly in the Summer with the later start time. But here I was!

Danielle started us off with a draft of a piece about being a diabetic, then on to a tribute to teachers in general & to her 7th grade teacher, Mrs. Large, “Larger Than Life.”

Then on to the open mic list. The first reader was Nick with a self-portrait, like a note to a potential lover, “Am I Enough?” then more auto-biography, “The Fulfillment of Love.” I followed with a couple poems for the month of the Bomb, “August 1945” & “Poem for August 6.”

Nathan began with a short beach poem inspired by “Alec,” then a humorous revenge poem for his past lovers, “Welcome to Lake Indifference.” A last minute add to the list was Shalom who read a story about her hair, then one about being on stage “my hands are shaking…”

During the open mic, Danielle writes down lines that she likes, her impressions, etc., & then she reads her instant poem/Blog-without-a-Blogsite, great to hear the lines in different contexts

The featured poet tonight was El (Evelyn) who co-hosts readings at Troy’s Cafe Euphoria down on River St. She began with a poem on her phone, but moved on to others from a chapbook. She also had a hair poem that she did from memory; there was an untitled piece asking what is the poem, who is the poet. Most of her poems were untitled, some on death, on being vulnerable, even a poem based on poems & poets at an open mic, much like Danielle’s. All in all, a good performance from a poet who clearly enjoys presenting her work on stage.

Another of Danielle’s practices is to pass around a clipboard during the reading for the audience to compose a poem in the manner of the Surrealists’ “exquisite corpse” where each writer sees only the line that the person just before them wrote, so to conclude the evening Danielle read what the group wrote — always fascinating to hear the leaps & bounds such an exercise creates.

Poetic Vibe takes place every Monday at The Fish Market, 2952 6th Ave., Troy, NY, doors open at 7:00PM, open mic at 7:30PM.