2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, September 10

The poets’ monthly gathering among the mushrooms for an open mic. The hosts are Nancy Klepsch & me — seems like I was just here (in Troy), as indeed I was, yesterday, for River Poems (see the previous Blog).

First on the open mic sign-up was Bob Sharkey; the first poem he read was “An American Day” a Frank O’Hara-like record of “first I did this, then I did this…:” then a piece with his comments on yesterday’s River Poems & a tribute to the recently gone Jimmy Buffet “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”

Rhonda Rosenheck started off with a nod to the up-coming Jewish holidays with a poem about being pencilled into the Book of Life “#2 Pencil,” then one about seeing herself in a mirror while shopping down in Chatham, “Defective - a Love Story.”

I also had a poem on Rosh Hashanah from a visit some years back to Gloucester “Tashlich,” then one about the unusual names I collected during my day job “Vaseline Johnson.”

Joel Best read just one piece, “Dinner No Dancing,” describing a place where he had dinner with his wife, weaving in other memories.

My co-host, Nancy Klepsch, read a couple pieces from her (marvelous) 2017 collection of poems God Must Be A Boogie Man — ask Nancy about getting a copy of her book, if you don’t have it already.

Julie Lomoe once again sang her song, “Sympathy for Cleopatra,” for her new cat, the song based on the hit by the Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil.”

Kathy Smith read a poem not in her new book (Let the Stones Grow Soft, The Troy Book Makers), with an interesting title, “Chicken Can’t Go Nowhere Anymore.”

One of David Gonsalves pieces was untitled (as they often are), the other short piece was titled “Afterthought.”

Avery, who makes this space available to us each month, read his poem “An Invocation” from the anthology Amongst the Mushrooms, which you can find here at Collar City Mushrooms.

Sally Rhoades read from her continuing series of memoir pieces “One Black Student” about a friend in high school, then a piece about she survived in her journey of life “Thistle.” & that was it for this month.

2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose is a monthly open mic at Collar City Mushrooms, 333 2nd Ave., Troy, NY — bring a couple poems or a short piece of prose & join the fun.