20th Anniversary of Caffè Lena Poetry Part 1: the Open Mic, September 23

Carol Graser, the forever host 

It was all day at Caffè Lena to celebrate 20 years of the Poetry Open Mic, with a 4-hour open mic from 2:00PM to 6:00PM, followed by a reading at 8:00PM by Sarah Giragosian, Roger Wyze Smith & Martin Espada. For a bit of the history of how poetry got here & how host Carol Graser got it started see my previous Blog Caffè Lena: A Look Back 20 Years (& Beyond)  Also, I’ve attached an image of my notes from the first poetry open mic that was held on the 1st Wednesday of September, 2003, a schedule that continues to this day.

My notes from 9/3/03

The sign-up sheet for the day’s event was managed online by the techies at the Hudson Valley Writers Guild website which meant I could prepare myself for taking notes by printing it out; on the other hand, the program listed the first name & initial of last name only. But I’ve been in this movie before (a Bob Dylan reference) & know that such marathon lists change all the through the event, & know the players enough to be able to guess correctly their last names. At the end there were 40 actual readers, broken up by welcome breaks.

Among the readers this day were those who had been at that first “test” reading back in July, 2003, including the coordinator of this series all these years Carol Graser, the host for today Mary Panza, & Albany poets Don Levy, Bob Sharkey, & Me (Dan Wilcox).

Other readers included past featured readers or regular readers at the open mic Rachel Baum, Brian Dorn, Lin M., Judith Prest, Michael C., Lucyna Prostko, Marea Gordett, Wendy Daniels, Betsy Lynch, Kristen Day, Jay Rogoff, Suzanne Rancourt, Rumara Jewett, Jackie Craven, Jan Tramontano, Leslie Neustadt, Sally Rhoades, Susan Oringel, Susan Kress, Elaine Kenyon, Lee A. Gooden, Kathleen McCoy, Matthew Klane, Shira Dentz, Katrinka Moore, Tracy Thompson, Todd Fabozzi, Dawn Marar, Rhonda Rosenheck, & Margot Malia Lynch Steiner.

Gail - "1st time on stage"

& it wouldn’t be a true Caffè Lena open mic without some first-timers (i.e., “virgins”), including Kimberly F., Linda S., Rebecca, Justin Dazzle, Russell Z. (“I’m brand new here”), & Gail (“1st time on stage”) — which is what any open mic event is all about.

The Caffè Lena Poetry Open Mic continues each 1st Wednesday of the month at Caffè Lena, 47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs, NY, with a featured poet at 7:00PM, followed by the open mic for community poets, $5.00 admission.