Writers Mic, October 11

This is another open mic that began pre-COVID in a store front, transitioned to Zoom with the pandemic, & now thrives amid the return to live open mics. The host is the persistent Jackie Craven.

David Graham was first up, said he has been reading old drafts, found a poem not yet read out-loud & read it tonight ”Heaven Changes,” on aging, with rainbows; then “Lifting Our Voices in Prayer” like our prayers to god, inspired by a mosquito swatted.

Susan Jewell read a Haibun titled “On the Bike Trail Behind the Casino” on her blindness, confronting a dog on the trail, then on to her latest rejection from the Rattle ekphrastic contest, her poem titled “How It Works," a picture of a tailor shop inspires the poem. 

I read the text of a performance piece by the late Albany poet & activist Tom Nattell titled “Wounded Knee” that we performed as 3 Guys from Albany, about when he visited the site of the Wounded Knee massacre that occurred in 1890, & the monument to those killed there.

Alan Catlin read 2 pieces just written in the last few weeks, both from his experience as a bartender, the first based on a work-anxiety dream, about the sad life of a patron “Morgan in Half-Life,” the next about  talking with George at the bar, an editor of a lit magazine, who had been an actor in Blue Velvet, “the last time I remember speaking to him was about a grammatical question…” Alan said. 

Scott Morehouse read a tale in the style of Gertrude Stein’s writing, with Stein as a little child as “The Halloween Visitor.” 

Ellen Rook’s 1st poem was titled “I Believe in Rain,” in the music of the words, then read a piece of fantastical micro-fiction “Weeding Enlightened Society.”

Our host, Jackie Craven, began with a new piece “In the Existential Kitchen” looking for the what & the why among all the stuff, then an older piece, a letter to “Dear House.”

Mimi Moriarty brought evening to a close with a description of sounds of an early Autumn morning, “Morning Scribe,” then a Halloween poem, about putting out candy but there are no trick-or-treaters coming to their house in the woods.

You can tune into this Zoom event on the 2nd Wednesday of the month to hear more good poetry, even read some of your own good poetry, by finding the link on the Writers Mic Facebook page.