Invocation —, December 4

It’s back! with a revised name. Formerly Invocation of the Muse, this poetry open mic was on hiatus since earlier this year as renovations were taken place at Lark Hall, including the opening of the new bar/cafe Eleven, so I guess this series got a name renovation as well. It’s a great location — right on Lark St. in Albany, on the corner of Hudson — no TVs needed, one can sit at the bar & watch the passing scene through the full-length glass windows.

The host was the same, R.M. Engelhardt. The open mic was held right in the bar area, which wasn’t a bad idea since it was a Monday night & the open mic is what brought in the business. But it was decidedly low-tech — no sound equipment & no music stand. Over all the years he has run open mics in the area Rob has yet to acquire the accoutrements of a poetry open mic host.

Rob started off the readings with a tongue-in-cheek poem done up as a radio or TV ad, “Is Poetry Right for You.” He then introduced the co-host in-training, Sam Maurice, who has been a regular here for the poetry at Lark Hall, to introduce the first reader on the list, Vanessa Bilanceri, who read a couple of (apparently) untitled pieces, the first an inspirational piece urging women to become a goddess, the other describing the “Autumn gold.” My 2 poems were about cafes, one old, “Café Tabac” (which was in NYC), the other recent & local, i.e. Dunkin Donuts “Café Society.”

Pat Williams was featured in November 2022 at Invocation of the Muse, he was back tonight in the open mic to read a poem about the Mohawk River, “Down by the River,” & another out in nature, “Go Take a Hike.” Josh the Poet said he has written a lot of love poems, tonight he read a new one, “Winter Love.” Josh has a quiet voice so tonight without an amp it was difficult to hear him over the low, & persistent, hum of a compressor.

Our co-host in-training, Sam Maurice, read the title poem from his recently published Vibrant Sounds, Colors in Motion: Fragments, Prose, & Select Poems (as S.L Maurice) from Deadman’s Press Ink (of which he is a co-editor), then another poem was a description of a car crashing into a fire hydrant & it’s subsequent plumbing problem. He was followed by the other co-host, R.M. Engelhardt who read 2 new poems on the exalted role of poets, his favorite topic, “A Raker of Dust A Rattler of Bones,” then another with an epigraph by poet Edmond Jabès, “200,000 Poems.”

The ever-stylish Marlon Anderson, a veteran of the early days of poetry poetry open mics at the QE2, signed up to read as “King Rehd” 2 short pieces, “Masterpiece” (i.e. Madonna), & an untitled poem on “the god of peace.” Ruthie Martin began with a brave piece, one might say a confession, on her struggle with addictions, & that she got help, & capped that off with a short inspirational rhyme.

Allie Middleton read 2 poems from her 2020 book, A Wayfinder’s Wanderings: A First Collection of Poems, “Thresholds of Blue Timelessness” & “Love’s bold container;” she is also the co-author, with Amy Wheeler, of Yoga Radicals: A Curated Set of Inspiring Stories from Pioneers in the Field.

Barry Goldman lost his poetry virginity back in 2008 at the Third Thursday Poetry Night, was out of the area for many years, but joined us tonight as a last-minute sign-up to read a haibun about seeing bras in a dryer (which women consultants tell me that is not the way to dry bras). Shaya Bach was also a late sign-up, & neither co-host apparently had apprised him of the 2-poem rule so he read 3 pieces: “Out the Window of a Midnight Train” (what it says), “Last Rites of a Wasp Squeezed Thru a Hole in the Screen,” & “TV News at the Dollar Store.”

Strangely, co-host Sam Maurice was back to read 2 more poems; now, as a open mic host, I insert myself wherever I feel I want into the sign-up list, but I have never taken advantage of my position & read more poems than anyone else — perhaps in his excitement as a new co-host he forgot he had already read, & I guess that can be forgiven.

This reading series is back on the first Monday of (most) months at The Eleven at Lark Hall, 351 Hudson Ave., Albany, NY, the corner of Hudson Ave. & Lark St. — 7:30PM sign-up/8:00PM start, $5.00 (note: some folks said they had paid online thru Eventbrite), I paid when Rob passed the customary hat.