Cafe Euphoria Open Mic & Slam, February 2

I finally made it over to Troy for this twice monthly (1st & 3rd Fridays) event. The listing had said sign-up was at 6:30PM with a 7:30 start, but the house was basically filled by 6:00 when I got there, found a table, chair, ordered some food, & then by 7:10 the host El was on stage to start the open mic. I had seen El as a featured reader at Poetic Vibe at the Fish Market last year, where she apparently learned her hosting style, a standard at Slam venues — to ask everyone to start clapping to welcome the next poet up then tries to shout the name of the poet unintelligibly over the roar of the crowd — it doesn’t work — who? what’s their name? Instead of honoring the poet, it shows a disrespect for their identity, their name. As a result, this report is, to my standards, incomplete & does not document the event to the degree that I try to achieve. 

The Open Mic

El started off with a tale of having to break into her new apartment. The next poet was named, perhaps, Angie, followed by Elaina (?) with a couple songs on guitar & harmonica, “I’m a Rock’n’Roll Cowgirl Tonight Singing the Blues,” & “Don’t Give Me Your Alibis Again.” Then ? with a love poem from their notebook. The next poet was Alex (per Mary Panza who had seen them here previously) with “Ode to the Stuffed Animals.”

I know the next poet’s name, Cassidy (spelling?), from the subsequent Slam, who mumbled through a song on the ukulele. Don did a long story from memory (or improvised) set in Japan. Barry Goldman I recognized from a recent Invocation of the Muse open mic in Albany (& from open mics in years past); he read an evocative piece titled “Ancestors of the Summer Meadow” about finding the teeth of a long-dead possum, what he described as a writing exercise based on a poem by Richard Eberhard.

The next reader gave a “comfort warning” to their poem, perhaps the most bizarre I’ve heard, because of a reference to flies! Shelby (again, I subsequently learned their name from the open mic) read from their chapbook. The next poet I definitely knew his name — it was me! — I read my poem card “Content Advisory,” then “The Witches’ Necklace.” Lee, another whom I’d seen read at a recent Invocation of the Muse open mic, read a rhyming piece “The Kiss of Death,” then “A Toast” to his friends.

One of the staff of Cafe Euphoria read an eco-poem about the flooding of the Earth. The final open mic poet was also not clearly named, but did say they were performing for the first time, a song with a backing track from their phone.

The Slam

After a break it was on to the Slam, which there hasn’t been much of in recent years in this area due to a combination of factors, including burn-out & the COVID pandemic. But Slam is back at Cafe Euphoria. The host for this night’s Slam was veteran Albany poet & vice- president of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild, Mary Panza, who has many years of experience hosting open mics in Albany, so I had no problems in catching some reasonable facsimiles of the participants' names. 

There were 7 contestants, in 2 rounds, with 5 judges chosen from those in the audience who had never been to a Slam before (one of the traditions at some Slam venues nationally). Slam is known for it’s rule-based structure, but here there were “no rules,” so they said, including the “3-minute rule,” which, while intended to put a limit on a performer’s time (with penalties in point reduction for going over), was often used as a target, making a good 2-minute poem warp into a repetitive 3-minutes of tedium. Most of tonight’s performers seemed to be novices at Slam & read pieces that were decent poems rather than the usual Slam hyper-performance of mediocre writing.

El was perhaps the sole performer with experience at other Slams, & has obviously been coached. In fact she sounded so much like another local well-known Slam performer — her cadence, even her accent — that with my eyes closed I could clearly visualize her coach (a much better poet). She, of course, scored very well.

Shelby, who had read in the open mic, read an OCD poem from her book. Lee performed a piece in rhyme titled “United States of Emergency;” he had also read in the open mic. Cassidy had performed with a ukulele in the open mic & the piece they performed in the Slam was political word-play in a musical rhythm.

Alex’s piece was titled “Everything Must Go.” Rose read a seasonal, post-holiday poem of depression, & scored well. Lizzie’s poem titled “Light & Peace” was about fighting the demons. 

In this setting there were no elimination rounds, & the 2 best scoring performers went straight to the head-to-head Final Round. That was Rose with a crafted poem about a break-up picnic for 2 with allusions to the Last Supper. El’s winning piece was an imagining of “when the Zombie Apocalypse comes…” & she went home with the money.

This open mic with a Slam takes place on the 1st & 3rd Fridays of the month at Cafe Euphoria, 225 River St., Troy, NY, 6:30PM to 9:00PM. Check out the website & their Facebook page.