Third Thursday Poetry Night, January 18

Avery Stempel at Cafe Web, April, 2000

The first one of the New Year, with Avery Stempel as the featured reader, as well as a full sign-up sheet. But first, we invoked the Muse, the spirit of the gone poet Michael McClure (1932 - 2020) whom I first discovered many years ago from his The New Book/A Book of Torture (Grove Press, 1961); tonight I read his poem “Mad Sonnet,” which was the first of a long series of “Mad Sonnets” over the years. I did eventually get to see him in person in October 2015 when he delivered the annual Olson Lecture in Gloucester, MA, & he signed my battered copy of The New Book/A Book of Torture.

The first open mic poet, Elaine Kenyon, was waiting at the door when I arrived at the SJC to open up; she had planned to read a poem by Stu Bartow, with her response to his poem, but I was distracted & misunderstood what she said & unfortunately I enforced the “one poem” rule. What she read was Stu’s poem “Vampires in the Atomic Age” from The Green Midnight (Dos Madres Press, 2018), from which Elaine has found inspiration from which to write her own poems. I owe her another shot at this.

Sally Rhoades read a piece titled “What Would I be as a High School Poet?” written on napkins at Caffè Lena listening to high school poets read, a memoir of her own growing up. Tim Verhaegen was up next with a piece, that he said he usually reads to a rhythmic background, about waking to the the sound of geese, bringing memories of his youth. Tom Bonville also read a memoir piece, “Her Name was Miss Hall,” about a Christmas concert. 

I first saw Avery Stempel perform his work at the Cafe Web, where this series on the third Thursday of the month began. He has continued to write & perform his poems, & now as well grows & markets mushrooms at his farm/shop/art gallery/performance space Collar City Mushrooms in Troy. For his reading tonight Avery said he dug deeply into his notebooks, even typing up some that had been languishing hand-written, never previously typed. He began, appropriately enough with one titled “We Are the Poem,” & was able to squeeze in 17 or 18 poems into his allotted time, in part due to mostly moving on from one poem to the next with little or no introductions, & while his delivery was often fast, he does articulate well & energetically. There were quite a few poems about food, such as “Just a Taste,” the nearly orgasmic “Sweet Potato Waffle,” “A Wednesday’s Over-Indulgence,” often combining food & romance/love as in “Her Own Fork & Knife.” The poems often contained a seasoning of humor, & were often piles of graphic images. While he could be preachy at times, he avoided abstractions, following Dr. Williams’ axiom, “no idea but in things.” & there was often music, as in a poem about dancing at a concert (“In the Groove”) & his concluding poem/rock music epiphany “Time to Flip the Record.” Phew — it was quite a ride, & a lot of fun.

After a brief break, we returned to the open mic. With my birthday coming up in a week, I read a birthday poem written in 1991, “To My Penis on our 45th Birthday.” David Gonsalves had to follow that, but did fine with “Riverside” a mash up of songs including “Down by the Riverside.”

Josh the Poet read a “new poem,” as he frequently does here, trying out his latest, this one titled “Midnight Thoughts,” written in the middle of the night, then slipped in another short one on letting life run its course. Carrie Coada was here for first time, although I had heard her read at Collar City Mushrooms in the past, with a love poem for a cat.

Elizag returned after a long hiatus, that she blamed on her infatuation with painting, but said she was inspired by what she was hearing here, & read a just-written piece titled “Safe Space,” & she is a Safe Person. Julie Lomoe was the final open mic poet of the night read a list poem written for Michael Czarnecki’s Zoom open mic she titled “Gratitude Poem the Day After Christmas.”

The Third Thursday Poetry Night takes place once a month at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY at 7:30PM (signup starts about 7:00PM), with a featured poet & an open mic for the rest of us. Your donation ($5.00 suggested) supports poetry events in Albany & the work of the Social Justice Center. Join us, & bring a poem to read.