Salon Salvage, March 30

This was #19 in this monthly series! There were 4 poets reading this night, 1 local, the rest from out-of-town, & 4 hosts, if one counts concluding comments by Matthew Klane. 

Steven Alvarez

Amie Zimmerman got the night going with a general welcome, then Michael (introduced as a “guest host”) introduced the 1st reader Steven Alvarez, who read 3 poems from 3 different books, not identified, but the pieces seem to be interrelated, & were read fast, almost pressured speech. The 1st seemed to be set in 2008 & depicted the scene in Times Square; the 2nd was apparently a connected story & titled “Land of Red Daylight 2;” the 3rd was a memoir of his father’s 11 months ago.

Shira Dentz

Amie introduced the 2nd reader, Shira Dentz, who is local. She began with the title poem from her 2020 book from PANK Books, Sisyphusina, a piece about women aging. Then on to a series of newer, eco-poems, pieces titled “Small Things” (micro-plastics), “Custom Made” (with the line “we need birds & blue sky”), “Greenway,” “Sparks,” & others. She concluded with a family memoir of the Bronx, “Black Flow” saying “this poem has scribbles in it” which she represented by crumbled paper.

Jenna Hamed

Hajar Hassaini, who, with Amie Zimmerman, is one of the co-coordinators of Salon Salvage, introduced the next reader, Jenna Hamed who read a piece of “instant poetry” printed out on a roll of pin-feed paper, titled “3/30/2024” — how instant is that! — a meditation on the war on Palestine, read quietly, in a flat voice, a string of automatic writing, some in Arabic, then on to a related issue, a link on her Instagram to a fundraiser for “HEAL Palestine,” which you can find @heal.palestine

Kamalya Omayna Youssef

Hajar introduced the final reader, but first called for a “palate cleansing” moment of silence. Kamalya Omayna Youssef took some time setting up her stacks of texts, read from a small press chapbook some political/revolutionary meditations as if they were fragments, then on to another stack of papers, an intensely introspective piece, perhaps a love poem, &/or on poems & language. She ended with “an old poem,” also fiddling with the booklet, to her family, titled “There’s a Hole in It.”

A grand, moving mix of themes & images, & even of the forms of production, the kind of thing Salon Salvage is known for. The curators are Amie Zimmerman, Matthew Klane, & Hajari Hussaini. You can find the event each last Saturday of the month at Weathered Wood in downtown Troy, NY, at 13 Second St.; the 7:00PM time seems to be the time they open the door. One can find information about the upcoming reading on the Facebook page, & on the Instagram page, salonsalvagetroy