Primary Day in Albany, June 25

This is a day that has been anticipated by many in New York State, but also by me — & my mail carriers. 

Since the “primary season” started up I have received 41 fliers in the mail or left on my door step; the height of the stack is 1/2”, total weight is 1lb. Forty-one is probably not a huge number by some standards, but 1 from each candidate would be enough. When they first began arriving I thought cynically that I would determine for whom I would vote by the number of flyers I received — the candidates with the most flyers would get my votes, sort of like voting itself. But despite what some who know me would say, I’m not that cynical.

I am in the 106 Assembly district; my (former) representative for that district (& neighbor), Pat Fahy, is now running for a Senate seat & the field then is wide-open. There are 6 candidates running for that seat, & 5 of them sent me flyers (I got none from Jack Flynn). Gabriella Romero wins the prize for sending me the most flyers (10), with Dustin Reidy following with 9. The others were Ginnie Farrell & Andrew Joyce, both sent me 5 flyers each; Owusu Anane sent 4, he also has the distinction of sending the largest flyer (8 1/2” x 14”). Most flyers were from all candidates for all offices were 6” x 11”. Romero had the most unusual flyer, one she sent early on that was a color-by-numbers of wildflowers of New York, which I think I’ll save for some Wintry day when I’m unable to get out.

As for candidates for other offices, Lee Kindlon for District Attorney sent 3 flyers, while David Soares sent only 1, which as I said earlier should be enough. There are 3 openings for Albany County Family Court, Judge Ricja Rice sent 2 flyers & Jeff Jamison sent 2; I didn’t hear from the other candidates.

Electioneering is one of many things that make America great already. But enough is enough (or, too much).  So I guess it's time to toss them (except for the Romera color-by-numbers) in the re-cycling bin & clear off my kitchen table. And wait for the election flyers for November.

All Genre Open Mic Out of Bennington, June 11

Back in Bennington — not really, this is a Zoom event — again for poetry. Our host, Charlie Rossiter got us off & running with his signature open mic intro rap — 2 rounds, 1 poem each round.

I’d Zoomed in early & ended up 1st on the list. I’d been going back into my poem vault & pulled up a couple from the past, the 1st, “Noble Truth;” in the 2nd round a take on my favorite poem to recite when I’m at the beach, “Not the 'Walrus & the Carpenter'.”

Tim Verhaegen’s 1st round poem was titled “Almost Gay,” gazing at a younger man,  pondering what his future might be; in the 2nd round he read “I Want It to Be Over” about going to an open mic that was not his cup of tea & went on & on.

In her 1st round Sharon Smith read some advice about what one should do today, titled “If;” later in the 2nd round she read a poem from a poetry workshop, a work still in progress, perhaps titled “21,” with a recurring line beginning “not sure…”

Sherri Bedingfield began with a Nature poem,”Impressions of Flanders,” in the early Spring, “the trees are waiting…” published in an anthology from Orenaug Mountain Publishing; in the 2nd round she read a poem of tender affirmation, “The Field,” for her son.

Our host, Charlie Rossiter, in his 1st round, read a group of Haiku with comments on a variety of topics: on nature trails, a friend in hospice, a cemetery; in the 2nd round read “Lovers Night” that used an evocative line (“I enter her garden”) from a Chinese poem.

Ginny Folger’s 1st round poem, “Deferred,” was a mediation on love & sex, on time & aging; her 2nd round poem was titled “I Remember Being An Aerialist,” with an epigraph from Edgar Allen Poe. 

Both of Tom Nicotera’s poems were from a poetry workshop, the same workshop that Sharon Smith had been in; the 1st round based on a prompt about trading places, “Trading Places with Donald Trump;” the 2nd round poem was from a different prompt, the poem ‘The Dream,” about a street corner preacher. 

Bill Thwing brought out his guitar for both rounds, thus fulfilling the “All Genre…” in the title of this Zoom, in the 1st round, a sad, wistful song that can be found on Soundcloud.com, “Gaza;” in his 2nd round he sang “Foggy Days & Foggy Nights,” a song based on a poem written by his wife. 

Jim Madigan dialed in from the mid-West with a poem about a town after a tornado, “Beauty & Heat in the Ruins;” during his 2nd round he mentioned that he has had a full-length book accepted by Broadstone Books, read a poem set in the West Bank “Olive Grove,” about settlers attacking an old man celebrating the budding of trees. 

Julie Lomoe read a poem in her 1st round written today, “The Old Crone Blues,” in the classic blues form, perhaps proving why some say white women can’t sing the blues; then in her 2nd round brought the evening to a close with “The Terrors of Motherhood” a poem about her daughter, from her Proof of Process book being revised. 

You don’t have to be in Bennington, VT to attend this open mic, I’m not. It happens on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 7:00PM EDT. If you are not already on Charlie’s email list, email him at charliemrossiter@gmail.com & ask for the Zoom link. Poets/writers/musicians sharing writing & music.

2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, June 2

Although it was June 2, it was the 1st Sunday, this misnomer the result of switching the day this month so that we can all go to the Pride Day festivities in Albany’s Washington Park, the next Sunday, which was the actual 2nd Sunday.

No matter, poets/writers showed up to read just the same. My co-host, Nancy Klepsch, took this one off & so I was the solo host. There were just 5 readers on the list, perhaps indicative of what happens when you switch days for a monthly event usually held on a different day of the month.

Rhonda Rosenheck talked about the soon-to-be published Thriving: An Anthology, of poetry, photographs, & prose writing, which she edited — look for it on Amazon. Her first poem was a Summer Solstice piece titled “Effigy,” written at an artists retreat in Iceland. She followed that up with a new midrash (i.e., Biblical exegesis) “Our Angels Rise & Fall,” based on verses from Genesis.

I wasn’t here last month, but if I had been I would’ve read “Crane Alley,” about the site of the 1886 Haymarket Riot in Chicago, so I read it this day; my 2nd poem was my entry to the Writers Institute call for texts about folks’ experiences with summer camps, my entry a poem titled “My Summer Camp.”

Avery Stempel, the proprietor of Collar City Mushrooms, where we were gathered, had 2 announcements in lieu of 2 poems, the 1st announcement about the establishment of a project about the history of the Albany poetry scene & that they were looking for pieces of remembrance about people & places in the scene in the early days; his 2nd announcement was about the NYS Assembly Bill A10375 to allow “the growth, cultivation, and adult use of psilocybin for the treatment of certain health conditions”; with the session ending soon it is not likely that the Assembly will take up the bill, but they are hopeful to re-introduce it in the next session.

Julie Lomoe read from her new self-published, spiral-bound chapbook, Proof of Process, “Red Alert,” about Donald Trump & a memoir of growing up in Wisconsin amid a similar pending dystopia; her 2nd poem was a celebrity-fantasy “Eclipse, the Brilliance of Charles Mingus,” on Mingus’ song, “Eclipse,” written for Billie Holiday (but not performed by her) & 1st recorded by Mingus in 1953.

Karen Fabiane read her poem “Finding the Car” that is included in the recent CAPS Poetry 25th Anniversary Anthology (I also have a poem included in it); her 2nd poem was was a tribute to Charles Bukowski from the Moonstone Arts Center anthology Remembering Charles Bukowski.

Join us the next time for real on the 2nd Sunday @ 2 for a poetry + prose open mic at Collar City Mushrooms, 333 2nd Ave., Troy, NY — it’s Free! & you can buy
mushrooms & mushroom products.

9th Annual Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Contest Reading, June 1

Not only has this reading become an annual event in the Capital District of Albany, NY but the contest itself been an annual event world-wide for the last 9 (!) years. 

Bob Sharkey, local poet & point-man for the DiBiase contest, said that there were 620 entries, 40% from outside the USA, many from Nigeria, as has been the case for a number of years. He read an excerpt from the First Prize poem, “The War is Past” by Habiba Dokubo-Asan, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. 

Guy Reed who is a poetic presence in the mid-Hudson valley was a Fourth Prize winner, & he joined us to read his poem “What Memories Are Carried in Light” that cites not only famous painters, like Edward Hopper, & poets whose work were “carried in light,” but also places throughout the US where Guy had traveled. In his follow-up remarks, Bob noted that his son Matt, who is one of the judges, had traveled the US, much like Guy, & for that reason connected to the poem.

Barbara Ungar, a prolific local poet, read her poem, “October,” for which she received an “Honorable Mention,” a piece taken from her October journal about her partner, Stu Bartow, who was dying from cancer at the time. 

Another Honorable Mention, Charlie Rossiter, made the trip over from Bennington, VT (he hosts a monthly Zoom open mic on the 2nd Tuesday of each month), to read his descriptive poem “Memorial Day,” a bit of Americana.

Emma Marie Duke’s Honorable Mention love poem, “Monday Morning, Early” was read by Bob Sharkey; she is a poet in Cambridge, MA. Barbara Ungar was back to read local poet Bunkong Tuon’s poem “How to Defeat Pol Pot” from his recently published chapbook What Is Left (Jacar Press). Another local poet, James Duncan, read his ethereal prose poem “Pastoral.” 

Alana Pedalino, joined us from Nutley, NJ to read her poem “Surveying” about a visit from men from Fish & Wildlife to count lampreys in a creek on her property, filled with undercurrents (& not just the creek).

Jackie Craven, who also hosts a Zoom open mic, hers on the 2nd Wednesday of the month, read her poem (Finalist) “Federation Agents Ask Whether I’ve Ever Been Married” from her recent poetry collection Whish (Press 53).

One of the Honorable Mention poets, Sara Lynn Eastler from Rockport, ME had send a video presentation of her reading her poem, “The Unpassing,” but technical issues prevented it from being heard. However, one can read her poem, as well as all the other winning/honorable mention/finalist poems on the website 

And Barbara Ungar brought the afternoon to a conclusion with Tara Labovitch’s poem “Grief II;” Sara is from Ames, IA.

For the last nine years Bob Sharkey & his family have supported this broadly inclusive poetry contest from their family finances. The rules are simple: one poem per contestant, any style, any length, published or not, & there is no entry fee. The Prizes run from $600 for First, down through the Honorable Mentions of $60, of which there were 10 this year. The time has come to find another way to finance this endeavor for it to continue to a 10th year, or more. I, for one, would love to find a way to continue the Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Contest. Stay tuned.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, May 16

As I’ve said before, “If your friends & relatives don’t come to your readings, who will?” This night’s featured poet, Rachel Baum, did just that, & they (we) were treated to coffee & homemade cookies in addition to her entertaining reading. But first I invoked the night’s Muse, the ubiquitous small-press American poet, Simon Perchik (1923 - 2022) by reading one of his characteristically untitled poems (except for an * in the upper left corner), one beginning “Pulling the mirror closer…” Then on to a portion of the open mic list.

First up was Alan Catlin (whose poems are equally ubiquitous to those of Simon Perchik’s in the small-press world), with a grim piece about a shooting & its aftermath, with the reverberating repetition of “Wasted.” I usually see Carol Schupp Star at readings up in Saratoga County, but here she was to support Rachel; she read a nonet titled “Storms.” Betsy Lynch also came here to support Rachel; her poem titled “The Arrival of Childhood’s End: Sci-Fi Becomes Fact” about watching a grandson engaged with virtual reality goggles, a meditation on gaming.

Jackie Craven has a new book out, WHISH, tonight read “something silly” (her description) from the book, a poem about the stopped clock in the tower of City Hall in Schenectady. Melissa Anderson, who has had a book manuscript accepted for publication, Dogstar Poems, read from it a poem titled “Love Letter from Quarantine.”

Rachel R. Baum began by introducing Berta Leone, whose photo of her bullet sculpture E Pluribus Unum is on the cover of Rachel’s book How to Rob a Convenience Store (Cowboy Jamboree Press, 2024). However, most of the poems in the reading tonight were not from her new book, & many were read by friends & family members. She began with with opening poem in the book, “Rodeo Winner,” a portrait of an abusive, gun-toting cowboy; she also read from the book “I See Your Ghost,” & “Sitting Shiva, After the Tree of Life Shooting,” & included a poem about her long-COVID diagnosis, “Long Haul Year Two.” Shuffled in between were poems, mostly not from the book, by others: Rod Driscoll read “Summer Concert,” her daughter Dr. Ariel Schwartz “Alterations” (about NYC & her grandmother), Don Shore “Diners,” Sheree Mirochnik “In Dreams Cars Flew,” & Betsy Lynch read “Like Mercury” which is in the book. Rachel brought the reading to an end with the 1st poem she ever wrote, “The Destination.” Proceeds from the sale of How to Rob a Convenience Store go to the Gifford Law Center for Gun Violence.

After a necessary break we finished off the open mic list. I read a poem from my sequence of “Witch” poems, “I Am a Gift,” the title taken from Dineen Carta’s poem of the same title from her book Rumi’s Granddaughter.

The final 3 readers are regular supporters of this monthly open mic. David Gonsalves  read “Ars Poetica,” a dizzying play of words about things he can or can’t or won’t do. Tom Bonville’s poem “To Know” was a colorful celebration of the beginning of Spring. Sally Rhoades read a recently written poem title “Lilacs,” inspired in part by one of my poems with the same title, but really by the lilacs growing in her yard.

Special thanks Rachel Baum’s family & friends for both supporting her unique reading, & for their generosity in supporting poetry events locally & the work of the Social Justice Center.

We are at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY each third Thursday of the month for a reading by a local or regional poet & an open mic for community poets. The reading starts at 7:30PM, sign-up from about 7:00PM, $5.00 donation, more if you got it, less if you don’t. 

National Baseball Poetry Festival, May 3 - 5

The National Baseball Poetry Festival is a creation of Biondolillo Associates, since 1984 a leading developer of branded special-event fundraising programs for nonprofit organizations. The Festival was set in motion by the following individuals and their teams: Richard Burke, CEO, Fallon Health; Tim Murray, CEO, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce; Joe Bradlee, Vice President, Community & Player Relations, Worcester Red Sox; Mark Sickman, Founder and Owner, BaseballBard.com; Jake Sanders, Project Executive, Worcester Memorial Auditorium and past-Chief of Staff, City of Worcester; and Jeff Reppucci, Knight-Hennessy Scholar, Stanford University.  Once it was set in motion, an Organizing Committee of business, civic, and educational leaders was formed to spearhead the Festival’s implementation.

Last year, after the inaugural National Baseball Poetry Festival, some of the attendees/participants sat down together to talk about their experience here in Worcester before heading home. It was agreed that this was an important celebration & as good as it was there are always ways to improve it. A memo was drafted with suggestions & sent to the organizers, &, I’m happy to say some of the suggestions were adopted. & so this year we were glad to be back at Polar Park for the Worcester Red Sox & for baseball poetry.

Friday, May 3

There was a welcoming reception at the Polar Park DCU Club, with snacks, a cash bar, welcoming remarks by the organizers & local politicians, including a reading the the quintessential baseball poem “Casey at the Bat,” written by Worcester native Ernest Lawrence Thayer. This was followed by a Stadium Tour, & a game between the Woosox & the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs; the Woosox won 4 to 2.

Photo courtesy of Poets at Large Facebook page

Saturday, May 4 was the big poetry/baseball day with events starting at 2:00PM with poetry readings by contest winners in grades 4 to 12, & Little Leaguers. Over 160 young poets submitted their work, with 20 students in each category (elementary, middle school, high school & Little Leaguers) were selected as Winners, with many attending to read their poems out at the Berm in the Polar Park outfield. It was a stunning display of young people, boys & girls, reading their poems to proud parents, teachers, & the rest of us Baseball Poets from near & far.

Later, there was an Open Mic at the Worcester Public Library, within walking distance of Polar Park. The open mic hosts were Karen Warinsky & Laura DiCaronimo, who also read in the open mic.

Herbert Munshine read a trio of baseball poems, including “A Breath of Art” about baseball players as super heroes, & "You Should Know His Name" for which he was recognized in the adult contest. Esther Munshine’s baseball poem was titled “Take Me Out.” Angela Tomasin read poems by her grandfather, Herbert Tomasin, who was in the audience. Bill Moorhead read a poem in baseball slang, “The Pitcher’s Creed,” & even a baseball villanelle. 

Karen Elizabeth Sharpe had been a host last year for one of the open mic sites, & this year worked on the student poets contest; she read Robert Frost’s “Birches” as about someone who didn’t have a baseball team to play on, then humorous instructions on how to eat a Fenway frank. Rex Arrasmith read poems about being an umpire at amateur baseball games. Tom Lagasse read a couple of baseball poems of the past. Laura Di Caromino read what she called a “stoner villanelle, titled “Team.” Ivan Smason was here from Los Angeles, started with baseball poem in rhyme, then one on the Toledo Ohio minor league team, the Mud Hens (he had also been recognized in the adult contest for his poem "Triples"). 

Patricia Biron read a poem, “Nelly What a Catch,” about her mother, the 1st girl on a boy’s high school team in 1935. Karen Warinsky, whose Facebook page Poets at Large has photos from this reading, & from the Festival, read “Little League Moms” (for which she was recognized in the adult poetry contest), others, including one on baseball & war. 

Photo courtesy of Poets at Large Facebook page

Since this open mic was in a library I read “Decomposition” a poem about why used bookstores smell like they do, then one of my baseball poems, “Waiting for Jacqueline Robinson.” Carol Hobbs read baseball poems by some of her 9th grade students, including a golden shovel “Who’s On First?” based on the famous comedy routine by Abbot & Costello, as well a one of her own poems,”Gods of August.” Pamela Gemme read poems by others including one titled “Sisters of Mercy Play Ball.”

Photo courtesy of Poets at Large Facebook page

Robbie Gamble read his only baseball poem “Short Season Single-A Ball.” Ed Dzitko read Sara deBeer’s poem “Batting Practice” from the baseball poetry anthology Who’s Your Team? (Orenaug Mountain Publishing, 2024). Sandy Lee Carlson, editor of Who’s Your Team?, read the title poem, a sonnet that she wrote.

Steven Biondolillo, the driving force behind this Festival, recited 2 of his baseball poems, “In Center Field” & “Black Blue & White,” a confrontation between Mets fans & Yankee fans.’

There was another game later that afternoon, in which the Woosox beat the Iron Pigs again, 4-0. But I opted to take some time off, get a nice dinner at Volturno Ristorante.  

A night of more baseball poetry at Steel & Wire on Millbury St. where I’d read in this same bar last year & rather liked its gritty edge, reminding me of Albany’s QE2 (long gone). There were 8 on the list, some of us who had read earlier at the Library. Sandy Lee Carlson & Ed Dzitko (from Orenaug Mountain Publishing) served as hosts/MCs, along with Pam Gemme. 

Jeff Brain, from San Franciso, was back again this year, started off with a poem about the physics of baseball, then “Candlestick,” “What Satchel Paige Would Throw to Willy Mays the Next Time,” & “Vampire Pitch” (a poem that was recognized in the adult poetry contest).

I read “The Cardinal” from my Baseball Poems (A.P.D., 2019), then from Poeming the Prompt (A.P.D., 2011) a political poem “What Really Happened.” Tom Lagasse read “The Bat,” then a memoir piece about his high school baseball team with a line from Rilke at the end. As he did earlier in the day, Rex Arrasmith read poems about being an umpire, “Diamond Three Umpire,” “Eyes on Ben,” & “Umpire’s Dilemna.”

David (from Maryland) read  “Señorita Baseball,” in English & Spanish (read by Jina Ortiz), a funny piece mixing baseball & love, then “Pre-season Report” about forgetting students’ names. Zvi A. Seline read from his book titled Simple Games: Ghosts of Fenway “Sam the Jet,” "Kennesaw’s Revenge” (on banning the infamous Black Sox), “How Many Angels,” “The Ghosts of Fenway,” & one about Jimmy Piersall “Politics & Baseball Do Mix.”

Jina Ortiz was back to read her poems, with David reading the translation, “The Last Pitch of the Night,” “The Baseball Player Blues,” & “Baseball in the Skate Park.” & once again Steven Biondolillo batted last reprising “Black Blue & White,” always good to hear.

& that, folks, was like a bases clearing homerun in the bottom of the 9th — good baseball & good poetry & everyone had fun. I hope to be back again next year.

All-Genre Open Mic Out of Bennington, May 14

This is a monthly Zoom open mic, so Tom Nicotera & I plotted to each read our poems recently published in the new anthology of baseball poems Who’s Your Team? (Orenaug Mountain Publishing, 2024). The host of the open mic is Charlie Rossiter; there were 2 rounds, 1 poem each round.

I was up first with my entry to Who’s Your Team? a parody/pastiche of the opening of T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” my poem titled “October Land” (I can’t imagine Eliot at a baseball game, a hot dog in one hand, a beer in the other). In the 2nd round I read my poem titled “My Summer Camp” submitted to a call for entries from the NYS Writers Institute.

Ginny Folger’s 1st round poem, “The Afterlife, if Indeed There is One,” was published in the Spring 2024 issue of The 2River View  hoping that the Afterlife is not like being at Walmart. In the 2nd round she read “On the Night Balcony,” a short piece read twice.

Mark O’Brien on the Zoom camera seemed to be up in his garret, otherwise known as the Pirates Den, he read sonnets based on small town newspaper comments “Slingerlands” on baseball taken from the lines of newspaper, & a piece bases on a report of an accident in the Farland Newsletter from 1892.

Tim Verhaegen read poems from what he does best, write about his family. In the 1st round, “Is it True?” pondering if his mother, who died in 2009, made a suicide attempt by driving into a stone bridge soon after he was born; in the 2nd round, a re-write of the same story, titled “Dear Mother,” based on what an aunt told him. 

Francesca Sidoti read an eco-poem about the plan to harvest the Marcellis Shell, & how many could die harvesting it; in the 2nd round a true-crime story titled “Gates County.”  

Sharon Smith read “Whose Woods?” about a black bear, in Farmington CT; later, a story of a wedding in rhyme from Maine, “My Doctor’s Brother’s Horses Carriage,” what happened to a spooked horse.

In Charlie Rossiter’s 1st round he read a descriptive piece titled “At the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame,” being a long way from the crossroads; then, a descriptive piece of the college town Madison WI, “Mad City Syndrome.” 

Tom Nicotera read his poem for Who’s Your Team? about the 7th game of the 2003 World Series between the Red Sox & the Yankees, “It’s Just Like Love;” in the 2nd round he read a brand new poem, “Worm Meditation” dead worms after a rain, a memoir, to war & profiteering & his own death.

Naomi Bindman read 2 new poems, both works-in-progress, “The Other Dogs,” friends talking dogs & plants & turkey vultures in the woods; then a stream of phrases, a found poem rant, “Inbox,” on the flood of messages we all experience on our computers. 

Julie Lomoe began with a memoir of her daughter, “The Terrors of Motherhood;” then from her new poetry chapbook, Proof of Process, the poem “Donald the Bantam Rooster Speaks His Mind.” 

This monthly Zoom broadcasting from Bennington VT is on the 2nd Tuesday at 7:00PM ET. If you would like to join it & you are not yet on Charlie’s Zoom list, email him at charliemrossiter@gmail.com & ask for the link. It’s not just poetry.