Pine Hollow Arboretum Open Mic, July 12

It’s back! & a tribute to this series' past popularity was the number of folks signed up on the open mic list, most of whom have read here previously. Of course, another factor was that the featured poet was Bob Sharkey, a popular figure on the open mic scene, who hasn’t been a featured reader anywhere in quite some time.

Mark O’Brien was first on the list & he read a couple poems from his series on local history based on old newspaper reports, “Delmar” (in 1892?), & “New Salem.” I was next with one of the poems published recently in The Illegalist (from Dogtown Books, Gloucester, MA), “Last Weekend in Gloucester” & a recent observation of the bird bath in my yard, “A True Story.”

Frank Robinson read a characteristic political piece inspired by recent news stories, & tinged with references to the work of William Shakespeare, “To Quit or Not to Quit.” Our host, Alan Casline, read from something call “Blue Experiment” 2 pieces “17th Course” & “18th Course,” from which I guess we will hear more in the future.

Bob Sharkey is not only an imaginative, innovative poet but also a great supporter of poets local & world-wide, through his role on the board of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild as well as sponsoring & coordinating the annual Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Contest. He read a sample selection of poems from his varied work, personal reflections, memoirs & “experimental.” There were poems about Maine, where he grew up & returns to from time to time, “The Gail Anne” (a meditation on the passage of Time), “Into the Forest;” a poem composed of lines from some of this year’s entry to the DiBiase Contest, “Cento Thank Can’t Avoid the War;” poems inspired by observing the world around him: “An American Day,” “Dream Land” (old TV shows), “Poem for 9/19/2022,” “The Fourth Fairy” (Irish apparitions on a train). One of his most amusing projects is writing poems from imagined Chinese fortune cookies, such as “We Have Married Our Fortunes Together” & “Puppies & Babies Not Included.” He ended with a poem inspired by being in one of the late Bernadette Mayer’s legendary poetry workshops, “Birds, Beasts & Seas.” One might call it a retrospective reading in-progress.

During the break Alan passed the hat for donations to help support the work & the programs of the Arboretum, then on to the rest of the open mic. Julie Lomoe read a poem written in November 2016 about the threat of Donald Trump, “Red Alert,” what’s old is new again. Tom Bonville read a quartet of poems, “Just Wait & See,” “A Good Pencil,” “A Morning Conversation,” & “Good Talk” (with his son). I haven’t seen Jaime Stevenson at poetry events for some time & today he showed up to read a couple poems about the building of the Empire State Plaza over an old, working class neighborhood in Albany, “Egg,” & “Displacement.”

Tom Corrado read from his ongoing series of random “Screen Dumps” this number 765 (!), that included Burt Lancaster (his 1968 film “The Swimmer”), short stories & old movies. Speaking of poets who haven’t been seen at open mics in some time, Carolee Bennett showed up with a couple poems, “What Role Has the Woods Played in Raising You?” (based on the tale of Little Red Riding Hood), & a piece about ordering from Wayfair “Retail Therapy Sonnet.” Joe Krausman read what he said is to be the title poem of his (long-awaited) poetry collection, “My Heart is an Onion.” 

Therese Broderick read 2 poems about trees, appropriately enough, “After Tropical Storm Henri,” & “Grand Mother Willow.” David Gonsalves read a translation of a poem titled “Abraham & Isaac,” & a poem in which the dead poet Richard Brautigan is a character, “Crossing the Sound.”

Ginny Folger read 2 richly descriptive poems, “Summer, Maine, 1968,” & “Rose Garden” about being helped by strangers after a fall. Tim Verhaegen, who grew up by the ocean, read a long, meditative piece “The Men & the Sea,” then a portrait of a member of a poetry group, a woman that he likes to call “the Duchess.” Paul Amidon brought the long list to a close with a trio of poems, “Cancer Clinic” (on mortality), “Living Within the Law,” & “The Polls Say it is Close (after Richard Brautigan).”

It is good to have this series back again, & that it brought out not only writers who read frequently at area open mics, but others whom we haven’t heard read in a while. The schedule seems to be for 2nd Fridays, but not always, at the Pine Hollow Arboretum in Slingerlands, NY — check the Calendar of Events on the website of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild for details.