2nd Tuesday All-Genre Open Mic Out of Bennington, August 13

Via Zoom with our host Charlie Rossiter, who got us started with his introductory rant: “… the mic is now open!” In 2 rounds, 1 poem each round.

I started us off with reading Tom Nattell’s poem, “Hiroshima,” to remind us of the 79th anniversary last of the bombing of that Japanese city by the United States. In the 2nd round I read a new piece, “Here I Sit in Solitude,” responding to a passage Walt Whitman wrote in Specimen Days about Chrystal Springs, in Laurel, New Jersey.

Sally Rhoades read “Almost Midnight” about awaiting the birth of her 4th grandchild’s birth, Avia. In her 2nd round she read a memoir, 1st time reading it out, “Stopping by for the Eclipse” about driving North, returning home to Malone to dance for the eclipse.

Sharon Smith read an ekphrastic piece in her 1st round, “Secret Boxes,” the art sparking memories of things she had as a child. In her 2nd round she read a poem for her husband Mark, “Jigsaw” about their differences, fitting together.  

Ginny Folger’s 1st round poem, “Storm,” was a memoir inspired by a photo of her mother. Later she read the just published “The Dead Come to Me in Dreams,”  her ex husband, her Aunt Edna, her 2 grandmothers talking, a cousin.

Charlie Rossiter read a poem he would have read for a Poets for Harris event, “Remember Katrina” but didn’t get in,  Then in the 2nd round another political poem, about his Trump-loving brother, “On Reading the Most Outrageous Facebook Post my Brother ever posted” on trying to figure out the Trump supporter mentality.

Bridget Elder read the very short “After the Eclipse.” In the 2nd round she moved up to read after Sally “Near the Sky” written in Tuscany,

Tom Nicotera got in to the reading reading late so read 2 poems to make up for it, the 1st written in 2014 “I Am Not Google-able,” a rant about the prices of houses, hedge fund managers (what the hell do they do anyways?), the cost of his rent; then a new one, “Striking Spider,” a large, rabid-wolf spider, a web on his screen door bell then gone & missed.

This Zoom open mic takes place on the 2nd Tuesday of the month. If you are not on Charlie's email list for the Zoom link & you would like to join us, email him at charliemrossiter@gmail.com & ask for the link.