Third Thursday Poetry Night, July 18

Poets (& friends) Charlie Rossiter & Tom Nicotera had been threatening to come over to Albany to attend this open mic for some time, & when months ago they decided July would be good, I hadn’t yet booked a featured reader for that month. Whom do I pick? Charlie or Tom? Whose feelings would be hurt if not picked? So I scheduled both to share the feature spot, the first time ever for me to have 2 featured readers on the same night. 

But before we could get to them I needed to invoke the Muse — tonight the great, gone poet, anthropologist, anthologist Jerome Rothenberg (1931 - 2024). He had come to Albany 2 times that I know of, the most recent in 2006 when he gave a reading at the former UAG Gallery on Lark St., then a grand gathering of poets, academic & community, in the upstairs of DeJohn’s restaurant down the street from the Gallery. Tonight, I read his poem “Improvisation No. 6: First Song” from a signed, framed broadside that originally belonged to gone Albany poet Tom Nattell.

First up on the sign-up sheet (& one of the last to arrive) was Elaine Kenyon, with a poem based on the “word-of-the-day” “Marmoreal,” a poem for her brother, describing him in terms of the characteristics of marble. Joe Krausman was eagerly waiting at the door when I arrived to open up the SJC for the reading; he read his classic poem about accounting, “The Passionate Accountant to His Love.” 

Anthony Bernini was back this night with a poem about horse racing, “First Saturday in May,” about the death of a horse on the race track (an all too-frequent occurrence). Tom Bonville read a poem about a single mother, “Her Turn,” looking to when it is her turn. Tom Corrado read “Screen Dump 768” (!), adding to his massive, ongoing project, this including references to the films of Burt Lancaster.

The first of the night’s 2 featured poets was Tom Nicotera. Tom was a longtime friend of Charlie’s & I met him as we were bouncing around the Northeast doing poetry events with 3 Guys from Albany. He began with a poem about aging, “I Have Learned How to Slow Down Time,” as a technique for living longer. The on to poems about visiting Charlie: “Alternate I-80” a descriptive, philosophical poem about driving to Chicago; “Drinking Bourbon with a Chicago Poet (After Li Po)” &; “Reading In the Spirit of T’ao Ch’ien,” Tom reading Charlie’s book (FootHills Publishing, 2012) in his breezeway. His poem “But Do I Need to Buy a Gun?” was written in response to the January 6 attack on the Capitol by Donald Trump & his supporters, then a poem from 2000 alarmed by the frequency of gun deaths “The Gun is a Shaman,” a chant & invocation with his Bodhran. He ended with “Twilight Prayer,” a calming, descriptive poem, a perfect way to end his set.

Charlie Rossiter is the founding-host of the Poetry Motel cable-TV series from the 1990’s, a host at readings & other poetry events in Chicago/Oak Park, IL & currently hosts the ongoing monthly Zoom event All-Genre Open Mic out of Bennington, VT, as well as a member of the poetry performance group 3 Guys from Albany. He began with a performance piece with claves “Reading Snake Black Solo while Listening to Hayden” on the oneness of poetry & music. “What Men Talk About,” is the title poem of his chapbook (Pudding House Publications, 2000), about sitting around in a cheap motel, reading poetry, drinking bourbon, beer with Tom Nicotera & Robert; “Tom’s Pad” was also about Nicotera after he was divorced, with a cooler for a coffee table. “Who We Are & What We Want” was an  expansive piece in the spirit of freedom, working class hope & dreams. “After The Early Morning Drop-off at the Airport” was a quietly philosophical, even whimsical piece. “Poetry Chicago Style” told the story of a wild night at a poetry night at Weeds, a bar in Chicago, with the 3 Guys from Albany. He ended with a pandemic/mortality poem, “The Sudden Urge to Do Push-ups.” 

After a short break, we continued on with the open mic. I led off by bringing back a poem from a previous Presidential era, “When Donald Trump Farts.” Mark O’Brien followed with a piece from his historical project of poems culled from the pages of old newspapers, this one a sonnet “Dunbar Hollow” about a murder mystery. David Gonsalves read “Third Coast Confidential, or Jack & Jill in Freedom Land” not a true story, he said.

Frank S. Robinson said the real poet in his family is his wife (Therese Broderick), but he read anyways, a love poem to her, describing her “in the Cosmic sense ... one of Plato’s forms …” Melissa Anderson said she is performing with the Capital Region Slam Team & gave us a sample, titled “You Ask Me About Love.”

Julie Lomoe is working on putting together a print collection of her poems that will include “Hope Dawns in a Grungy Gun Club” where she voted for Hillary Clinton, & was later interviewed by a New York Times reporter. Maria Sohn looked reluctant but read anyways, a gentle, peaceful piece “Middle of a Lake Feeling.” John Thomas Allen was the final reader, read a piece titled “Lunar Bequest” in which a haunted house reminds him of a woman he once dated, memories haunting mammaries.

 

Please join us each third Thursday of the month at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY, 7:30PM, for a featured poet & an open mic for the rest of us --  your $5.00 donation supports poetry events in the area & the work of the Social Justice Center.