Pine Hollow Arboretum Open Mic, September 13

The 2nd of the day’s open mics was right next door to Albany in Slingerlands at the Pine Hollow Arboretum. There was a featured reader tonight, Carolee Bennett, whom hasn’t been seen reading her work out in quite some time — but she continues to write poems. The host is poet of the watershed, Alan Casline. But first, a little bit of the open mic.

I was up first leading off with my poem “The Witches Necklace,” followed by an older piece, “Star Maps,” pondering the meaning of the constellations. Mark O’Brien read a poem about family members dying, “Last Man Standing,” then one for Alan Casline, “My Life as Seen as a Series of Snap-Neck Moments” a list of falls. Tim Verhaegen also read a poem about deaths, combining his family’s genealogy with the story of the indigenous Mohawks. Edie Abrams read a poem about aging, then one written today, “Activation,” about her cats growing their claws to defend themselves.  

Mark O’Brien did the honors of the introduction of the night’s featured poet, his neighbor in Clarksville, Carolee Bennett. She began with poems from a book manuscript currently circulating looking for a publisher, a poem from during Hurricane Irene in 2011, “The Water Rising We Stay at the Bar,” others, including “Fragments for Girls who Grew Up in the ’80s…,” one addressed to a dog (?) Gertie, poems confronting cultural misogyny. She shared some newer work from a manuscript of “micro-fiction or prose poems,” eco-poems based in a post-apocalyptic world, a favorite setting with poets these days. She ended with a love/sex poem “Don’t Forget your Booties It’s Cold Out There.” It was good to hear new work from this fine, local poet who has been hiding out in Clarksville.

David Gonsalves began with a descriptive poem (titled “Breeze”?) of birds at the beach, then on to one titled “Cindy’s Birthday.” Tom Bonville squeezed in 4 short poems, “Love,” “Pleasure,” “Paint,” & “Real Estate Sale.”

Our host Alan Casline, read “Last Days,” about a captain captured by the British in the colony's war for independence, an exploration of the horrors of war, a mix of imagination & history, then “How Nature Heals” or mends. Francesca Sidoti read a poem from the April Poem-a-Day project “January Trees,” then one written for her husband, “Anniversary.” Tom Corrado closed out the night with yet another from his monstrous “Screen Dump” series, this numbered 781 (!),

This series continues, at least until the snow starts to fall, at the Pine Hollow Arboretum, 2nd Fridays, always an open mic, often a featured poet — check out the Events section of the website of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild. Donations support the Arboretum.