You Me and Poetry, November 9

This was a wild night of performance & spoken word & music at the Fuze Box in Albany, NY produced by Jav Rux & the creative forces behind/within Lucid Voices, the host was Adonis Richards. 

I started this Blog in order to create an archive of the many poetry/spoken word/literary events I attend each month. At one time I was the only person in the room with a camera, now we all all cameras in our pockets in our smart phones, but except the occasional Zoom reading, or the programs presented by the NYS Writers Institute, many regular series are not recorded, so I still have a job.

There were plenty of folk with video cameras recording the scene that night. I tried to make notes in my usual reporter’s notebook, but how could that experience be translated into plain ole prose? 

The folks with the cameras at the Fuze Box this night have made what can only be the next best thing to actually being there (so pleased that I was actually there). So instead of a dreary post here on my Blog, I present this link to the Facebook reel that Jav Rux posted. Enjoy! & follow Jav Rux, Adonis & Lucid Voices on Facebook so you can show up the next time.

Pine Hollow Arboretum Open Mic, November 8

2nd half of today’s poetry double-header was out in Slingerlands, with a featured poet, Alan Catlin, & our host, just 2 letters off, Alan Casline — but first a few of the open mic poets.

In honor of Alan Catlin I read my poem “Joe the Bartender” which Catlin had published in Misfit Magazine some time ago, then read an imitation of his poems in his book Alien Nation (2011) “Arts Festival, Delray Beach.”

Mark O’Brien made an unconscious/synchronistic link to the day’s earlier open mic with a (dead) dog poem “What Lingers,” then a John Prine inspired piece with passive-aggressive post-it notes. A.C. Everson showed up to perform “Flamingo Hands” inspired by an exhibit at MassMoca, then a piece titled “No More” that she didn’t get to record with her friend Albie von Schaaf who died recently, read as a tribute.

Frank Robinson read an impassioned rant with the appropriate title “Crie de Coeur” addressed to an America who betrayed him (“how I loved you …”) in response to the recent Election. Therese Broderick’s piece “Safety in Numbers” was about finding solace in the daily tasks. Joe Krausman read a Haiku about Autumn.

Alan Catlin is perhaps the most-published poet in America today, a long-time resident of the Capital Region. His many years as a bartender has supplied him with endless inspiration, which was reflected in his choice of poems tonight. He began with a couple poems that commented on the recent Election, “Full Moon” (when the crazies come out), & one from a Bernadette Mayer workshop, “We Are Planting the Baby [doll] Heads.” “May Day Dream Poem” included me as a character (!), then on to a couple of true stories, “Black Widow” & “A Moveable Nightclub” (a shooting in Schenectady). From a new manuscript of formerly uncollected poems, titled Last Call for Lazarus he read selections, a bar recipe poem “Senior Citizen Surprise,” “Near Death in the Afternoon on Becker St.” in his neighborhood, “Mother Night” was about the work of the photographer Frances Woodman, & a cento based on the writings of Nona Fernández. He ended on 2 more notes of violence (after all, this is America), “After Reading 67 Shots” about the shooting of protesting students at Kent State in May, 1970, & one about Sharon Olds being bumped from a TV show by the bombing at the Boston Marathon 2013 — bringing us back to where he started with oblique commentary on the Election.

Tom Bonville began with showing a photo of his grandson, then on to a pessimistic list poem titled “Fear,” personal, political, spiritual. Edie Abrams read 2 poems from her phone, both mentioning Venus, the first with a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, & one titled “Anniversary Celebration.”

Melody Davis began with a new poem “November 6” (“Fuck …”), then from her book, Holding the Curve (Broadstone, 2013), “Ode to Sunset Park,” & one about how we remember “Breath” from Ghost Writer (Broadstone, 2019). Sally Rhoades read a poem Catlin had also published in Misfit Magazine, “Thistle,” then a memoir of a family party, “Out Last Fathers Day.” 

Our host Alan Casline read some very early poems from his 1st published book, descriptive pieces set in San Francisco in 1974, with some rhymes thrown in.

This was the last open mic at the Arboretum for the season; the parking spaces are not paved & in the Winter months can be very messy. Check out the Events schedule on the website of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild for news of it starting up again in the Spring, as well other literary events throughout the Capital District.

Saratoga Senior Center Open Mic, November 8

Once again a busy day, a double-header of poetry readings, starting off in Saratoga Springs. Our host, Rachel Baum, started us off with a poem by Jack Gilbert titled “Rain.” 

Then on to poet Marilyn McCabe, today’s featured reader, with a walk through some of her books & newer poems, with, as she said, poems with questions in them, starting off with “Perseveration” from her 2012 book Perpetual Motion (The Word Works), a poem she said is a favorite of hers to read (with good reason). From her curious & fascinating chapbook, Being Many Seeds (Grayson Books, 2020), she read a sample poem: the short poems are each presented twice, first as a conventional poem, then chopped up & the words spread out on the remainder of the page, & each containing a footnote about the ideas & life of the Jesuit theologian & paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. She also read a couple poems from Glass Factory (The Word Works, 2016), “Self-sight” & “Incarnate,” meditations on death. And then there were some new & “newish” poems sprinkled about, such as the word play on the terminology of the theater, “Poor Player,” & the concluding poem “Bed” putting her readings to …

Rachel Baum quoted poet David Graham to the effect that “you can never have too many dog poems,” to read her post-election piece “In an Election Year to My Canine Self.”

Pat Curtis read a humorous piece on aging titled “It’s Not That.” The afore-mentioned David Graham didn’t read a dog poem but rather 2 about family & love, “Smoke at the Lake” (a place as sacred ground to 6 generations of family), the poem about love titled “Thirst.”

Rhonda Rosenheck read a political poem from 4 years ago, “Pop Goes the Weasel,” then one titled “Garden Tour” from her wordle exercises. 

Angela Snyder read a poem written on assignment about her youth in Liverpool, England, “Childhood Memory,” then a “bop poem” about “A Thanksgiving Dinner.” I read a poem for the Veterans Day (aka, Armistice Day) holiday on Monday about an encounter with a ghost at the NYS Viet Nam Memorial at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, “John Lees.” 

Jay Rogoff read a cluster of “ridiculous little poems” in a form called a clerihew invented by British novelist Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875 - 1956) in the early 20th Century. The form is 2 uneven couplets, rhymed AABB, the first line is the name of well-know person. Here is an example from Jay:

Donald Trump

Took an enormous dump

On America, the nation that he sold

for a toilet made of gold. 

A good way to end with a bit of politics & humor.

This open mic is held on the 2nd Friday of each month at the Saratoga Senior Center, 290 West Ave., Saratoga Springs, NY at 1:00 PM — a featured reader & an open mic, the host is poet Rachel Baum. 

Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game - Marathon Reading, November 7

For the 2nd year in a row the NYS Writers Institute organized a marathon reading of a novel by the esteemed Albany treasure, author William Kennedy. Last year it was a reading of Ironweed (1983), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984; this year it was Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game (1978). Both events were held at the Albany Distilling Co. Bar and Bottle Shop, 75 Livingston Ave., Albany, NY, home of Ironweed Bourbon.

To join the reading one needed to sign-up prior to the event & then, of course, show up to read. Although I couldn’t be there all day I managed to carve out a couple hours in the mid-afternoon around my scheduled slot to immerse myself in Kennedy’s masterful storytelling (the event was scheduled from 11:00 am to 10:00 pm).

Among the community readers I heard -- & photographed -- were Robb Smith, Sally Rhoades, Michi Vonnegut, Joan Goodman, Craig McAvoy, Mike Reger, Bill Ritchie, Monica Trabold, William Kennedy himself, Wanda Fisher, & Wilma Alvarado-Little (in a stunning green dress). Just as I was about to read, Paul Grondahl, the Opalka Endowed Director of the Writers Institute, asked if I would mind if Bill Kennedy read the first page or so of my section because Jim Franco, the Times Union photographer, wanted to get photos of Bill reading — like I should say no? It was great fun to follow the author himself reading from his book.

I have posted photos of each of the readers named above & they are posted in an album on my flickr site here. & while you are at the site, stay & browse around awhile — you might even see photos of someone you might know. And while you are at it check out the Writers Institute website.

 

Third Thursday Poetry Night, October 17

This night’s featured reader was long-time Albany poet Francesca Sidoti, but before she read we got into the list of open mic poets. And our Muse for the night was the spirit of Tom Nattell (1952 - 2005), October being his birth month, & I read from his 1992 chapbook The Columbus Fantasies, #23.

Sylvia Barnard was up first on the sign-up sheet, she read from & about a gift “Moleskin Diary for My Daughter.” 

Tim Lake has not been here at the Social Justice Center for quite some time, & he read about Leif Erickson (whose day is celebrated on October 9) in his poem “Vineland,” who got to what we now call North America well before Christopher Columbus set out from Spain.

Don Maurer was here for the first time, but he has a poem in this year’s Poetic License exhibit, his poem tonight was titled “Scars” in 3 parts inspired, by the Erie Canal & the accumulated trash in our homes. Sally Rhoades writes often about growing up in the North Country, & read a piece of prose, “Summertime,” recently published in an anthology put out by the Public Library in Malone, NY. Harry was here for the first time, but said he has read at other open mics in the area, he read “Vicissitude,” like an angry letter in loose rhyme. 

The first photo I have of Francesca Sidoti (see the photo above) is from a reading at the Half Moon Cafe on lower Madison Ave., dated January 28, 1990. Now she has published a crisp edition of her poems, Civil Twilight and Other Transitions (Schodack Spring Press, 2023) from which she read a generous selection, as well as others. She said that her theme tonight was “friends, family & current events,” mentioned the purple lights on many of the buildings in Albany for Domestic Violence Month, & began with a poem titled “Night Combat” on that theme. “Festivals” was a foray into Dante’s terza rima on the theme of Autumn rituals, then a prose memoir, “Grandmother Had a Box of Thread.” Her poem “Tuesday” was about hanging out with friends in the Summer; “Haunted Labor” was for honoring workers & people working in the trades; & “Gloucester” was a memory & celebration of vacations in that city by the sea. “Politext” was a letter/meditation on friends who may not be; the title poem, “Civil Twilight,” addressed the prison-industrial complex (where she works). Then on to a recent poem, not in the book, titled “Artillery.” She ended with “Champ,” requested by her partner Jonathan Riven, about the Lake Champlain monster, a poem she read at April’s Word Fest.

Following the break we returned to the open mic list & I read a poem for the World Series (but one not in my chapbook Baseball Poems) “Baseball October.” Edie Abrams followed with a little tale with a punch-line titled “The Daughter.” David Gonsalves also had a tale to tell, this set in a Biblical apple orchard, “Eve of Distraction.” Tom Corrado is up to number 784(!) with his “Screen Dumps,” the random ramble of his associations.

Since Jonathan Riven has a close personal relationship with tonight’s featured poet, she was able to strong-arm him into signing up to read; he read one of his favorite poems, “The Cremation of Sam Magee” by Robert Service. The night’s final open mic poet will be the featured poet next month, John Allen, so he gave us a short preview, a poem published in Spectral Realms, “Poisoned Moon,” a dense, associative weave of words & images. 

We gather here at the Social Justice Center each third Thursday of the month for an open mic & a reading by a local or regional poet; start time is 7:30PM, your $5.00 (suggested) donation supports poetry events in Albany & the work of the Social Justice Center.