Invocation — , November 20

This series, formerly at Lark Hall & coordinated by Albany poetry impresario R.M. Engelhardt, moved last month to the Bull and Bee Meadery & Tasting Room; I’d missed it then so wanted to make sure I got there this month. It is located on lower Hamilton St., tucked into the shadow of the MVP arena where this night the Trans-Siberian Orchestra was playing so parking was at a premium. The venue itself is tight, a short bar & a small cafe area with tables & chairs, just right for a poetry open mic. For the record, I had a glass of the Genesis mead, too sweet for me, which was a good thing, I drank it slow & only had one.

Rob began the night with, what else? an invocation of the Muse, a philosophical piece by Ikkyū Sōjun, a 15th Century Japanese Zen monk & poet.

Sometimes when a poetry series changes venues poets whom we had not see before show up & that was true this night. First up to read (there was no mic or sound equipment, & none was needed) was Charlie Lapinski with a poem titled “Then” trying to keep the memory alive of a Palestinian woman who fell through the ice in Vermont, then another poem, “It Isn’t Always Life.”

I read an older poem, “Water Planet,” that had just been published in Water: Life & Death in the Poetics series anthology from Bainbridge Island Press, then a street-observation poem from earlier this year, “Lark St. Jesus.”

Pat Williams had been a regular reader, once even a featured reader, when Invocation was at Lark Hall; he read 2 pieces with rhyme, “Repugnant Revelry,” & “Perseverance” a villanelle. 

I’d seen Harry last month at the Third Thursday Poetry Night; tonight he read a piece titled “Let Go” about the craziness in his head, & “Now” about online shopping, in pressured speech.

Cassius did his poems from memory, both untitled, in intermittent hip-hop rhymes & rhythms, with this quote somewhere along the line, “you may think you chose the Matrix but the Matrix chose you.”

Jeff read an intense, somewhat disjointed, love poem, emotions turned inside out.

Rob read a couple of old poems, what he characterized as “greatest hits,” beginning with “Alchemy” which has been included in a few of his collections, such as Alchemy, The Last Cigarette, & most recently in The Resurrection Waltz; his 2nd poem was titled, I think, “Mythic,” but I’m not sure if I got it correct.

Invocation is now at the Bull & Bee Meadery at 140 Hamilton St., Albany, NY, on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, signup 7:30PM, 8PM start — check the the events listing on the website of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild, or on the Dead Man’s Press Ink Facebook page.

2nd Sunday @ 2 - Poetry + Prose, November 10

Among the mushrooms again, with co-host Nancy Klepsch, it was the exhilarating mix of frequent readers here & new voices/faces.

I had signed up 2nd on the hallowed sign-up sheet but the person who signed up first preferred to go later (you will hear more about that later). I read the piece I started off this busy poetry weekend with on Friday in Saratoga with my anti-war poem for the Armistice Day weekend titled “John Lees” a fellow Army trainee who did not survive the Viet Nam war.

Avery Stempel, who makes this space available to us each month, gave a brief summary of a panel discussion held yesterday on psilocybin & efforts to decriminalize it for therapeutic use, then read an emotional poem, “Putting in the Work,” on the very recent death of a dear friend long-time friend.

Joel Best said that the poem he read, “Anointed,” written this week (not on the election) was “maybe a love poem” — sounded like one to me.

My co-host, Nancy Klepsch, began with a piece titled “I Made Pizza,” then read one by Bernadette Mayer, “To a Politician,” an insult poem once published as a broadside by Alan Casline.

It was good to see Bob Sharkey back again; he read a poem about craving a kiss, “The Meadow,” then his annual Cento based on poems he likes in the year’s Best American Poetry, this one based on 6 poems & titled “Urban Vision Quest.”

Gary was here for the 1st time, visiting friends in Troy, he had signed up #1, then regretted what he had done; he managed to squeeze in 3 poems, “In the Waffle House” (a conversation, it seemed to me), “The Way It Happened,” & “The Green Man.”

The final trio of poets had first names that all started with “A,” 2 of which were “Anne.”

Anne (no last name) read “Grilling My Thoughts,” an angry letter to someone named Dan (not me!)

Amanda read a couple of emotional poems, adding to the heightened emotions of the day; “Blue Bell Sweetness” (a break-up poem), then what she described as her response to a hard year, “I Come to the Water to Cry” the water as mother.

The last reader was Anne Hohenstein, who has joined us here a number of times previously, also with intense poems, “I Am Not a Ghost” (with an epigram by W.S. Merwin), & “Deceit in the Wake of Death.”

Avery announced that he was moving Collar City Mushrooms out of Troy (the Collar City) due to his landlord having sold the building; he is moving up to space at Indian Ladder Farms. But Nancy Klepsch & I hope to continue this monthly event somewhere else in Troy. Our last gathering here at 333 2nd Ave. will be the 2nd Sunday in December. Stay tuned for announcements as to where we will be in 2025, information will be available on the 2nd Sunday @ 2 Facebook page, & listed on the Events page of the website of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild. I hope to see you there, wherever “there” may be.