All Genre Open Mic Out of Bennington, December 10

The host is poet Charlie Rossiter who likes to do 2 rounds of 1 poem per round, & it works quite well. But first, his traditional “Open Mic Invitation/Introduction,” which I reference each time I write about this event. Here it is, courtesy of Charlie:

you can rant/you can chant/you can shout/get it out/get it down/get it off/off your chest/off the page // share your mission/share your glory/share your vision/tell your story/take a moment in the sun/the mic is open!

Charlie put me first on the sign-up sheet & I began in the 1st round with a poem I wrote about 5 years ago after the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, “Tourism,” later I read a related poem, “Church Burner,” written many years ago, well before the Notre Dame fire.

Cheryl A. Rice was back & in the first round read a memoir piece about her father, Long Island horses, & hay runs upstate, “Truck on Fire;” in the 2nd round she read “Subway Swans,” riffing on an image from a poem by Tina Barry.

Julie Lomoe’s 1st round poem was titled “Driving in the Darkness,” a rambling piece about driving to Schenectady to meet with other crones; later she repeated her poem from last month, “November the End of the Movie” a free-flow on the remnants of Halloween & the wild fires. 

For his 1st round poem our host, Charlie Rossiter, was accompanied on guitar by his son, Jack Rossiter-Munley, for “Stuff it Xmas Style;” in the 2nd round, his poem, “Drive Like Tollson,”was a descriptive recollection of an undertaker neighbor who drove real slow. 

Bridget Elder’s pieces where short, & shorter; in her 1st round, one written today on the colors of Winter; in the 2nd round, on the local (Bennington) politicians.

Kate McNairy joined us; she too writes short, enigmatic poems, one with snow titled “Loss” in the 1st round, then one titled “Memory” words & a saxophone.

Sharon Smith read in the 1st round about the grandmothers she never met, based on a simple pen & ink drawing, “Before I Was Born.” In the 2nd round she read “Word Tribe” a poem in her 2022 book Reflection, funny rhymes on the open mic community. 

Mark O’Brien read 2 recent pieces from his ongoing project of poems based on old newspaper articles. In the 1st round, one based on story in the Albany Argus in 1877 about riots to stop trains from going through Jerusalem (now Feura Bush) New York; then from July 1899 a story about a man trying to prevent workers from digging a hole for a telephone pole on Albany’s Maiden Lane (where there are now many such poles).

Sherri Bedingfield read poems about 2 very diverse (& distant places); the 1st round poem was a descriptive piece about a visit to New Mexico, “Coyote Chaco Canyon;” in the 2nd round a piece about visiting the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, “Standing Stones at Calanais” on the Isle of Lewis.

Tom Nicotera’s 1st round poem, “Coyote God,” was about a sick & dying coyote on Sherri’s Connecticut suburb front porch (& references her 1st round poem). Then, at the end of the 2nd round, a short December poem, “The Gift” crows like black bows.

This Zoom open mic is held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, starts at 7:00PM, Eastern Time. If you would like to join it & are not already on Charlie’s list, send him an email at 

charliemrossiter@gmail.com & maybe I’ll see you there (wherever "there" is).