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.