2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, March 9

Since Collar City Mushrooms closed its Troy location we have been in transition to fine a new home. This day we met in a conference room at the offices of TAP Inc. on River St. in Troy. But writers seemed to find us, both the “regulars,” & even a new friend. The hosts are me, Dan Wilcox, & Nancy Klepsch.

I signed up first, just in case anyone was shy of going first. I began with a poem from 2006 written by the late Pierre Joris (1946 - 2025), written as if by me for my birthday, then my real birthday poem for this year titled “Self-Portrait with Cat.”

Kate Laity had been a regular at the 2nd Sunday @ 2 when were at the Arts Center of the Capital Region, but we haven’t seen her in some time; she read an Old English poem, both in O.E. & in modern English, “A Charm Against a Wen” which she described as half a charm, half a curse — seems just right for now.

Anne Hohenstein read another curse, written in response to cancer treatment, “Hero Prints Confession,” then another, older, cancer response, “Will the Earth Accept Me Gladly?”

David Gonsalves read a poem about death, “On the Couch,” which on the written page contains phrases in parenthesis so he gestured when he read those phrases; then the short poem “Short Leash.”

Sally Rhoades read from her brand new poetry collection, Taking Time (from Troy Book Makers), the poems “Girls on the Bridge” based on a poem by the late Southwest poet Dorothy Alexander, & her iconic “I Have Danced with Druids.”

Co-host Nancy Klepsch read her piece from a 2024 publication The Battle, about watching the TV news of the war in Ukraine, thinking ecstatically of an apocalyptic future — or present?

K Twigs was with us for the first, read “Crowbar” from a collection she is working on, then a sad, descriptive piece “Possum.”

Nancy pointed out that we had plenty of time left, so we went around in a quick coda — David read “Hymn;” Anne another from her cancer series “Orphans on the Atlantic;” Kate a brief piece I think was untitled; Nancy “All Birthdays Are Equal;” I read “Author Photo;” Sally “We’re Sitting with You Rilla” for writer Rilla Askew; & K Twig “Doomed Garden” also from her collection in-progress.

Look for us again on the next 2nd Sunday @ 2 when we will gather in our new home at Collar Works, 50 4th St., Troy — bring 2 poems, or 5 minutes of prose.