2nd Tuesday All-Genre Open Mic Out of Bennington, March 11

Our host, Charlie Rossiter, started us off, as he regularly does, with his rant ending “… the mic is now open!” We did the usual 2 rounds, 1 poem in each round.

And I was first up on the list; in the 1st round I read a poem written in 2006 for the now gone Pierre Joris (1946 - 2025), “60 Lines for Pierre (a response to the “lost” poem of Dan Wilcox found on Oakwood St.)". For the 2nd round I read my own most recent Birthday Poem,  “Self-Portrait with Cat” in which I introduce my new companion Balthus.

Tom Nicotera began with a new poem, “My Football Jacket,” about his Bengals jacket — but he’s not a fan, hates football, actually a rhapsody of his uncle’s coat. He read another new poem in the 2nd round, “Painting the Sky,” clashes between a god & a goddess. 

Mark O’Brien talked about the poet W.W. Christman (1865 - 1937) who had lived outside of Albany, NY & written 4 volumes of poetry in his lifetime, then read a poem in rhyme in the style of Christman about confronting chicken thieves. In his 2nd round, Mark read a poem based on where Christman had lived, with obscure local references from local newspapers. 

Ginny Folger’s poem “Early March”, was a descriptive piece about the stalled world waiting for Spring. Her second round piece was funny, titled “Please Wait,” resisting the message on the computer screen.

Bill Thwing brought out his guitar, to sing a song in Haiku, noting that the Japanese poet, Basho, was a Samurai, “Samurai Sword.” In his 2nd round he read the lyrics of a song, “Blizzard,” about being caught in a storm in Alberta, Canada. 

Sherri Bedingfield read “Addiction Summer Kiss,” a family story about her son. In the 2nd round a  lushly descriptive piece about Key West In January.

Our host, Charlie Rossiter, read a couple pieces about confrontations with racism; in the first round, “Me & Robert Out In the World,” with his friend Robert Farr, an incident from long ago. Then the more recent, “Driving Red State Ohio” in the 2nd round. 

Julie Lomoe read her poem “American Armageddon” from the Moonstone press anthology on chaos.

Sharon Smith read lyrics to a new song, “The Truth,” that she had written for a friend's band; in the 2nd round read a poem, “Tikkum Olum,” based on the Kabbala creation myth (which I seem to recall is in her book).

Bridget Elder read from a work in progress, “Depraved Indifference,” with cartoon-like characters, the excerpt ending abruptly; later read some vignettes about her mom, a photographer.

This open mic is held on Zoom on the 2nd Tuesday of each month 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 & ask for the link.