Third Thursday Poetry Night, May 15

Tonight’s featured poet, Andy Fogle, was previously a featured reader here 10 years ago. I like poets  who keep writing & putting their work out there, undeterred by the absence of American Book Awards, or appearance on America’s Got Talent. Tonight’s Muse, the recently gone poem Robert Milby (1970 - 2024), was of that ilk, a whirling dervish of Orange County poetry events. In his honor I read his characteristic poem “Baudelaire’s Beneficiary” from his 2007 collection Ophelia’s Offspring (Foothills Publishing).

David Gonsalves was the first on the open mic list, read the strangely titled "The Southern Habits of Highly Effective Elephants," but apparently a “political” poem. 

Mary Panza said she was having a conversation with a life-long best friend about their Catholic school days, then wrote this, “Thoughts on a Bully,” like a letter from now. 

Maria Sohn read a poem about the experience of loss & how some folks try to get one to get out of the grind, but “I Wallowed In Heartache,” which for some is what is needed.

I followed with a May poem about the site of the 1886 Haymarket Riot, that was the inspiration for International Workers Day, “Crane Alley.”

Andy Fogle has a new collection of poems, Mother Countries, from Main Street Rag Publishing & read largely from it, many of the poems in the book are memories of his mother, & poems dealing with grief. There were poems of his youth, such as “Norfolk Scope, 1980” when the Harlem Globetrotters came to play, another memory from youth “Bad Language in Third Grade,” & “Little King.” “Reading Comprehension” was a tender memory of his mother & going to the Mall to the movies, then the story of his mother confronting her husband’s lover. Race & becoming aware of the larger world around him as he grew up (“woke,” as we say now) was a recurrent theme. He tossed in a piece from of a new book of poems in progress about the abolitionist John Brown; at another point poem by Tim Seibles, “Soon,” from Tim’s first book. He concluded with 3 poems from the end of his mom’s life, “Death, Burning, and Service” a dream poem & ended with a medley of the title poem, “Mother Countries,” & “Everything That Rises Must Converge.” A good selection from a book of poems with many complex themes.

Normally, that would have been it for the poetry, but Lisa Saunders slipped in while Andy was reading & she was looking for a place to read a poem tonight, so she read a personal piece that reached into some of the social issues that Andy’s poems touched on from a different point of view, “I’m Sorry, Black Man.” 

We are at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY each third Thursday of the month at 7:30, with a regional or local poet as the feature & an open mic for community writers — your donation supports poetry events in Albany & the work of the Social Justice Center.

Writers Mic, May 14

Another Zoom open mic, usually back-to-back with Charlie’s Bennington Zoom, as it was this night. But for one reason or another it has been months since I’ve been able to squeeze this one in — but here I was (wherever “here” may be).

David Graham was here too, with a new poem, responding to Wordsworth’s quote, “the child is father of the man,” David’s poem titled “The Boy Alive” with images of water & the last hours of daylight.

I was next, & since I haven’t been here since I wrote this year’s "Birthday Poem," I read “Self-Portrait with Cat” in which I introduce my new companion, Balthus, then a poem inspired by news images of flaming Tesla’s “Fire Elon.”

Alan Catlin read a poem inspired by poet Guy Reed, “On Not Writing My Ars Poetica” then read an ekphrastic poem with a long title about driving out west in a nightmarish California (Alan is good at these nightmare scenarios). 

Julie Lomoe read a more cheery poem, “Sunny May Monday,” with her cat, then a piece with allusions to the Opus 40 outdoor art installation in Saugerties, “Death by Blue Stone,” a  personal essay about her fall that resulted in a subdural hematoma some years ago that you may have heard about.

Elizabeth Lockman also read a poem with a cat in it (seems to be a night of felines), “The Creamsicle Girl Dreams of Oranges” which was a response to the ekphrastic challenge in Rattle magazine; then read a prose poem titled “What God Does in His Spare Time Occasionally” in which a strange thing happens to a Bible.

I’ve missed Scott Morehouse reading his raucous imaginary tales, but got a good dose tonight with his piece, “A Howdy Doody Wedding,” written like a news item, 2 former child members of the show’s audience marry years later, with appropriate costumes for the ceremony.

Susan Carol Jewell, as she does often, offered up another Rattle ekphrastic piece, “The Simple Act of Blessedness” that was about bones, & perhaps marriage (again). 

A great surprise was a poet in from South Africa (one of the advantages of Zoom), Theo with an untitled piece in rhyme, where words are his refuge,  & “a promise of beauty;”  then a poem about how hate is a virus, “Dear Life,” but where love conquers hate. Later Theo took advantage of extra time at the end extended by Jackie to read a complex meditation on a simple phrase, “Never Say Never.”

Another new poet for me was Mosa who read 3 Villanelles (!), the first in short lines, the next from a prompt about “the Night walkers,” the last titled “Where the Light?”

Our host, Jackie Craven, read at the very end, what she described as “a silly absurdist prose poem,” a surrealist poem beginning  “My unborn child lives in a halfway house… “ What would André Breton say?

One can find the Zoom link to this monthly open mic at the WritersMic Facebook page 

then join it on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7:30PM Eastern (USA) time.

2nd Tuesday All-Genre Open Mic Out Of Bennington, May 13

Charlie Rossiter is our host, Zooming from his house in Bennington. He started us off with his open mic rant, the on to 2 rounds each.

I was up first with an old poem”44,000” from May of 2010 about the killings of peace activists at Kent State & Jackson State in May 1970. In the 2nd round I read a new poem inspired by burning Teslas, “Fire Elon.”

Mark O’Brien read 2 pieces from his ongoing project based on his perusal of old local newspapers, in the 1st round a sonnet based on news items about marriages & divorces in Sharon Springs, NY; then in the 2nd round a ghost story set in Greenbush from the 1746 Boston Evening Post. 

Julie Lomoe read in the 1st round a long, seemingly interminable piece, “House of Bewitching Beasts,” filled with cats, house-sitting for her daughter; in the 2nd round she read yet another, albeit shorter, piece about her daughter’s house, “Death by Blue Stone” recalling the outdoors art space Opus 40 in Saugeries & her subdural hematoma some years ago.

Bill Thwing brought out his guitar to sing “Homeless Kid,” recalling a church project working with a homeless shelter (rhyming “church” with “lurch”) & in round 2 another song, on partying in his youth. (The odd Zoom sound hookup making his guitar sound like a bird chirping in the background.)

Sherri Bedingfield read poems by high school students in Hartford, CT from a project titled Hartford Students Speak; in the 1st round a poem by a 10th grader, beginning “The trees are dying, the ocean is spoiling…,” then in the 2nd round a poem by an 11th grader titled “What Fairness & Equality Means.” 

Our host, Charlie Rossiter, read in his 1st round a poem titled “Rough Times” about making  times together tender as an antidote, then in the 2nd round a poem about work from his 2007 book The Night We Danced With the Raelettes (Foothills Publishing), “The Summer I Brought In the Yeast” (working for Budweiser).

Cheryl A. Rice in her 1st round read a bedtime meditation, “Turtle on My Back;” her 2nd round poem was titled “Deconstruction of the Omelet” which was what the title says, like running the projector backwards.

Sharon Smith read a poem about looking back from 60 years later to a slumber birthday party where she burned her hand, “16;” in her 2nd round, she read an older poem, “Samapatti,” about how words help us look back to moments of beauty, from her book reflection (2022).

Tom Nicotera read a new poem written for the dedication of the Hawk Ridge Trail, “Ode to a White Oak,” effusive as an ode should be; & in the 2nd round, he brought the open mic to a close with a poem abut nature sounds, “Twilight Prayer” (which it was).

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.

Poetry and Prose @ La Perla, April 30

I arrived early enough to have a leisurely dinner before the open mic. Last month, my first time here, I had arrived on time, was able to get a drink & an exquisite plate of calamari in the back room where the reading is held. But there are few places to put a drink or a plate of food, so I thought, why not come early to have dinner at the bar? At the bar this night was the host of the open mic, Rhonda Rosenheck, poet & poetry organizer, with a pizza that she offered to share, with a side of conversation — Perfect!

Thus, I could relax for the open mic, even a nearby piano upon which to rest a glass of wine. The first on the open mic list was Malik Sanders starting off with a love/breakup poem titled “Heart Zone,” the second titled “Wind Down Stream,” both expansively lyrical. Nathan Smith, whom I’ve seen at open mics in Troy read a memoir poem “Dogwood,” then a love poem interestingly titled “To Kill a Metaphor.” 

Our host, Rhonda Rosenheck, read what she called “a snippet of a memoir” set in Boston, about a boyfriend diagnosed with melanoma, “How Joe Tully Dreamt Up His Best Friend.” Ashraf Kamal is a resident fellow here at Arts Letters and Numbers working on a memoir that he read from last month, this night he read another segment from the manuscript about going to a party, & on looking good naked.

I remember seeing Bonnie Cook read from a memoir a while back, tonight she said that what she was reading was a “fledgling attempt at poetry,” a poem about fungal bacteria whose scientific name I did not catch. I was next with 2 political pieces, “Crane Alley” (the modern site of the 1886 Haymarket riot in Chicago), & one inspired by images of flaming Teslas, “Fire Elon.” David Gonsalves read a prose poem titled “A Man Admonished” (was it him?), a bit longer than his usual driveby poems.

Nancy Klepsch, who had filled in here for Rhonda last month, read 2 poems from a forthcoming anthology titled Writing the Land: Rensselaer County New York (Hudson Taconic Lands, & Arts Letters and Numbers) her poems titled “Deep in the Kinderhook Preserve” & “Dear Kinderhook.” Anne Hohenstein began with a short poem inspired by reading the poems of Charle Bukowksi, the a piece that included actual quotes from a legal deposition, “Martyr a Minute,” & “Virgin on the Lawn,” inspired by the theft of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary from a neighbor’s lawn.

But it wasn’t quite over. Rhonda offered the opportunity to read 1 more poem to those who only read 1 earlier. Interestingly enough each of the poems read were on the theme of light: Bonnie Cook read, “After Derek Wolcott,” Malik Sanders a poem beginning, “In the mirror … me, myself & I…” & Rhonda Rosenheck read one titled “Time to Ponder.”

This community open mic takes place each last Wednesday of the month at La Perla Restaurant at Gregory House Country Inn, 3016 NY-43, Averill Park, NY, in a pleasant room off to the side of the dining area. A special menu for the poets, drinks, or get there early & have dinner in the dining area. Bring poems.

 

Third Thursday Poetry Night: Melissa Anderson, April 17

Our featured poet, Melissa Anderson, did what all good poets do, brought her friends & relatives to her reading, with a mix of familiar faces & new faces for the open mic. Perhaps it was the first time Melissa read at the open mic here that she said her that her grandmother, Cathy Anderson, was a poet — & many of us remembered Cathy fondly as one of the “Voorheesville poets.” So, I celebrated the memory of Cathy Anderson as our Muse tonight by reading her poem “Lover” with its mention of April & violets from the 2006 collection Poetry Don’t Pump Gas from “The Every Other Thursday Night Poets.”

Starting off the open mic list was the ever-performative poet A.C. Everson with a recitation of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows,” -- could’ve been a sing-along. Leslie Gerber hasn’t been here in quite some time & read “Praise the Broken Promise of America” by Alison Luterman that has been getting quite a bit of “air time” lately, appropriately enough. Rhonda Rosenheck  was back here with a 2 part poem “How Do We Teach Men…” consisting of a sonnet & a Haiku written at a retreat in the woods.

Diana Steenburg was a new name to me, a virgin reader, with a seasonal poem “Daffodils,” a memoir from her childhood stealing flowers. David Gonsalves has been here many times, read an intricate prose poem titled “A Man Admonished,” perhaps autobiographical.

Melissa Anderson first read here at the open mic many months ago, but I didn’t know then that I had seen her read in the open mic at Caffe Lena back in August 2012, when she was just starting out her career as a poet; I only learned that when I went looking through my files for a photo of her to use in the publicity & discovered the shot from 2012. Tonight she read from her book Dogstar Poems (Main St. Rag Publishing, 2024) (full disclosure: I had read the manuscript in order to give her a blurb for the back cover). She started off with a poem from her day job making furniture for Chipotle restaurants, “Work Song,” inspired by a mountain of road salt outside the window on the docks, them to a pandemic poem, “Bedroom Window Lockdown.” She explained that “Dogstar” was another name for what is commonly known as “Polaris” or the North Star, & that many of the poems are about looking for direction, as in the poems “Reflexivity” & “Better.” Melissa is a key member of the Cafe Euphoria slam team & so ended with a semi-humorous slam poem set in NYC talking to her younger self about breakups, “Four Years Later, I Return to the Scene of the Crime.” A good sampler with more gems to be found in the book.

After a short break we continued on with the open mic. I read a seasonal poem, “What Passover Has Taught Me.” Another new name on the list, Amanda Pelletier, read “Beach Glass,” in the persona of a bottle tumbled by the surf. Austin Houston has been featured here in the past, tonight read “Hello” a gentle poem inspired by his job transporting patients in a hosptial. Tom Bonville read “Getting Closer,” a descriptive tale of the night, awake with his thoughts.

S.L. (Sam) Maurice has been working on revising a previously published collection of poems, Vibrant Sounds Colors & Motions, read one of the poems, the swirling memoir “Schoharie Rorschach.” Elaine Kenyon brought the night to a close, not with one of her own fine poems, but with a poem by Naomi Shiab Nye, “Famous.” 

We gather each third Thursday of the month at 7:30PM here at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY for an open mic with a featured reader — your donation supports poetry events in Albany & the work of the Social Justice Center. Join us!