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.