Poetry at La Perla May 28

This is starting to become a habit — got to La Perla early enough to have a relaxed dinner at the bar, a few other poets at small tables in the bar area, then moved to the casual side room for the open mic. The host is Rhonda Rosenheck.

I grabbed the 1st slot on the open mic list & read a poem for Memorial Day, the old political rant, once the centerpiece of an abandoned novel by the same name, “Richard Nixon Must Die” (dedicated to ALL the victims of the war). Rhonda Rosenheck followed with a senryu titled “All the Wonders,” linking a variety of topics in a series of Haiku — yeast, salt, Godzilla, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Israel/Gaza.

Philip Good read a tribute/meditation, “Alice Notley Passed Away Yesterday” (poet Alice Notley, 1945 - 2025). Julie Lomoe’s piece “November, the End of the Movie” was a leisurely descriptive piece about smelling smoke in her rural neighborhood, then a newer piece inspired by a prompt from Michael Czarnecki on “hope.” Edie Abrams read a poem from her chapbook Mermaid in Metamorphosis (Benevolent Bird Press, 2011), “He Was a Self-Important Little Man,” then another somewhat related, “One Singular Man.”

David Gonsalves read 2 very short poems that went by quickly, “Sparrow” & “Siblings.” Steve Lawrence from the sponsoring organization Arts Letters Numbers read 2 short stories from an old notebook , “The Scene” (almost drowned out by sounds from the adjacent dining room), & “3 Shades of Blacktop.”

There was still some time left in whatever schedule we were on. Julie read a piece about her cat, “Sunny Mae Monday,” & Rhonda a piece about hair, “Wedge Cut.” It was still daylight when I drove home.

Poetry at La Perla takes place on the 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 or at the bar. Bring poems.