Poets in the Park — 2025

This year’s Poets in the Park included 3 session held on July 12, 19, & 26. 

July 12 — Winners of the Tom Nattell Peace Poetry Prize & Tribute to Tom Nattell

Albany poet & activist Tom Nattell started Poets in the Park in 1989, a reading series in Albany’s Washington Park at the Robert Burns statue, in which he featured local & regional poets as a way to showcase the poetry talent in the area. When he was dying of cancer in the Fall of 2004 he asked me to continue the series after he was gone. He also wanted to establish a fund that would provide a cash prize to student poets at Albany High School. When Tom was a student at AHS he won $50 for poem he had written; he said that encouraged him to continue to write poetry — not that he became rich by writing poetry. But he was responsible for being instrumental in establishing the poetry scene that thrives to now.

Each year on the last Monday in January, on the anniversary of Tom's death, poets of Albany gather at the Robert Burns statue in Washington Park (where we should have been this day) for the Tom Nattell Memorial Beret Toss.

This day there had been early dire weather predictions of severe thunderstorms so I moved the reading to our rain site, the Albany Social Justice Center on Central Ave. Fortunately the storms did not materialize here, but it caused some confusion for folks who planned to attend the reading in the Park.

 

This year there were 2 AHS student winners of the Tom Nattell Poetry Prize. Both were invited to read their winning poems at Poets in the Park. Rose Madden who won for her poem titled “Heart Untouched“ was not available to read her winning poem so I did the honors of reading her poem for her. 

The other winner was Matilda Gish who read her impassioned poem of resistance, “Society,”  her message to be who you are, don’t follow Society; she followed with the 1st poem she wrote when she began writing, “Autism,” her friend & her foe — powerful writing from a young poet.

I talked about Tom’s legacy & his huge footprint on our community, then read my elegy, “Chasing Tom.”  watch for notices in January about the exact time.

July 19 — David Graham & Alyssa Michelle

This evening we were back at the Robert Burns statue in Washington Park.

David Graham is a poet from the North Country who frequently reads at venues in Saratoga Springs. His book The Honey of Earth came out in 2019 from Terrapin Books, but first he read a poem by the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer (1931 - 2015), “Allegro” translated by Robert Bly, about the poet playing Haydn on the piano, keeping the ruins of the World at bay. 

David read 3 poems from his book, the first titled “As the Sun Says” was inspired by the ivory bill woodpecker, then a poem of childhood memory “Listening for Your Name,” & “Homage to Sadie Bosheers,” about a clothing inspector whose name he found in a new shirt. On to newer poems, a string of short poems, “Strong Recovery Suite,” “St. Patrick’s Day & Beyond” & a poetic exercise to write about a big abstraction (love) without mentioning what the word, “What It Is Like.”

I recall seeing the poet Alyssa Michelle a number of times at past Slam venues in Albany, such as The Low Beat on Central Ave., her personal, self-affirming poems well-performed. She says that her poetic themes include the lessons she’s learned throughout life, her experiences as a single mother, self-empowerment, and romance & indeed that was exactly what she offered up this evening.

She began with a recent poem that she had written for another event that she came from before this, “Ode to the Reformed Single Mother,” then on to selections from her 3 self-published collections. From her 1st book, Growing Pains, the poems “Her Love,” a sexy fantasy of romance “Sweet Dreams,” & a poem for her daughter’s father who died unexpectedly. Her 2nd book, The Awakening, chronicles the successfully met  challenge of a 20 day poem-a-day experiment, that opened up realizations about herself, including “The Mis-education of the Introvert” (a recurring theme), “The Healing,” “Wanderlust,” “Widow Mother,” & “Lessons. The most recent book In the Blooming Season continues in similar veins, with “Quiet Woman,” “Affirmation” & “Breaking Cycles,” which seemed to sum up the message of her poems.

July 26 —JTDAPoet & Jessica Femiani

Again we were blessed with pleasant weather for a Summer evening in the Washington Park, not to mention 2 fine poets, one local (Josh), the other from Binghamton (Jessica).

The poet now using the handle “JTDAPoet” started coming to open mics a few years ago, signing up as “Josh the Poet.” However, there seems to be someone else on Facebook who has been using that moniker, so Josh had to find another way to identify himself in the poetry performance world. 

He began by announcing that he has a new book coming out soon. Many of his poems were short, many on the theme of self-affirmation, others with broad statements of personal advice, such as “Queen of Strength” to a singer battling self-doubt. There was a tender letter to a brother who died last year titled “If You Was Here,” another titled “Guardian Angels” also written as a letter. There were love poems & break-up poems & a poem of hope for others, “Black Life.” 

I did not know Jessica Femiani or her poetry until she came with a recommendation from Melissa Tuckey who had read in Poets in the Park in 2018. Her chapbook-length poem, American Gun, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2024. She began her reading with the first 5 (of 10) parts of the poem, written during the pandemic, weaving in stories of her immigrant grandparents, her growing up in a working class family in Corona, Queens, with the Sandy Hook shootings, & gun culture. 

She filled out her program with more familial poems & noted that she was wearing her grandmother’s dress for this reading. There was an emotional poem “Plastic Peppers” about her grandparents home under dust, & one titled “Desire,” about rearranging her bedroom during a pending breakup. She ended with another political poem, a grim, violent piece, now re-titled as “On the Edge of the Fascist Takeover of America” with a litany of names from the news mixed in with a childhood memory of immigrant neighbors. 

Another season of Poets in the Park in the books. We hope to be back in Washington Park next Summer for more. But there is plenty of poetry to fill up your weeks while the Earth takes another turn around the Sun. Until then, as Tom Nattell used to say, “May the Muse be with you!”

Pine Hollow Arboretum Open Mic, July 18

Mark O’Brien is the able host for this series. This evening he started us off by reading a poem from January 1982 by David Gonsalves (who was also on the sign up list) titled “Pink Blanket,” then introduced the featured poets, Edie Abrams & Sarah Hacker.

For their opening they each read their responses from a workshop held by Susan Comninos to the poem by Gerald Stern, “Behaving Like a Jew,” which centered around a deep opossum; Edie’s response was a back-story about hunting & making a stew, while Sarah’s response was titled “Carpenter Ants.” Then they each read a set of poems.

Edie Abrams, who is frequently in attendance here, began, appropriately enough, with “It’s Too Damn Hot,” then an attack poem, “The Singular Man,” followed by a piece on a recent surgery, a poem about seeing a movie about penguins, & “Next Time” about wanting to be reborn as a cat.

Sarah Hacker’s work was new to me. She said she works as an editor for Conservationist Magazine, published by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, & that she has 2 children, both of which topics were reflected in her poetry. Her poems were short. She began with a poem about trout stocking in the Adirondacks, “Catch & Release,” then one on the imbalance in child-rearing “The Lioness,” others titled “Early Riser,” “Shape Shifter,” “Secret,” & she ended with an attempt at making an ordinary object sound exotic, “Kitchen Mop.” It’s always a good thing to add new voices to our poetic community.

A short break, then on to the open mic with a band of regulars. Paul Amidon led off with “Forty-Four Forth Street” from his latest book, Late in the Season (The Troy Book Makers, 2025), then a new poem recalling his time in Viet Nam “Tudor St. Shout Out.” I followed with an old poem that reflects how bad the political situation has always been, “I Thought I Saw Elvis.”

Mike Burke was back in town & he began with a poem by Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875) “Young and Old” (that Paul Amidon recited along with from the audience), then Mike’s own “New Years Eve” about a character that was dead, not drunk. Tom Bonville followed with a similar-themed piece titled “Family History,” about his father listening to baseball at night & dead the next morning. David Gonsalves’ poem “Show & Tell” was about the things that he’s been reading about.

The handwriting for the names of the next 2 poets seemed to Mark to be the same as the distinctive handwriting for Dennis Sullivan, & indeed Dennis had signed up first as Arthur Willis & read a piece written by Willis in Moscow in 1989, then as Howard Kogan, Dennis read  Howard’s poem, “The Poet” as much about baseball & God in the streets as anything else.

Joe Krausman’s short piece was titled “Four.” Then Dennis returned as himself. Dennis Sullivan reappeared as himself & talked about Arthur Rimbaud & Allen Ginsberg writing poems on booze & drugs & read his own poem from February 2017 written on pot, “Le Bateau De Beuh” (otherwise known as the Weed Boat).

Julie Lomoe read again her recent poem “Forsaken Beach” where no one seems to go, & a poem about another place no one seems to go, Opus 40, conflating it with her well-documented subdural hematoma, “Death by Blue Stone.” Her husband, Robb Smith, followed with a Senryu on aging, quoting the Dalai Lama.

Co-founder of this reading series, & former host, Alan Casline, read a couple poems on Nature & aging, “View from Later” & “What Olden Rivers Said,” then reprised a poem from Trump’s first term, “Sammy the Squirrel Gives a Stump Speech.” Tom Corrado read “Screen Dump #825 on memory, bouncing images, re-winding tape, magic words & paper plates.

Our host, Mark O’Brien, brought the evening to a close with one of his re-written historical documents, this an obituary of Johnny “Nig” Grabowski, a catcher for the White Sox & for the Yankees in the 1920s, who died in a fire in 1946 at his home in Guilderland.

This series at the Pine Hollow Arboretum features a poet (or poets), with an open mic, on the third Friday of the month from May thru October, sign up at 6:00PM, start at 6:30PM. Pine Hollow Arboretum is located at 34 Pine Hollow Rd., Slingerlands, NY — ask your GPS Lady for directions.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, July 17

Pierre Joris, May 2000, backyard barbecue, Albany, NY

This was a rare Third Thursday Poetry Night with no scheduled feature reader. We lost the poet Pierre Joris earlier this year; he had lived for some years in Albany, with his wife the artist, painter & chef Nicole Peyrafitte when he taught poetry & poetics at the University at Albany. I wanted to find a way to honor him for his role in this poetry community, so I scheduled this night as close to his birthday, July 14 — I loved that he had been born on Bastille Day. So it was an open mic titled “Remembering Pierre Joris.” & how appropriate that  there was a huge demonstration against the Fascist regime of Donald Trump taking place right across the street in Townsend Park. Even so we had 9 of us on the open mic sheet.

First up was A.C. Everson who said she heard Pierre’s voice in her head & recalled seeing him & Nicole at their performance at the Melville House in Troy; she shared a brief poem of Pierre’s titled “Sudanese Saying” (“if we die all together, Death is a feast”). 

David Gonsalves began by reading 2 short poems of Pierre’s, “In Praise of Aging” (“… but don’t try to watch your ass…”), & “2 for the Cormorants;” then, his own poem, “On September 14th Dante’s Death Day."

Sally Rhoades shared memories of Pierre when she was a grad student at UAlbany, then read Pierre’s translation of a poem by Paul Celan (1920 - 1970), “I Heard It Said,” then from Pierre's Nomad Poetics (Wesleyan University Press, 2003) an interview by Don Byrd with a question about baseball, & Pierre’s answer how poet Robert Kelly had advised him to listen to baseball games on the radio to get the rhythm of American language.

Joe Krausman talked about his personal connections with Pierre & with Nicole & about the rival translators of Paul Celan. Joe is a Yiddish scholar & knowledgable about the history of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe.

John Allen said that he didn’t know Pierre but was familiar with the work of Paul Celan & talked a bit about Celan’s life (& his death), then read his own poem about ephemera from his chapbook Cemetery Tour “Zeno and the Games,” then another piece titled “Oregon Professor at Nuke Noon,” both in the Symbolist tradition with a dollop of Dada. 

I read Pierre's poem “In Think Cafe,” a poet’s notebook jotting dated 1/14/2020 from the larger piece, “Diaretics 2020 - 2021” in Interglacial Narrows (Contra Mundra Press, 2023).

Robb Smith said he had met Pierre once at one of my New Years Day parties & they had a memorable conversation about Jacques Derrida’s lecture at the NYS Writers Institute at which Derrida had talked about “deconstructing the English Department;" Robb read one of his own poems, this about the Dalai Lama pondering old age, then a trio of Haiku.

I read my “60 Lines for Pierre: in response to the lost poem of Dan Wilcox,” written for his birthday (60th) the same year as the "lost" poem that Pierre wrote as me for my 60th birthday, my poem riffing on lines in Pierre’s poems.

Elaine Kenyon said she did not know Pierre but has enjoyed hearing what we have been sharing; she explained how she has for sometime been writing poems inspired by the Word of the Day & while exploring Pierre’s poetry found a poem he wrote about the Word of the Day, for February 16 2020 (from the “Diaretics” cited above), the word being “soniferous,” then another of Pierre’s from the day before.

Ulysses Gueriuous was a new name/face here at the Third Thursday Poetry Night & he read a piece about his story of “peace & war,” as he called it, about him finding structure in the Marine, that he was  wounded in combat, & said he is proud now of his service to the community & that it was a privilege to stand before us here tonight. 

Sue Cerniglia, who frequently attends these events but doesn’t read came to the mic & recalled the performance collaborations between Pierre & Nicole, & said that she has in her home a hand-carved shelf that Nicole gave her when they moved to Brooklyn.

I capped off the night with another piece from Interglacial Narrows, a bus poem, “There Are No Options,” another of his quotidian, notebook jottings that stand in contrast to Pierre’s profound scholarly, academic work. He was a poet of many facets with his feet in academe as well as on the street. His memory, his poems, his translations are a blessing to always have with us. Thank you, Pierre.

Join us each third Thursday of the month at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY, 7:30PM for a poetry reading by a local or regional poet with an open mic for community writers. Your donation supports poetry events in Albany & the work of the Social Justice Center.

 

2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, July 13

Nancy & I back together again as co-hosts after alternating months. There were 9 readers showed up for the open mic, including a new voice/face in the echoing chambers of Collar Works in Troy, NY.

Rachel Baum said she was able to get out of a recent writer’s block by writing rhymes for children & read 2 selections about dogs, “Airplane Pilot Airdale,” & one inspired by the mix-breed giant dog, the Leonberger, “Dr. Leon Berger.”

I read 2 poems with the same title, “July 4th in the Year of the Terror,” written by poet Charlie Rossiter, responding to the Summer of 2002 & the US response to the 9/11 destruction of the WTC towers, & my response to Charlie's plans to escape to Canada.

Joel Best's 1st poem was a love poem, “2AM,” then read one for later in the day, “Evening,” from one thing to another, something he does best. 

Rhonda Rosenheck read a piece from an assignment in a new creative writing proram, “April 4, 2026” a letter to a cousin about their family. 

David Gonsalves began with an aptly titled “Ramble,” then one titled “Long Story Short” about being "married to the daughter of the Angel of Death."

The writers today have read either at the music stand or from their chair. Co-host Nancy Klepsch opted to read from her chair; her 1st piece was a rhapsody filled with images of the sea titled “The Island,” then a piece beginning “Joan Didion is dead…” (or maybe that was the title), imagining smoking Marlboro reds with the dead writer.

Both of Bob Sharkey’s poems had to do with being on the edge of water, the 1st, “The Gail Anne,” was about watching a vacation boat going thru the locks & imaging the lives of the owners, the 2nd, “Home,” about returning to his home town in Maine after years, the changes & what had stayed the same.

Alex Peraza was a new face & voice for the 2nd Sunday open mic; her 1st poem, “Mania as a Form of Re-Decorating,” was about creating art through painting her room; she prefaced her poem, “The Hangman,” that she was OK.

The last reader is a frequent participant here, Anne Hohenstein, she brought her well-behaved dog with her; she read a piece that was a chilling description by a child of her bedroom, “Spending the Night,” while her 2nd poem, which was very short & untitled, went by before I knew what was happening.

Join us at Collar Works in the old bank building at 50 4th Street, Troy, NY, for 2nd Sunday @ 2, Poetry + Prose — 2 poems or 5 minutes of prose. Free.

2nd Tuesday All-Genre Open Mic Out of Bennington, July 8

After Charlie’s “The Mic is Open!” introductory rant we were right into the list of poets showing up on Zoom from anywhere. There were 2 rounds, one piece each round.

I was up first & read a poem by Charlie, an email he sent to me in July 2002, “July 4th in the Year of the Terror.” In my 2nd round I read my own poem with the same title as Charlie’s, responding to his panic. (I’ve been hearing at poetry open mics, & elsewhere, about how “bad” things are now; I’m old enough to know that it’s always been “bad” in America, & 2002, as in Charlie’s poem was one of those times, with the government’s response to the 9/11/01 attack on the WTC.)

In his 1st round Mark O’Brien read “Where Did the Stars Go?,” feeling mortal in a diner; in the 2nd round he read a love poem from Heaven’s waiting room, “It Is in the Shelter of Each Other that People Live.”

Julie Lomoe began with a cranky piece about rampant nimbyism at Snyder’s Lake “Forsaken Beach;” in her 2nd round she read a piece from 2003 “Gaia on the Vernal Equinox” from her self-published book of poems, Proof of Process.

Tim Verhaegen in his 1st round read a piece about a woman looking out her window, “Her Great Big Window,” then in his 2nd round a grim portrait of his twin brother who died 5 years ago, “Me & You.”    

Sharon Smith read her most recent poem in the 1st round, “We Bless Our Children” (whether 4 or 54); then later, “Rusty” about Rusty Young, a musician song-writer of the band Poco who died in 2021. 

Our host, Charlie Rossiter, said about the poem he read, “I Need to Hug More Trees” that he didn’t remember writing it, perhaps for Arbor Day one year; his 2nd round poem he said was from the time he was living in Chicago, for an open mic, “The Inaugural Reading of We Don’t Need No Books Book Club.” 

Cheryl A. Rice read only 1 poem, “Turtle On My Back,” a leisurely, meandering meditation about reading in bed.

For both his round, Bill Thwing brought out his guitar, along with some adjustments to his sound connection, which took time; his first round was a followup Charlie’s tree poem, from a prompt about hinterland. His 2nd round song was “I Am an American” which sounded his prior tune, not the words but the music & rhythm. 

Tom Nicotera, who works in a library, read his poem “The Library in Heaven” imagining an infinite, eternal library (that actually is a description of most good libraries now, or the Internet).

During his 2nd round I got a phone call & so missed the rest of the open mic, including Ginny Folger’s 2nd round poem, but I did hear her poem in the 1st round, “Lucky in Love,” something she said she has never been, the poem a response to a horoscope entry.

Charlie Rossiter hosts this open mic out of his home in Bennington, VT on Zoom on the 2nd Tuesday of the month, starting at 7:00PM VT time. I you have not yet made it to Charlie’s list you can get the Zoom link by sending him an email asking for it; if you are on his list he will send it to you a few days prior to the reading. Hope to see you “there.”