Poetry at La Perla, October 29

This night I drove to the La Perla Restaurant in Averill Park with Mary Panza, poet & Vice-President of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild — not to mention that she is a long-time friend from the earliest days of the Albany poetry scene & we had a pleasant dinner in a side room the staff called "The Library," appropriate place for poets to eat. The open mic was in a parlor room off the bar & main dining room & is hosted by local poet Rhonda Rosenheck.

The first reader was Karl Michael who said he has been writing stories about things that actually happened & read an example, a piece about touring the United States -- the Washington Monument, Winslow Arizona, etc. -- with an exchange student, titled “To Connect with Kia.”

Nancy Klepsch is the co-host (with me) of the monthly open mic for writers, 2nd Sunday @ 2 at Collar Works in Troy; she read a moving elegy written with her wife, Lauren Pinsley, “Pierre Joris Talks with Jane Goodall in Heaven,” then a celebration of food that she wrote around the rim of a bowl, “Eat.”

I followed with a Haibun quoting from the band The Monkees “Last Train to Clarksville,” then a birthday poem that I read to honor the upcoming 15th anniversary of 2nd Sunday @ 2, "This Birthday is not Divisible by 10." (I don't usually post pictures of myself in these Blogs but I particularly like this shot by Rhonda).

The first poem that David Gonsalves read tonight was titled “Incomplete,” not sure if that described the poem, or something else; the second poem he read had a similar ambiguity - it was titled “Dave’s Dybbuk“ & was about a poetry manuscript clinging to the “Dave” (not sure if that was the poet himself or another Dave); a dybbuk is a malicious, possessing spirit in Jewish folklore believed to be the dislocated soul of the dead.

Mary Panza was here for the first time (although a veteran of many readings) & read what sounded like instructions, “Tales from the Pelvic Floor,” then somewhat related, “Thoughts on a Belly.”

Edie Abrams said the word wyeht means ghost & the poem she read was titled “The White Wyeht,”  the poem was filled with magical images of ghosts binding this world to the next; her second poem was not as scary, about 2 trees whose limbs intertwined, “Secret Love.”

Our host, Rhonda Rosenheck, read some recent short poems, “Republic,” “Later” (a poem about poetry), “Redemption” (for Yom Kippur, perhaps a confession), & “New Car Haiku.”

The final reader for the night was Mark Edsan who read an excerpt from “Open Face,” a longer manuscript, about a young woman in South Africa having a conversation with a teacher about herself & democracy - I am interested in reading the entire work someday.

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. While you can get food & beverage service in the room where the reading is held, the seating is scattered & informal with limited places to put your drink & food. I recommend one arrive earlier enough for dinner at the bar or the dining room. The food is excellent.