Third Thursday Poetry Night, November 20

The featured poet, Sarah Michelle Sherman, did her homework & filled the house with her family & friends — after all, if they don’t come to one’s readings, who will? Tonight’s Muse was the recently gone poet Hal Sirowitz (1949 - 2025) whom I had seen perform at the Dodge Festival in Waterloo Village, NJ, in September 1996. He became well-known with his collection, Mother Said, (Crown, 199), poems of advice from his late mother, Estelle Sirowitz. I read “Crumbs,” which begins “Don’t eat any more food in your room, Mother said…”

On to the open mic list. Elaine Kenyon, host of the Poetry Night at the Schuylerville Public Library on the 2nd Wednesday, read a poem from her project in 2024 to write a poem each day responding to the Word of the Day, this one dated July 11, the descriptive “My Grandfather’s Swank.”

Samson Dikeman was here tonight to support the featured poet; he read his poem “Don’t Blame the Messenger” in honor of the 10th anniversary of when he started working for the US Postal Service, a humorous & touching celebration of a poet/mailman.

The next 2 readers were David Gonsalves & Avery Stempel. I was recording the night’s readers but didn’t notice that the battery had run out until it was time for the featured reader, & I wasn't taking notes, so I have no idea what they read.

Tonight’s featured reader, Sarah Sherman, corrected me during my introduction by saying that indeed she had been a featured poet here previously, on February 19, 2012 & one can find my Blog entry here .

She read a couple poems & a couple longer pieces, i.e., essays, & began with the poem “The Truth is in the Ashes” a breakup piece, about burning the detritus of a relationship; then to a poem titled “I’ll Do It Myself” holding her baby son, after the break up, affirming herself into the future as a mother.  Then on to the longer pieces, “For Those in Attendance at My Funeral,” imagining asking those at her funeral what they will say about her, & again her son; she ended with another long piece, a story of consoling a suicidal friend, “A Flirtatious Interest in Tomorrow,” her intervention saves him, perhaps. Her pieces are dark, but soul-searching, & show that an examined life is indeed worth living.

After the break I read my poem “Red Boots” based on a story a friend told me.

Amanda has been here for the poetry night a couple of times in the past & tonight she read a recent poem, “This Is the Train to Ronkonkoma,” responding to a family wedding she didn’t want to attend, like a woman drinking flutes of champagne on the LIRR.

Sally Rhoades read a tribute/memoir poem, “A Thousand Little Kindnesses” about the neighbors & friends that have carried her through life, from childhood to now.

In spite of my confusion & not reading the name written on the sign up sheet, the final poet of the night was Austin Houston who read a meditative piece, “A Walk Around the Neighborhood.”

The Third Thursday Poetry Night takes place monthly at the Social Justice Center in Albany, NY, 7:30PM, with a featured reader & an open mic for community writers — your donation supports poetry events in Albany & the work of the Social Justice Center.