Saratoga Springs Senior Center Open Mic, December 12

Perhaps one of the rewards of aging is the freedom to go to a poetry reading/open mic during the day — while others are at work. Our host, Rachel Baum, began with a poem titled “Assisted Living” by J. Allyn Rosser, which became a minor theme of the afternoon.

The featured poet was Elaine Handly who read poems from her forthcoming book, Heartbreak Grass, from Kelsay Books, in the Summer. She began with a series of poems related to weather, linking the poems with her short intros, “Weather,” “North Country,” “At the Airport,” & “Winter Fantasia.” Then on to one about having a cold, & “Hildegard von Bingen Has an Ocular Migraine” (imagining what the 12th Century abbess, composer & mystic would think of what she saw), & ended with a poem in which everything goes wrong, “Kablooey.” 

On to the sign-up sheet, with Rachel Baum reading her poem titled “Assisted Living.” Many of the poets read poems on the theme of Winter, such as Joanne Levine with a poem about longing for Winter in the Summer. Leslie Sittner picked up on the aging theme with the alliterative “Seven Senior Sins & Their Progeny.” 

Marilyn McCabe said she is not known for writing “love poems” & read an untitled piece that might be a love poem. David Gonsalves returned us to the theme of weather with his short poem titled “Under the Weather.” Elaine Klein read a new poem that also touched on the Winter theme, “Skating on the Milky Way.” This time of year I like to read Enid Dame’s “Holiday Poem,” written in the waning of the last century (“We need each other’s Light.”). Barbara Ungar read “Manifest,” a fantasy/dream of waking in a hospital. 

Jay Rogoff is about to become Saratoga’s Poet Laureate on January 1; he read a poem titled “The Home Garden,” then a new piece based on Zeno’s paradox, “Perfectionism.” Rhonda Rosenheck read 3 Haiku gathered together as “Heaven,” then “For Jane Who Is Becoming a Friend.” Susan Kress’ poem titled “The Art of Disappearing” centered on her parents. 

David Graham returned to the seasonal theme with “Winter Solstice Dreams.” Then Kathleen McCoy dipped into her book Ringing the Changes (Finishing Line Press, 2019) to read “In Dream’s Liminal Land.” Angela Snyder took up the theme of aging to bring the afternoon to a close with her piece titled “When Did I Become Old?”

This open mic takes place each 2nd Friday of the month at the Saratoga Senior Center, 290 West Ave., Saratoga Springs, NY, at 1:00PM — Free!