2nd Tuesday All-Genre Open Mic Out of Bennington, January 13

I don’t do many Zoom open mics now, but this is one I visit regularly to stay in touch with old friends (emphasis on “old”?). This night we were certainly a senior gathering. Charlie, our host, likes to do the 2-round thing, 1 poem each round.

I started off the list with a poem a fairly recent poem in each round. In the 1st round a Frank O’Hara style piece about running errands, “The Shifting Sands of Errands,” then later one that has become a poem card from the constantly growing series of bus poems, “Bus Riders.”

Tom Nicotera read brand new poems, the first from working at the branch library, “Redtail Hawk Under the Library Window,” dead from crashing into the window; then in the 2nd round a poem based on a memory with his brother in 1957, like a dream, looking at the stars.

Sharon Smith read “13 ways of Ways of Looking at America” inspired by Claude McKay from a prompt from a workshop on “the poetry of presence;" for round 2, “Wind of Change,” waking looking at the leaves.

Sherri Bedingfield only read 1 poem, having to leave early, “Contact with my Brother,” memories of her brother, looking for reconciliation. 

Mark O’Brien read a pastiche of a famous poem by William Carlos Williams that he (Mark) apparently read last month here about a Vermont ice cream company, the poem began, “I have licked Wilcox’s stick;” then a poem about stars & missing his brother.

Ginny Folger said that in her youth she was “Brave” (the title of her poem), but now she worries about breaking the other leg; her 2nd round poem, titled “Sorting Things Out,” was about being in her new place & findings things that can be thrown out. 

Julie Lomoe read the piece she had read at the recent 2nd Sunday @ 2 in-person open mic in Troy, the introduction to her prose memoir about being a painter in the art scene in Soho in the 1960s.

Our host, Charlie Rossiter, read a Cento from a the 2014 collection Seasons of Wisconsin which was a fundraiser at the time; then a poem about a brief warm day in the midst of Winter, the hopeful “It’s Spring.”

If you’ve been to this Zoom open mic held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month it’s likely that you are on Charlie's list & he’ll send you the link when it comes time for next one. However, if you’ve never joined this open mic & think you might like to, send him an email at charlierossiter@gmail.com to ask for the link. You’ll have fun.

2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, January 11

On to our 16th year doing this, it was only fitting that the co-host, Nancy Klepsch, led off the signup sheet. She read the poem, “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs,” written some years ago by Renée Good (her name was Macklin at the time the poem was initially published), who was murdered this week by an ICE agent in Minneapolis — I want my City neat: no ICE.

Graydon, who read here a couple times last year, read 2 untitled pieces, the first beginning “Every person has a poem …,” then a piece musing about wanting to be forgotten.

Eric Russell was new here & began with an untitled piece in one long line about a dream hotel (The Dream Hotel is a fascinating & scary novel by Laila Lalami, who read this past year at the NYS Writers Institute); Eric’s 2nd poem was titled “When You Hold On To the Egg Too Long” which was also the poem’s first line. I read my poem titled “2 Dreams,” which was commissioned & inspired by Mark Tremont, who sadly died last January, then a poem based on a sticker on my car, “Fire Elon.” David Gonsalves also read a poem inspired by Renée Good, his own titled “Last Words.” 

Anne Hohenstein returned to the dream theme with a sad, grim memory of her brother & her mother titled “Signal Dreams,” & a workplace piece titled “Confident in the Office of Zombies.” Sally Rhoades read about being in her mother’s 2nd wedding, “My Mother Used to Pray,” from a new poetry manuscript she is shopping around to publishers.

I sometimes have a hard time in understanding what Karen Fabiane says as she tends to swallow some of her words, so I may be wrong about the title of her first poem, “But” a portrait of a friend, then a second poem I’m not sure has a title about mermaids as porn stars, or the other way around. Julie Lomoe read the introduction to her prose memoir about being a painter in the art scene in Soho in the 1960s.

Nancy returned to bookend the afternoon with a poem she wrote with her wife Lauren Pinsley, “George Floyd is There to Receive Renée Good into Heaven.”

Please join us for this open mic for poetry + prose on the 2nd Sunday of the month at 2:00pm at Collar Works, an arts collective, at 50 4th St., Troy, NY — Free! & open to all.

Brushes & Pens, January 9

At Mojo’s Cafe & Gallery in Troy. As it says on their website, “Brushes n’ Pens, an evening rooted in community and creative expression. Through spoken word, music, and advocacy, we gather to listen, share, and explore the stories that connect us.”

Interestingly enough all 3 of the poets reading this night had been at the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center in Albany in December & I, personally, am glad they were there.

First up was Mena Brazinski, who set the tone for her reading with her first piece, “It’s Been 3 Days Since I Thought About Having Sex,” personal, conversational pieces like telling stories over coffee. While musings about sex were a large part of what she read, there was a poem about her grandmother (“Joan”), one based on the movie “The Princess Bride,” one about a friend from school the title poem from her chapbook Other Things That Burn. Then there was the piece titled “Everyone is Fucking Each Other But Nobody Loves Me,” as well as excerpts she read from a longer ramble, “Pussy.” Very entertaining self-absorption.

Juni introduced themself as “I write poems about being queer & hating the government,” & read a string of longer, discursive pieces, but a bit more in-your-face than the first reader. The first piece they read was titled “Pomegranates Are Concrete,” which is an acrostic poem the poet announced after reading it. Other pieces were titled “Pill Bottle Pavement,” the anaphoric “Ode to Dykes,” “Parrot Among Penguins” (about living & Autistic in DC), “Sonnet for Charlie” (a rhyming piece, a screed against Charlie Kirk, “I can read this, I don’t think the FBI is in the room”), “Royalty Free” (a fascinating prompt to imagine all your past Halloween costumes as tattoos on your body), & a piece from a workshop on manifestos, another poem repeating the line “Our dreams …” Quite a tour of the life & feelings of the poet Juni.

The final poet was Mary Panza whom I’ve been listening to for as long as the poetry scene has taken over Albany, & she included some familiar favorites — she has developed “in-your-face” to a science, starting off with “Kiss My Fat White Ass.” “Fuck the Giving Tree” is a take-down of the Shel Silverstein tale. I’m never sure if this poem has a title, but it begins dramatically enough, “I am dreaming of Vim Vender's London …” stacking up images from film noir black & white, on to a portrait of a neighbor “Free-Balling in Work Pants,” & ending with a piece on the lies we were told titled “Painful Religion.” A great lineup of poets with attitude.

Wavy Cunningham rounded out the night with his rap pieces, backed by his own mix tape, I don’t think there were titles, or if there were they were imbedded in the stream of rhymes & alliterations.

Check out the website of Mojo’s Cafe & Gallery for a schedule of their events, donations accepted — at 147 4th St., Troy, NY