Writers Mic, February 11

The host of this Zoom event is poet Jackie Craven whose most recent collection of poems is Whish (Press 53, 2024) - winner of the Press 53 Award for Poetry.

David Graham was up first with 2 new poems, “Wakeup Call after Martha Solano” like an autobiography through school, love & sex, remembering a day in class; his 2nd poem was a Valentine, “Bathtime,” with the tender/humorous line, “she’s going upstairs to bathe, well, I’ll alert the media…“

Alan Catlin began with a poem written just this Monday, “Once in a Blue Moon," an anxiety dream poem, the jumps & surprises of dreams, with kissing sybils; followed by one written today, another dream, “Kidnapping & the Poetry Reading, an Anxiety Dream Poem.” (I think our dreams write, sometimes, better poems than we do, since dreams are often filled with jumps & leaps, the kind of mixing of images that our best poems should have.)

Then I was next & began with my recent “Birthday Poem 2026,” part of an ongoing practice of writing a poem each year about my birthday, this one in Philadelphia with family during the snowstorm; my 2nd poem, “Vernada Delray,” was written in response to Alan Catlin’s fabulous 2011 collection of poems Alien Nation (March Street Press).

It was good to see Naomi Bindman here again; she read a birthing poem, “Patience of Potato,” a lesson from plants; then a brand new poem of loss, “Will You Come Back?” 

Scot Morehouse is characteristically humorous & outrageous, this night he was no different in 2 short stories; the 1st a (not) news-worthy story of 2 competing standup comics turning 100, Mimi & Mami, vying for all the cake; then “Forgotten,” an early 20th century tale of lady’s underwear, with a concluding limerick which are always funny.

Elizabeth Loctman, overcoming problems trying to unmute, read a political piece from inspired by event last month on the murders of Renee Good & Alex Pretti in Minnesota. 

Susan Carroll Jewell read a revised “Living in the City of the Dead” in the duplex form, mimicking the blues using repetitions (that work so well in poems). 

Jackie Craven read an experiment, from a short story into a poem, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” a surrealist mix of the night her mother died (or not?), a gerbil, a mermaid on the couch.

Theonel Mathebula Zoomed in from somewhere across the globe, with a piece about suicide, “If Suicide Wins,” from a series of how it won’t be dramatic, but he wins by persisting with the little things of his life.

With some time left on the Zoom window, Jackie opened it up to one more poem from anyone interested. I opted to read a quite old poem, “Valentine” (this being February). Theo read  “Between 2 Floods,“ dedicated to a friend in Mozambique who was born on top of the trees in a flood in 2000, last month passed away during another flood. Then Naomi, a lighter poem, new, “Lessons of a Broken Left Wrist: Ode to my Non-dominate Hand.”

One can find out how to join this monthly (2nd Wednesdays) Zoom open mic by visiting the Writer’s Mic Facebook page.  Hope to see you “there”.

2nd Tuesday All Genre Open Mic Out of Bennington, February 10

With our host, Charlie Rossiter, in his living room — & the rest of us someplace else. He likes to do 2 rounds of 1 poem each round.

Charlie put me first on the list once again (it’s sort of a tradition). I read my annual “Birthday Poem,” this year in Philadelphia for a party & a snow-filled weekend. In the 2nd round I read a recently typed poem from my series from the 1st Trump reign, "What Makes America Great,” this  #45: Antifa. 

Ginny Folger’s 1st round poem was titled “Old Women Dreaming,” imaging lovers from the past; her 2nd round poem, “The Gin Rickey,” was a memoir of Lake Hapatgon, NJ (where I once went for an office party when I worked in NYC). 

In his 1st round, Tom Nicotera read a dream poem “New Year’s Eve” with a crow & snow (note the dream rhyming); later, he read a new poem, “There Are Angels Everywhere” about a couple paying his bill in a restaurant in Brattleboro. 

Bill Thwing dialed in from Western Pennsylvania with a song written last year (which he read as a poem), “Waiting For the Phone to Ring;” in the 2nd round, “Grandpa Harold Went To War” also in rhyme, the Solomon Islands then (WWII) & now.

Sharon Smith read from her new book, stages, in the 1st round “Poem Origin Oddities,” inspired by a remark by Charlie made some years ago about the shape of poems; in the 2nd round, “Bird Meter,” listening to the birds’ song like poetic meter. 

Rachel Baum read from her book of children’s poetry Sit.Stay.Fetch.Sketch. A Book of Artistic Canines, in the 1st round, for “Cocco Chanel,” then for her 2nd round poem, one for Cocco’s cousin, “Christian Dior.” 

Anthony Bernini, in his 1st round, read a seasonal poem about the stream behind his house in Winter, “The Piscawan;” then later, a poem of war & history, “Before Iraq,” i.e., Mesopotamia.

Mark O’Brien began with what he described as a “quasi Haiku,” on losing people in life; in the 2nd round he gave a rambling introduction referencing Richard Brautigan’s Gothic novel, The Hawkline Monster, then into a poem about as slapstick incident with his brothers & a field mouse, “What Are You Talking About?”

Our host, Charlie Rossiter brought up the rear in both rounds, & read from his book, For Now, in the first round one from years ago, “One Summer Day at the Pig’s Foot,” & at the end, the pensive “Listening to William Carlos Williams,” as a form of immortality. 

This wonderfully low-key Zoom open mic takes place on the 2nd Tuesday of each month beginning at 7:00PM, Eastern time. Although Charlie is in Bennington, Vermont, one can dial in from anywhere. If you are not already on his list & want to join the open mice, send him an email (to charlierossiter@gmail.com) & he will send you the link — you’ll like it.

2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, February 8

It was COLD!! & I wondered if anyone would venture out in Troy, NY to read their writing in a cavernous, old bank building that a reasonable person would guess would be Cold — I was correct about the building but not about the writers: we were 8 writers in overcoats & hats, warmly reading our written words to strangers & friends. Nancy Klepsch & I are the hosts of this monthly open mic.

Rhonda Rosenheck was first on the list with one of her imagined-crime poems, a long piece in ottava rima, then the much shorter & humorous “Later.” David Gonsalves recited his poem, “Four Digital Photographs,” from memory, a rare thing for him, then another piece that he read titled with a string of letters I totally didn’t get.

Nancy Klepsch read a happy poem, “like one of Bernadette’s” she said, a bit of automatic writing, “The View Out my Back Window,” & a poem as a letter to a queer youth who had been murdered, “He Would Have Been 17 Today.” I followed with my annual attempt to write a “Birthday Poem,” then a newly typed addition to my series “What Makes America Great,” #45 “Antifa.”

Anne Hohenstein read “Questions for a Married Lover,” which she described as being written for a friend who was having an affair with a married man, then the simply titled “February 23,”a tender memorial to family members whose ashes are buried together. John was here for the first time, said he had read at Poetic Vibe in the past, his poem “Invocation” had a first line written years ago, then a more recent piece, “A Night Alone …”

Sally Rhoades read a prose piece from her on-going memoir, this about her mother who died a month before Sally found out she was pregnant, about how she found out, at work, that her mother had died. Beth Offenbacker was another poet who was here for the first time, she read 2 related pieces, “Listening” & “Here Are the Questions I’m Living with Now” questions about remaking her life.

2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose takes place each month at Collar Works, 40 4th St., Troy, NY — free! & friendly.