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.
Posts
