Third Thursday Poetry Night, May 21

The night’s Muse was the recently gone Mary Lou Streznewski who had been the featured reader here back in March of 2023 & who recently passed away this past April. I read her poem “Women Who Sit on Victorian Porches in Summer” from her poetry collection Sitting in the Shade of My Own Tree (Kelsay Books, 2019). Then on to the open mic.

Avery Stempel was first on the list, he updated us on the legislation introduced to the New York State legislature to legalize the use of psilocybin for medical purposes, then read an excerpt of a longer memoir about the death of a friend, about finding his body. 

David Gonsalves read 2 really short poems (he often does), a pantoum with one word lines “Fam,” then “After,” perhaps a couple after dining outdoors.

Amina had arrive early & had helped me set up the chairs; her poem was titled “Suprnovas In Sudan” about how satellite photos have found evidence of the genocide happening in that war-torn country.

John Allen read a couple pieces, beginning with what he called “an elliptical poem” about a woman he knew briefly, “My Dry Ophelia (for Emilia),” then “The Carnival Tarot” another exercise in emulating the Surrealists of old.

I read a new poem about my son Jack’s fascination with outer space, “Jack’s Diner on the Moon (for the Artemis II astronauts)” mixing in memories of my own early job in a lunch counter with his family as the workers at the diner.

Tonight’s featured reader was Eric Wasileski whom I met through Veterans For Peace. He is the founding President of Daniel Shays VFP Chapter 186, Berkshires, Home of the Mohican. He began by reading from his collection of poems, Live Free (or die) (Human Error Publishing, 2014), “Forward Deployed” about his experience in Operation Desert Fox 1980 (“I knew these people were not my enemies”). Then on to a series of poems not in the book, mostly about his military experience, read from his laptop, although the poem “Bibliophile” he described as “not political” but could be. Earlier, I had shared with him a story from my own military experience during basic training about drill sergeants who would call recruits with long names they couldn't pronounce “Alphabet,” Eric read a humorous poem titled “New Nicknames” about a similar experience.  “Gathering in Ogunquit” was a shift in tone & subject, a  peace walk from Maine to DC in 2024. Then back to a couple poems again from military training, “Poor Deer” about the slaughter of a deer on a firing range  (but no targets died), & the humorous “Yes Sir” about the class distinction between enlisted personnel & commissioned officers (saying “Sir” but thinking “asshole”). He returned to Live Free (or die) for his ending poems, “A Veteran’s Remembrance On Memorial Day” & “Talking About War.” Poetry, another form of peace work.

Please join us at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY on the third Thursday of the month for a reading by a local or regional writer, with an open mic for the rest of us — start time 7:30PM, your donation supports poetry events in Albany & the work of the SJC.

Book Launch & Signing - An Armsfull of Birds, May 15

Some of you reading this have heard me say (perhaps more than once), “If your family & friends don’t go to your readings, who will?” The truth of that was evident by the audience of this reading by author Cara Benson of An Armsfull of Birds: A Personal Field Guide to Love, Loss, and Commitment (Health Communications, Inc., 2026) at the venerable Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza — standing room only. I first encountered Cara as a performance poet in 2004 & saw her many times since at venues locally & regionally. She has given many writing workshops in the area & many of the folks at this event that I talked to had met her at workshops or at peer writing groups.

This day was the official publication date of An Armsful of Birds & the bookstore had not yet received a shipment, nor had I received my pre-ordered copy; Cara had a stack of her author’s copies which some in the audience had. I would have to wait.

She was joined by her friend, author Amy Halloran, as a moderator/interviewer. Care began with reading from Chapter 1, “American Goldfinches (Jon and I meet);” each chapter is titled with the name of a bird as if it were a guide for birders,. She said that the book started as an essay, from thoughts she had walking in the woods after Jon’s death. 

When asked “how was the process of writing the book different from the process of healing?” she replied that the writing brought him to life again. The importance to her of walking in the woods for her writing process was emphasized again in her reading of Chapter 21, “Winter Wren (The dream that is not a dream)” which she characterized as “a long prose poem.”

I have since received my copy of An Armsful of Birds & hope that you seek it out. It is the work of a poet, descriptive, lyrical & introspective. As Cara said at the reading, “We need to take care of each other.” 

Writers Mic, May 13

Jackie Craven is the moderator for this congenial monthly open mic for writers & many of the readers this evening are regulars here (wherever “here” may be).

David Graham was up first with a poem from 2012 that he has not read out previously, “Self-Portrait with Change of Season,” a complex swirling mix of images pondering reality & memory, from fishing, to drums, to his father’s dementia & death.

Scott Morehouse read another of his dramatic & outrageously humorous narratives, this titled “Role Play” about an theater audition & rehearsal devolving into a sex scene, made even more wild with Scott taking on the voices of the characters.

Elisabeth Lockman read “Riptide Off Virginia Beach” from a prompt & a photo (or painting?) that Jackie was familiar with.

Alan Catlin read from his book, Still Life of the Apocalypse, an excerpt from the long piece “The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” including quotes from Oppenheimer about the first bomb test in 1945 with references to the Hindu god Vishnu.

I read 2 versions of my poem based on a line from Walt Whitman’s Specimen Days, “Here I sit in Solitude,” which I inadvertently wrote twice, first in August 2024, then in May of this year.

Naomi Bindman also read 2 poems not read out previously, the first based on the kids’ game in cars, “Punch Buggy” (your remember, don’t you, “punch buggy no punch back”). Later, at the end a descriptive piece in a store, “Passing.”

Susan Jewell read “Reading the 14th Amendment while Waiting in Line for Coffee” a poem written a couple weeks ago, clever playing with the text from the Constitution & pebbles in the river.

Ray Drumsta read 2 pieces related to cancer treatments; “Chemo Being” was poetic description of someone’s chemo therapy without reference to either the type of cancer or therapy, while “Kim’s Bones” was about another cancer patient who had read here sometime in the past, & has now passed, our host Jackie said that she remembered her.

Jackie Craven read 2 fairy tale poems, “Grimm Houses” with crows, & “Beauty & the Feast” complete with a troll & a lush table full of delicacies.

The discussion of poetry continued after the readings, on repetitions within the poems, even considering reading the over again to increase understanding.

Ray raised a question about having overdone the writing of poems about cancer, & to what degree should a poet indulge in the horrible details of disease, of death? The kind of issues to which there are perhaps no answers.

This Zoom open mic takes place on the 2nd Wednesday of each month. One can find the link at the Writers Mic Facebook page. 

 

2nd Sunday @2 - Poetry + Prose, May 10

A handful of poets in the cavernous lobby of the old bank building that is now the arts collective Collar Works, Nancy Klepsch & I the hosts.

First up was a poet here for the first time, Indigo Pearl, who said that she has a forthcoming book, In the Thin Place, check out her website. She began with a poem about what medicine has given her, “The Scar.” Then “Two Young Men,” about a scene at a beach of 2 men in love.

I followed with new poems, one about my son Jack’s whimsical graphic arts projects about the first diner on the Moon, “Jack’s Diner On The Moon: for the Artemis II astronauts,” then a 2-part piece based on a line from an entry in Walt Whitman’s Specimen Days, “Here I sit in solitude…”

David Gonsalves read 2 short poems, “Orphans” about his mother & his late wife’s mother, then the ephemeral translucent “Onion Skin.”

Nancy Klepsch read a tribute poem I’ve heard before & love, “My Mother Was So Cool,” then her ode to Corona, Queens, making me think of a song by Simon & Garfunkel.

Like some love affairs I have had, this open mic was brief & beautiful.

Who knows what you will find if you bring a couple poems to read at the 2nd Sunday @2 - Poetry + Prose open mic at Collar Works, 50 4th Street, Troy NY?