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.