Third Thursday Poetry Night, October 15

This being October, I thought it appropriate that our inspiring Muse be Albany poet & activist Tom Nattell (1952 - 2005) whose birthday was October 11, & to read one of his Christopher Columbus Fantasies in honor of Indigenous Peoples Day — I read #32, in which Columbus wanders the streets of Albany looking for America. Our featured poet, Jen DeGregorio, joined us from Binghamton with her husband to read from her collection of poems What To Wear Out (Get Fresh Pubishing, 2025). But first we heard from the open mic poets.

First up was Doug Campbell, who last month was part of a reading at Historic Cherry Hill, titled “Poetry in Pursuit of Liberty.” Tonight he read a piece using the characters created by Eddie Murphy in his movies & in SNL, “Images Continue,”a rhyming tribute to Albany.

Hannah had shown up for the 2nd Sunday @ 2 to read about something had happened to her a long time go, a bold & brave escape from domestic violence.

Laura Ludwig read a piece of comic prose about some of the other folks in the Senior housing where she lives, “A New Generation of Seniors” inspired by a book, The Hundred Year Old Man Who That Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.

David Gonsalves read a piece that was a bit longer than his usual poems, an anaphoric piece repeating, “Send Me,” a letter.

Sally Rhoades had recently spent some time in Cyprus with her husband & not surprisedly wrote a poem while there, “Another Cyprus Morning.”

’Tis the season of the Baseball World Series & I read my pastiche of the opening of T.S. Elliot’s The Wasteland “Octoberland” from my chapbook Baseball Poems (A.P.D., 2019).

Tonight’s featured poet, Jen DeGregorio, teaches at the University in Binghamton, & she began with “Landlines,” a poem I remember reading a few years ago when it was published in the American Poetry Review, a tale of calling her mother from the Mall in her much younger days, then “I’m a Millennial, Technically,” “Gigs,” & “Blonde on Blonde” a chilling tale of domestic violence & growing up & away. “Ode to Paperless Billing” mixed up images of her monthly payments of her student loans coinciding with her period, & more memories of growing up, with humor, then the last poem in the book, “An Argument Against Cynicism,” which became popular among soil scientists & entomologists in New Zealand. Her poems are an easy, accessible mix of self-musings, mixing memories with the present of the poem. 

The Third Thursday Poetry Night takes place each month at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY, 7:00PM sign up for the open mic, reading starts at 7:30PM, the event includes a featured poet — $5.00 suggested donation supports poetry projects in Albany & the work of the Social Justice Center.