Poetry Jam, August 21

This monthly open mic is held at The Alice Moore Black Arts & Cultural Center, 135 South Pearl St., Albany, NY. This night there was a trio of hosts, Mark, Stephanie Robinson, & “Mr. Harris” serving as hosts/MCs, with DJ Landlord. In between the poets there were a series of trivia questions for the audience about notable black figures in history, politics, & entertainment; the entertainment questions were generally beyond me, but I did get a couple of politics & history questions correct.

Those who read/performed were a mix of poets I’ve heard previously, sometime going back to the earlier days of the Albany poetry scene & new faces & voices to add to the history. The first 2 up were poets with whom I am familiar. First Carol Durant with a piece in rhyme about the power of “Our Ancestors.” She was followed a poet who had been featured at the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center in April, Valerie Temple, aka Bertha Blunt who read her funny, rhyming piece with a lesson on diet, “Sugar Poem,” then a poem she said she has been working on since she was in 8th grade, “Cultivating Love’s Garden.”

After a break for trivia, Ebony Queen gave a lively, erotic performance of 3 pieces, all in rhyme, first the serious “The Willy Lynch Syndrome,” then a sexy description of a “Nubian queen” & a white man, “The Afro-Centric Bond,” & the intensely erotic 1st person “Mistress of Masturbation.” I followed, sweating, & tried to be as energetic with my “hot pants” poem, “Southwest Flight 2095” referencing a song by James Brown.

Dr. Andrea Miranda-Pestana, the Deputy Director of the Center of Law & Justice, announced next month’s Poetry Jam for September 18, with the theme Boriken Night: Celebrating Amefricanity - stories of displacement, pain, joy and collective liberation. Ann Garcia was here to read for her first time, 2 pieces: “Full Disclosure” & a piece that riffed on the Psalm “He Maketh Me…” Stephanie Robinson sang a praise song to Black Men. Samia read 2 untitled pieces, one about warm-hearted soft hands, then a more serious love poem.

Sean Davis performed a somewhat preaching rap on chains, freedom & the need for forgiveness. Dee Journey did a sultry piece with a stage joint, a memory piece on music & smelling the loss of a love in a market place.

Mojavi, now also going by the name Jav Rux, was once the host of an open mic at Clayton’s Restaurant on Washington Ave., Soul Kitchen, back in the late ‘90s; he talked about the old poets of this area, some (like me) in the audience here tonight, then accompanied himself with music off his phone to a rant on how we are taught oneness through the perfect beat (the soul of Black folk), & dance. Logan, who I remembered from an electric night of poetry & music at Proctor’s Theater some months ago, read an erotic piece from his phone, a memory piece about falling in love to (& with) rhythm & blues.

Adonis Richard, also known as Sincerely Donnie, & who is the very busy Poet Laureate of the City of Schenectady, did his often-performed piece on race & how it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. Victorio Reyes, once the Director of the Albany Social Justice Center, now returned from a teaching gig in Puerto Rico, did a piece titled “Statehood?” piling up the well-worn images of tourist attractions, the victim of colonial exploitation.

Hosts Stephanie & Mark noted the presence in the audience of Charles Touhey, the widower of the activist Alice Green, the founder of AMBACC, with a tribute to the long lasting love of Alice & Charles, & all the good they have done for the community of the City of Albany. Then Stephanie ended by singing Carly Simon’s “You make me feel like a natural woman.”

Did I mention the food? I was too busy scribbling my notes & taking pictures to be able to handle an over-flowing plate & fork, but it sure looked good.

Sorry you missed it? Well, this is a monthly event on the third Friday of each month at the Alice Moore Black Arts & Cultural Center, 135 South Pearl St., Albany, NY, 7:00PM to 9:00PM — donations gratefully accepted. 

Third Thursday Poetry Night, August 20

To start off the evening’s poetry I, as I do each month, invoked the Muse in the form of a gone poet, tonight the spirit of Lew Welch (1926 - 1971), whom I noted had been born on August 16 in 1926. He famously walked into the mountains of California in May 23, 1971, with a revolver & his body was never found. I read his short poem beginning “I saw myself…” from his Ring of Bone: Collected Poems 1950 - 1971 (Grey Fox Press, 1973) which seems to predict his death. Then on to the work of living (& present) poets.

First on the sign-up list, & here for the first time, was Laura Ludwig, who for many years ran the monthly poetry open mic at Inquiring Minds Bookstore in Saugerties, NY; tonight she read a poem titled “Jazz,” trees & the music of Louis Armstrong, the joint jumping, with the memory of artists. 

Thomas B. was here once again to read “The Same Power,” a tender, relationship poem. 

Maria Sohn was back after an absence; she said that her introduction to her poem was longer than the poem itself, & told a story of finding a box of poems in her attic, among which was a poem by her best friend, Margaret, & the next day Margaret’s sister called Maria to tell her that Margaret had passed away, so Maria read Margaret’s poem, titled “Cal’s Tavern,” a gallery of the town’s characters drinking in the Tavern. 

The night’s featured poet, Jason O’Toole, brought friends & relatives to cheer him on, notably, his mother Christine, whom I had met in high school in my senior year at Vincentian Institute here in Albany in Journalism class. Jason was born in Albany & I first encountered him in the music scene in Albany centered around the QE2 rock club, just down the street from from the building that would become the Social Justice Center. He began with poems published by Ghost City Press, out of Syracuse, NY with vintage Albany photos, looking back to the past, including “Sissy Boy” which mentioned Snyder’s Lake. The centerpiece of his reading were poems from The Strange Misgivings of the Sadly Gifted, originally published by Dead Man’s Press Ink of Albany, NY, now available in an expanded 2nd edition with illustrations by Alexander O’Toole (to whom the book is dedicated) & collages by The Collage Club of The Netherlands based on Jason’s poems. He moved on to a mix of published & new pieces, including “Astropastoral (The Second Pentacle of the Sun)" for which he had won the 2025 Amy Lowell prize, & ended with a brand new poem, “Small Maps.”

Following the break I got back to the open mic list & read an old piece, “I Thought I Saw Elvis,” noting that Elvis “left the house,” so to speak, in 1977 on the anniversary of Lew Welch’s birth.

Tom Bonville read “What I Realized,” just written this morning, pondering the customers at his local Walmart & their cars in the parking lot.

David Gonsalves wrote the poem “Perseus” about meteors although he didn’t see any this year.

Elaine Kenyon hadn't signed up at first, but ultimately decided to read a new piece, still hand-written, responding to a poem by Mary Oliver, one that begins with the line “In Every Heart.”

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.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, July 16

This night marked 20 years of the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center, the series began back in the Fall of 1997 & was at 2 other venues until moving here in July 2006. The featured poet that night was Donald Lev (1936 - 2018), so on this night I invoked Donald as the Muse, read from his chapbook Adventures at the Upstate (Pamphilus Press, 2007) the poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”

Thomas B. started off the open mic portion of the night. He said he signed up at #2 hoping someone else would take #1, but no one did. He read a piece titled “Pass Me By” about opportunities missed, the he lightened the mood with piece about stubbing his toe.

I teased David Gonsalves before he read that the night could be seen as contest between himself & the featured poet, Kate McNairy, as to who has the shortest poems; he then read 2 short poems, “Oh Good,“ like a family memory, then “Lost” a child returning to his mother.

Sally Rhoades was back home in Albany, from following the World Cup in various locations, with her husbad & even younger generations.  She  began with a short poem, “The Shacks Along the Road,” a memory from childhood that brings her joy, then a longer, descriptive piece written on the train heading home from NYC, “The Sun is Setting.”

I read a poem about the Bomb, “A Poem for August 6,” then my latest poem card based on an Instagram post offering a prompt, “in another lifetime.”

Featured poet Kate McNairy read from her recent chapbook, When the Cats Yawn (Finishing Line Press, 2025),  mixing in some new poems as well. One of the cats in question, Tigger, is on the cover of the book, but has died, their place taken by 2 cats now. Her poems are short, some are Haiku, & none of the poems in her book are longer than half a page, & most are 6 to 8 short lines. As such she did us a great favor of reading each of the poems twice, a technique favored by writers of Haiku, so that we can absorb a bit more the 2nd time around.  She also grouped her poems by themes, such as the Seasons or times of the day. As an example, here in its entirety is a sample:

Education

Lisa signed

‘never change, be you’

in my yearbook —

Yet remaining

the same got me

nowhere.

Join us each third Thursday of the month at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY at 7:30PM for a reading by a local or regional writer, with an open mic for the rest of us — $5.00 suggested donation, which pays the featured reader, supports poetry events in Albany, & the work of the Social Justice Center.

2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, July 12

There was a full sign-up list for this monthly open mic (not that we couldn’t have squeezed a few more in). The hosts are Nancy Klepsch & me, Dwx. Readers can do 2 poems or 5 minutes of prose.

1st up was Thomas B. who started with a celebratory poem that began, “When I read a good book…” he wants to share it, then an amusing piece about trying to understand the meaning of his own poem. Rhonda Rosenheck’s 1st poem was about food, “Esther’s Domestic,” then she talked about having performed a poem with the Albany Symphony Orchestra for the festival in Waterford, “The Aerie Beneath My Feet.”

Joel Best began with a conversation ironically titled “Soliloquy,” then a funny, outrageous narrative “Twice You Lie,” both with his characteristic wild mix of images & leaps. David Gonsalves read short pieces (of course!), an Haiku “Fish Take Flight,” & “Lost.” 

I read an older piece, inappropriately appropriate for the month about a woman on street corner in an American flag blouse, “Patriotism,” the another piece I recently turned into a poem card, “Parallel Parking.” I was followed by my co-host, Nancy Klepsch, who read 2 experimental, prompt-driven pieces, that may be without titles, an exquisite corpse beginning “a line, a line...,” then one written from a prompt to write a piece with the word three.

Sam Win showed up to connect with the writing community with hopes to publish a book; he read a long piece in rhyme titled “3D Freedom” & handed out business cards to his real estate business. By contrast, Anthony Bernini has been around since the earliest days of the poetry scene here in the late 1980s; he read 2 political pieces, “If You Can Keep It” based on Ben Franklin’s comment about democracy, another piece from the Iraq war, on the birth of words, “Before Iraq” (“Mesopotamia…”). Anthony’s most recent book is Selected Poems (The Troy Book Makers, 2025).

Sam Maurice recited poems from memory from his book Vibrant Sounds, Colors in Motion (Deadman’s Press Ink, 2nd Edition 2025), “The Therapist, The Meteorologist,” & the title poem. 

Annie Borthwick was a late signup who said she was a Troy native, with a story of the places she lived in Troy, some gone now.

Please join us for this open mic for poetry + prose on the 2nd Sunday of the month at 2:00pm at Collar Works, an arts collective, at 50 4th St., Troy, NY — Free! & open to all.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, June 18

Natalya Sukhonos

Tonight’s Muse was the gone Holy Local poet of Gloucester, MA, Vincent Ferrini (1913 - 2007); I read 2 short poems of his, “On the Nine 0” & “The Gold.” The featured poet, Natalya Sukhonos, lives much closer. 

But first some of the community writers on the sign-up sheet.

I have seen Charles Lapinski read at a couple of open mics in the area & more recently at An Evening of Music & Poetry for Peace & Justice in March; this night he read a new piece, “Lessons in Liberty,” on the July 4th celebrations & its follies. 

Doug Campbell, a regular reader here, said he had tried out his poem at the Monday workshops at the Alice Moore Black Arts Cultural Center, a piece in 3 parts, an imaginative piece in rap-style rhyme, “Someone Looking Out at the Sea,”  “Someone Looking Out at the Forest” & another about looking out in Space all in the same style. 

David Gonsalves brought his big book of poems & read “Pantoum” that was, well, a pantoum, in its traditional intricate structure.

Our featured poet, Natalya Sukhonos, has been promoting her new book of poems, Sunlight Trapped in Stone (Green Writers Press, 2026), with cover art by her sister, Marina Kornfield, “Soul Diver.” The book is divided into 3 sections & she read selections from each, starting with the introductory poem, “Ars Poetica with Spider and Peaches.” From section 1, “Fossilized Sunlight,” she read “After Bishop” (in in Elizabeth Bishop) on family deaths, including her own twin; “Symmetries of Pain” (about her grandmother); “Aunt Sash’s Dementia” about the woman who raised her; & “Oblivion, Interrupted.” From section 2, “Border Crossings,” & “1939, Lights Twinkling on the Water, Margaret Crossing the Atlantic” a child immigrant coming to Canada from Great Britain. Then a poem not in the book written for a friend who died last week, “Death My Double.” She ended with the last poem in the book from section 3, “Limpid Stone,” “Summer Rain.”

After the break we were back to finish up the open mic list, I read my poem “The Cold Clean Sea” from my book Gloucester Notes (Foothills Publishing, 2015).

I was followed by Julie Lomoe who read a recent rambling piece, “Death of a Mourning Dove,” a gift from her cat.

Avery Stemple pine pitch matts the hair on his arm & inspires his meditation on spirals & repetition in nature & in human life. 

Amina Gueye did some announcements for the programs at the AMBACC, then read a poem dedicated to her Mom who does hair braiding, “You’ve Made Me So Beautiful,” a peek into that magical art.

John Allen finished off the night with a poem he had trouble retrieving from his phone “Purity” read by someone else with a British accent, difficult to hear clearly perhaps adding to its underlying surreality.  

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 pays the featured reader, supports poetry projects in Albany & the work of the Social Justice Center.

2nd Sunday @ 2 - Poetry + Prose. June 14

Back in the bank building, home to Collar Works, I was on my own as the host so that my co-host, Nancy Klepsch, could attend the Capital Pride Celebration in Albany’s Washington Park.

First up on the sign-up sheet was Anne Samson, her first time here. Both pieces she read were from writing retreats, the first titled “We Flow” from the Women’s Writers Center, the second from a retreat at Pyramid Lake, “Kayak Before Breakfast.

David Gonsalves, who is frequently here, read just one piece, titled simply “Ithaca.”

Bob Sharkey made a welcome return to the 2nd Sunday with a poetic tribute to the English painter, photographer & stage designer who died this week, David Hockney (1937 - 2016) based on his last interview with the Los Angeles Times, then a piece titled “American History” about a beloved high school teacher who inspired his class to break into song.

I read a couple of older pieces, one a tribute to Allen Ginsberg titled “June 3, 2022” in which I compare what I was doing to what Allen wrote about for that same date, then a personal affirmation, “I’m a Poet Too.”

Julie Lomoe read 2 pieces from a memoir-in-progress, one from her recent Norwegian cruise (if it’s recent does it qualify as a “memoir”?), then another a section from the introduction.

Then back into the World. Writers may join us any 2nd Sunday of the month at 2PM at 50 4th Street in Troy, NY for this open mic, 2 poems or 5 minute max for prose. Free & open & accepting of anyone.

2nd Tuesday All-Genre Open Mic out of Bennington, June 9

I was able to Zoom in this month, always an eclectic mix of poets from elsewhere. As usual, our host & moderator was Charlie Rossiter from his living room, & we did 2 rounds, not always in the same order this night.

I was up first & in my 1st round read a poem written (& titled) “June 3, 2007,” remembering the great gone poet Allen Ginsberg, & my own life intersecting. In the second round I read another older poem that I recently turned into a poem card, “Hidden Cafe Table Poem.”

Bill Thwing did his thing with his guitar, a song for his 1-year old granddaughter, Clara, “Our Sweet Little Buttercup,” her smiles now, the things she’ll do as she grows up. Then another song in his 2nd round, “Swept Away” about a dream of standing in a stream, that somehow led into a group discussion of AI.

Sharon Smith began with one of the 1st poems she wrote 7 or 8 years ago, “Between the Hidden & the Revealed” (which she included in her 2022 collection, reflection: poems. The 2nd time around she read a dream poem, “June 6,” which is the anniversary of her father’s death.

Our host, Charlie Rossiter read a poem I remember hearing years ago, a memoir of his father as a bad example, “Drinking While Driving.” His 2nd round poem was also a memoir titled “Eating Scrambled Eggs at Midnight Thinking of Blummie,” a woman who was not related but sort of “an extra grandmother.” 

Ginny Folger read he poem “Insomnia” that she has just heard has been selected for publication in Eclectica Magazine. In round 2 she also read a memoir poem, this titled “Visit.”

A regular here, Tom Nicotera, read a brand new poem, “BookTender” about librarians as bartenders listening to patrons, not just stackers the books. For his 2nd round he read a Father’s Day poem, “Dreaming of Fish: for My Father” about their time fishing together.

It had been a night of memoir which Mark O’Brien capped off in both of his rounds, first with “Fermented Childhood,” then in round 2 with another childhood memory of being at a local military firing range “I Have Never Found an Arrowhead” but lots of brass instead. 

One never knows where the poets show up from at this Zoom gathering held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. If you’ve been “here” previously Charlie has your email address & will send you the link each month; if not, send an email to Charlie at charliemrossiter@gmail.com & ask for the link — it’s worth the effort.

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.

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.