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.

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.

Salon Salvage, May 30

Matthew Klane is one of the co-hosts, along with Amie Zimmerman & Hajar Hussaini  who make this reading series happen every month; he announced that this was the 44th event in 46 months — an impressive run. Matthew & Amie shared the introduction for this night’s reading.

There were 4 readers this night; the first was Kate Colby who read from her new book, Paradoxx (Essay Press, 2025) a collection of essays & memoir poems, in 100 sections, all in the 1st person, notes during the pandemic. She teaches at Brown & said this was her 1st time in Troy, NY. She began with a piece about her father & a cold wood stove, another piece was a memoir of high school on “Slow Dancing to Heaven,” another was a dream of sex (or, was it really happening). She ended with a new poem, “White Noise White Smell” either the title or the 1st line. 

Darcie Dennigan read new work from the manuscript of “Commander,” again all in the 1st person, what could be a novel, funny, sexual, playing with gender roles, the Commander a character, & references to Russian writers. One section was a Marxist take on pregnancy, read with a friend joining her to read the other voice.

Sylvia Jones also said this was her 1st time in Troy (she lives in Baltimore, MD), she read from the actual page proofs of of her new collection of poems Dope Calisthenics, due out in October from Relegation Books. Since the pieces are all short, she was able to read a bunch of them, often based on statements from others, famous or otherwise, random thoughts, long titles to very short poems, often the title giving some context to what seemed like notebook jottings. But easily relatable topics & situations, including politics & government.

The final performer was Tia Brown with a full-fledged multi-media act including projected photos, some even from TV news casts, an amped ukulele on loop, & a guitar with split-screen videos. Some of the photos, documenting events with images from a plane, or a highway, became nearly abstract images. One series included TV interviews & videos of the streets of Buffalo during a snowstorm.

Catch this series on the last Saturday of the month at Upstairs Arts Collective, 403 Fulton St., Troy, NY at 7:00PM, donations (& purchases of the authors' books) gratefully accepted. Authors & artists from hither & yon. 

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.” 

Poets in the Museum, April 19

This was another in the month-long series of poetry related events in Saratoga Springs during the month of April, aka National Poetry Month organized by the new Poet Laureate of Saratoga Springs, Jay Rogoff. Thirteen published poets were invited to review an exhibit of visual art in the Tang Museum at Skidmore College & respond with new, original poems. The reading was held in the gallery of the Tang with the audience moving from piece to piece to hear the poets read their work. There were about 85 audience members moving throughout the readings, some of us toting the museum-provided wooden stools, other standing. It reminded me of the piano suite “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky (1839 - 1881), that was famously scored for orchestra by Maurice Ravel, among others.

Melora Wolff responded to the work “Untitled (Danielle)” by Angela Strassheim with a poem titled “Curious Hand Shadow.” Franklin Williams artwork, in paint, twine, yarn, fabric, canvas, “A Beautiful Dark Moment,” inspired Mary Kathryn Jablonski’s poem by the same title. Jay Rogoff, who served as MC, read his poem “Ascent” a reaction/commentary on the 12-foot tall steel sculpture in the middle of the room, Dorothy Dehner’s “Fist.”

Krista Rivera said that her piece was “Untitled” just like the unrecorded Tibetan artist who made the painting “A Black Ground Thangka of Gurgi Gönpo, the Lord of the Tent.” Her poem, like the painting evoked images & concepts of the Tibetan Buddhists. Catherine Clarke responded with a poem titled “Perhaps” to Sarah Charlesworth’s painting “Totem,” which to my eye looked like Constantin Brancusi’s “Sleeping Muse.” Marilyn McCabe responded to Jeff Sonhouse’s painting “Why We Wear White” with an untitled poem. 

E.V. Day’s stark black & white painting (“Untitled”) reminded Peg Boyers so much of Gustave Courbet’s notorious painting “L’Origine du monde” that she not only wrote a poem in response, “The Origin of the World Part 2,” but brought a reproduction of Courbet’s painting to accompany her reading of the poem.

When former Saratoga Springs Poet Laureate, Joe Bruchac, does a reading I usually learn something new about native American culture or history. The art work that Joe responded to was “Composition (Faces and Animals)” by Inuit artist Annie Taipanak (which Joe corrected text of her name from the catalog to be “Taipana”), he played some recorded Inuit music, gave a mini-lecture on the nature of Inuit art, & read his poem “Faces & Animals.” Nicola Allain responded to William Villalongo’s “Specimen,” which was right next to the piece Joe wrote about, with her poem “Butterflies.”

Barbara Takenaga’s piece “Wheel (Zozma)” had the honor of 2 poets responding with poems. Lucyna Prostko reflected the artist’s title with her poem “Wheel (2) by Barbara Takenaga;" Susan Jefts’ response was titled “A Clear & Uncertain Space.” Carol Hepper’s sculpture, “Tangle,” was composed of coiled branches of willow, to which Mary Sanders Shartle responded with her poem “Willow: a Memoir.”

The final piece was a dramatic installation, “So Soon,” by Whitfield Lovell, to which David Graham responded with a poem titled “Pages from a Family Bible.” 

It was a moving, fascinating, sometimes perplexing confrontation of poems to their inspiration, & not a dull moment. Ekphrastic poetry & visual art at its best in the perfect environment. Jay Rogoff said that their would be more such confrontations in the future & I for one am very much looking forward to it.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, April 16

National Poetry Month in Albany, NY is like any other month in Albany, NY, & as happens each month we gathered at the Social Justice Center for a reading & an open mic. The featured reader was poet Valerie Temple, writing as Bertha Blunt. But first I invoked the Muse, tonight, once again the poet Bob Kaufman (1925 - 1986), as his Birthday was fast approaching on April 18, then we turned to the open mic sign-up sheet.

The first poet up was Doug, who performed off mic, as he is wont to do, with a rhyming piece on lifelong eating habits leading to him slowing down & disease as he got older. David Gonsalves read “Drive” from his big binder of poems, an imaginative & humorous drive through one end of his name to another. 

Marie read a piece in response to being with a friend with mental health issues, written in the friend’s persona “Do You See Me?” Sally Rhoades read a recent poem that she read a the recent Scissortail Creative Writing Festival held in Ada, OK, “Picking Over Old Bones,” a memoir of her mother.

The featured reader, Valerie Temple has read here a number times. This night she read as "Bertha Blunt" from her book Discovery of A Blunt Treasure (Xulon Press, 2023). She began with 2 poems addressed to a friend with whom she traveled to Europe & had a falling out,  “A Friend You Doubt” & “You Were Not My Friend.” Then on to a poem about her mother, “Good Pain - Bad Pain Give Thanks Just the Same,” one about her sugar addiction, “Rag Us to Dust Hustle,” a poem from a high school experience “Exposed in Prose,” “Birthday Agenda,” & “Holy Wood or Bust?” She both read & recited from memory, her work, the poems were generally upbeat/positive & often in rhyme & with humor.

After a brief break I read from my folder of poetry-related poems “The Poet’s Coat” quoting the late Laura Boss (1938 - 2021), “Sometimes I think clothes are a purer aesthetic form than poetry.” Amanda (Pelletier) did the poem that she performed for the Slam finals at Cafe Euphoria, “I don’t have a soul…” on love & a rib cage, she is her own soulmate. Tara had arrived early & helped me get set up; she read a piece responding to an article on domestic abuse that focused more on the abuser than on the victim, “Say Her Name."

Amina Gueye has been working at the Center for Law & Justice & the Alice Moore Black Arts Cultural Center; she read a poem titled “Mukhagni,” a Hindu funeral ritual that translates as “mouth fire,” her poem responding to the smell of smoke from Canadian wildfires that reached her in New York City.

& like the dissipation of the smoke our words rose into the night air. But we come back to the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY each third Thursday of the month at 7:00PM for more poetry — a local or regional poet as the featured reader & an open mic for the rest of us. Your donation supports poetry events in Albany & the work of the SJC.

Favorite Poem Night, April 9

Another event for the Laureate Poetry Series organized by Jay Rogoff, the Poet Laureate of Saratoga Springs, NY, for National Poetry Month this held at the Saratoga Springs Public Library. I've included the entire list of poems below because it makes for an eclectic reading list across the ages. I'm guessing that each of the readers below have more than one "favorite poem," as indeed I do.  

A couple of program notes: Jay Rogoff started off the reading with "West Wind," by that most prolific of writers, Anonymous; Joe Bruchac introduced his reading by singing a Lakota song; & Adriana DiScipio came up from New York City read. The Dutcher Room at the Library was filled with listeners & readers, from throughout the region.

POET POEM READER

Matthew Arnold “Dover Beach”         Peg Boyers

Amiri Baraka  “Preface to a Twenty Volune Suicide Note” Michael Walterich

Jack Butler “The Changing of Vision with Time” George Drew

Samuel Taylor Coleridge  “Kubla Khan.                                      Robert Ridley

Or, A Vision in A Dream    A Fragment”                      

Billy Collins “The Lanyard”         David Graham

Jack Hirschman  “Path”                 Kristina Kulin

Bob Kaufman  “Believe, Believe”         Dan Wilcox

Ted Kooser  “A Glint.”         Johanna Garrison

Adrian Mitchell  “To All in the So-Called Defense  

                                        Industry Poem”                                Andrea Cunliffe

Marge Piercy  “To Be of Use”         Adriana Di Scipio

Sylvia Plath “I Am Vertical”         Autumn Connor

Rumi (trans. Coleman Barks)   “A Community of the Spirit” Kathleen McCoy

Percy Bysshe Shelley “Ozymandias”         Leslie Mechem

William Stafford   “Report to Crazy Horse” Joseph Bruchac

Frank Stanford “The Singing Knives”         Steve Stern

Sara Teasdale           “There Will Come Soft Rains” Barbara Ungar

William Wordsworth From “Ode: Intimations of Immortality 

     from Recollections of Early Childhood”     Rachel Baum

William Butler Yeats “Sailing to Byzantium” Jay Rogoff

Add-ons:

William Shakespeare "Sonnet 29"                                                  Michael Arnish

Wendell Barry            "The Want of Peace"                                    Michael Lubell

John McCrae              "In Flander's Field"                                      Robert Ridley