Professor Java's Wide Open Mic, July 12

This is more like a poetry open mic with musicians rather than the usual musician dominated open mic with token poets, so I had a pretty good time. And there were some of Albany's finest reading tonight. Keith Spencer was the host, whose introductions contrasted lies & truths about the performers he was introducing; sometimes the lies became truths & the truths lies, just like everything else in life.

After Matt spent some time flailing around an instrumental on his guitar, the first poets up were me & Lisa Ann LoBasso, who was in town from Bakersfield, CA (she had been featured last year at Poets in the Park & Caffe Lena & in the Connecticut Poetry Festival). We performed 3 poems together; the first was my piece, "27 Things You Can Do with an MFA," then 2 of Lisa Ann's poems, "An American in London," & "Deconstruction Conversations with My Father and the Visiting Man."

Marilyn Day read 2 poems both called "Interpretation of Dream," One, & Two (which was in 6 part, remembering repeated dreams with snakes). Jan Tramontano's first piece was a rant on the health care debate, then to the Ferlinghetti inspired (I wonder if she was wearing his tee shirt when she wrote it?) "Leading My Life Quietly," then "My Husband's Garden." In his poem "The Check Out" Joe Krausman pondered the techniques for losing weight, then offered us the advice "Never Wash a Hedge Hog" (one had nothing to do with the other, I don't think).  Thérèse Broderick must've been scribbling madly during the last few poets because she came up with "7 Reasons I Love My MFA" (we love her mfa too); "Vandal" was about a tree, & was written on her front porch.

Carol Jewell read 2 of her many pantoums, both somewhat philosophical & abstract. I will be nice, say no more than that Sarah La Mountain's poem "Summerlands" was about a dead dog.

Todd Fabozzi read poems from his latest collection, Crossroads, including commenting on the "MFA debate" with his poem "University of the Street." Danielle La Rose described the work she read as "2 short poems by a short person," which they were & containing mainly platitudes -- images, more images please! Thom Francis ended the night with images (read from his pocket notebook) of a poet who was (is?) in one of the poems best lines, a "paper messiah, martyr with a pen."

In between the poets, musicians Erin Powers & Greg Gooba performed in their separate slots, but by far the best of the night was Mary Leigh & Zack, she on guitar & vocals, he on a drum; her "Hey Romeo" & the wildly suggestive "Candyman" both had creative lyrics with excellent use of half rhymes & clever turns of phrase.

This is the 2nd Monday of the month at 8PM at Professor Java's on Wolf Rd. in Colonie, NY; bring a guitar if you got it, but make sure it's in tune.

Poets in the Park, July 10

Poets in the Park celebrates over 20 years of poetry in July at the Robert Burns statue in Washington Park, Albany, NY. The series was started in 1989 by the late Tom Nattell and is now run by me. The featured poets on July 10 were Donald Wellman & Cheryl A. Rice.

Cheryl Rice is a great friend of Albany & the poetry scene & started off with some Albany poems, "My Central Ave." from her grad school days here, & the Lark Tavern tribute, "Is Nothing Sacred?," in which she names names. She included a segment of poems to poets, Walt Whitman & undressing Billy Collins, then a couple from the "2nd edition" of her chapbook on Marilyn Monroe, Auction. She is one of a handful of poets who responded to my challenge to writer their own versions of my poem "Baghdad/Albany" & read her stirring version, "Baghdad/Kingston." She concluded with a bouquet of poems to her boyfriend, ending with the tender love poem, "Imperfections."

Somewhere along cyberspace I stumbled upon Donald Wellman's work & really enjoyed reading his book of poems, Prolog Pages: (Ahadada Books, 2008). He began his reading with brief sung lines of Robbie Burns' "Flow Gently Sweet Afton…" then a poem ("Beginning at the Shore") from his book Fields (Light & Dust, 1995). "Libretto," he said, was a Baroque opera & he read 3 parts, with lust, love & death & politics. From Prolog Pages: he read "Ensaladas," some pieces alluding to the Spanish poet Emilio Prados & a group of poems from the Mexican section of the book. Don has also translated the Spanish poet Antonio Gamoneda, so read a brief poem from Gravestones/Lápidas (University of New Orleans Press, 2009). He finished up with a cluster of personal poems, including "Memorial Day", & "Jack," confusing the memories of his father & Jack Kerouac's father in Nashua, N.H., & the "new new poem" about traveling to a writers' conference, "Denver" (for Charles Bernstein). The last poem was the very musical "Medieval Exercise" for the glory days of Medieval Spain.

A little something for everyone's poetic tastes for this first Poets in the Park for 2010. More coming. The readings are free & open to the public; donations are accepted. The series is co-sponsored by the Hudson Valley Writers Guild; for more information about the Guild visit the website www.hvwg.org.

Tuli Kupferberg (1923 - 2010)

Tuli's work with the Fugs, & his provocative drawings, short commentaries speak for themselves. You, gentle reader, can find him in cyberspace, especially on You Tube but here is a start from the LA Times.

I put up a link on my FaceBook page for the hauntingly beautiful "Morning, Morning"  but my first inclination was to post "Nothing." Then, playing the Fugs CDs, I was reminded of "Carpe Diem" & of course, "Kill for Peace" & "CIA Man."

Tuli performed with The Fugs in September, 2003 at Page Hall & these are 2 pictures I took then.

Listen to the music, & sing along, he'd like that.

Caffè Lena Open Mic, July 7

The usual host for this monthly open mic is Carol Graser, but tonight the guest host was Carolee Sherwood, a fine replacement for a dazzling night. She began with a poem by W.D. Snodgrass. I am rarely the first reader at this event, but for some reason the first slot was open when I arrived so I took it (Nature abhors a vacuum, or as Mr. Natural once said, "Vacuums suck"), so I read "At Garfield Park" in honor of the heat, then the new poem "On Reading a Poem by ee cummings."

Michael Rush's poems were conversations about the big philosophical issues. But Mike Burke's "Lakeside Rocks at Lookout Point" confronted some of the same issues of life & aging & death, but in images, not abstractions. Dennis Sullivan said his poems were on naming & consciousness, & paid tribute to the Nicaraguan poet Alfonso Cortés; "Along the Western Road" is dedicated to me, & of "A Person is an Impersonal Thing" he said, "worry is a lack of vision."

Todd Fabozzi read "They Put Mother Nature in a Cubicle,"& "Citizen Snitch" from his book, Crossroads. Tom Corrado strung along a series of non-sequiturs that included his 13-year old daughter & the Woodstock concert, "Eating a Footlong in the Car on the Way to Ballet." Obeeduíd (Mark O'Brien) explained that he was "going paperless", read a couple poems from his laptop & then had trouble with his device on the second poem.

Alan Casline ("Bird") was the featured poet, drawing some of the afore-mentioned readers from poets in the Voorheesville crowd, which his first poem, "A Moment" was about. He had little theme groups which he talked about, explaining his thoughts, his pensive musings often sounding like his soft-spoken poems. One of his un-stated themes was squirrels that included his popular flat-dead squirrel poem & one written for the Obama inauguration, "Sammy the Squirrel Gives a Stump Speech." Included also were poems about his father, & his son, & a cluster from his Grandfather Carp chapbook, & the ditty "Crow 2 to 4." HIs most recent was the July 4, "Memory Treks." Check out his work on his Blog.

Tonight's host, Carolee, paid tribute to the usual host & coordinator of this series by reading one of Carol Graser's poems, "Lost," from her fine collection from FootHills Publishing, The Wild Twist of Their Stems. Jason Crane followed with "Pumpkin," & a touching poem about his marriage proposal, "The Oak Tree." Barbara Garro showed up in a summer Saratoga hat & read a couple poems, including a pedestrian piece on "The Poverty of Poe." Nancy Denofio read a "day in the life" of her Sicilian grandfather, in lush colors. Jeanine Ouderkirk was back after a long hiatus with an untitled poem about a relationship told from 2 points of view, & another about her music, how vital it is to her life.

Alan Catlin's first poem was about working in a bar on the 4th of July after the fireworks downtown, then a tale of an earlier time working in an ice cream place, "Bonita & Clyde."

Marjorie Dorn's poems seemed ripped from the pages of a teen's journal, filled with angst & emotional conflicts, sometimes rhyming, sometimes not, dealing with the cruelty of labeling ("Can't Go On"), & with an outcast suicide, "As the Rain Pours." Both of Gordon Haymon's poems dealt with war & peace & were in rhyme. W.D. Clarke is a rhymer too, & he paid tribute to Canada's war veterans (specifically a 94-year old vet) in "Canada's Forces," then James Bond in rhyme, "A Secret Agent."

The ladies finished off the night. Marilyn Day's "This Poem Once Dripped with Passion" was a sexy list/chant, then she contrasted 2 points in time with "Provincetown Honeymoon, Florida Vacation." Therese Broderick read 2 poems about her daughter, new & old: her last soccer game, & "Milk" a haiku to her at age 1. Although a seasoned Albany poet, this was Sue Oringel's first time reading here; I'm not sure I've ever heard a poem about golf, moreover women's golf, as was her poem "Links," while "Bleeding Hearts" was from a series on clichés. Jill Crammond Wickham's first poem pondered age, while watching children playing in the lake, then responded to a sister-poet's poem, "You Think Your Clover Sad?"

This open mic, with a featured poet, is held each first Wednesday of the month at historic Caffe Lena, Phila St., Saratoga Springs, 7:00PM sign-up, 7:30 start, with the usual host, Carol Graser. Worth the trip.

The Bernadette Mayer 11th Annual Poetry BBQ, July 3

held at Bernadette Mayer's & Philip Good's homestead in East Nassau, NY. This is the first year I'd been able to make it & damn glad I did -- great weather, great food, great poets & poetry. As we gathered in the "main hall" for the poems, we were treated to 2 "humorous poems" from Ed Sanders, via speaker-phone. Later Andrei Codrescu called in with his rant, & still later Harris Schiff with a poem from Paris.

Dave Brinks was in from New Orleans to be the MC & to make his Alligator crawfish Jambalaya. He read about half way through, a couple poems by Bob Kaufman (the New Orleans connection) & one written right here, yesterday, for Bernadette & Philip.

Speaking of whom, Bernadette read a poem early on about the wrens who had built a nest on her porch, & who accompanied her, if you listened closely, in her reading with their singing (& throughout the other poets as well). A little later Philip read what he called "poems in the past" from his notebook: snow storms & train rides.

Pierre Joris & Nicole Peyrafitte were up from Brooklyn with their son Miles, taller & more hairy than the last time I saw him, who played guitar while Nicole performed "Golden Invocation" (or was that "Invoice"?) with the great refrain, "can you vulva clap the light?", then a poem of hers in French with Pierre reading his translation. Then Pierre read 2 poems, one on the invention of Belly-dancing (was he there for that?).

It was a friendly crowd with tributes to other poets here often the theme, such as Elizabeth Willis reading a poem for Dave Brinks, or Tom Gizzi doing a song with his guitar made up of words from Brinks' writing, & Peter Gizzi's poem for Bernadette "A Note on the Text." Even some of the youngest poets had their references to the place, such as Miles Joris-Peyraffite reading poems from his pocket notebook written here the last couple of days, or his friend Tommy Panitz including a poem about the upstairs room in Bernadette & Phil's house where he spent the night.

Another recurring theme, often with a nod to Dave Brinks, was the oil spill catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. These included Tracey McTeague's (with daughter on hip) "A Curse from the Ancestors," Jamey Jones with notes from his journal for Pensacola & the Gulf, & Cara Benson's stuttering sound poem.

When it was my turn, Dave Brinks did a very kind introduction about the Albany poetry community; I read my very new, very NYC "Poem" then the older piece, "Ordering Lunch". Alan Casline followed with a few, including "Sardines." I enjoyed Phil Johnson's poems, one based on a poem by Philippe Soupault, another from 1968.

Other poets filling out the day included Brendan Lorber, dapper in a suit, who read "I Used to Live There But Now I Don't". Roger Van Voorhees' long, long poem was a strange narrative. Ben Tripp was the most technological, having to turn off his ringing cellphone, & reading a couple of his poems from his laptop. Eric Alter's poem was a funny, jazzy foray into philosophy, then "Jamey's Head" about another poet here right now. Jonathan Skinner brought the afternoon to a close with environmental poems, one on wet lands, the other, "Common Yellow Throat" read from a laptop.

That was just the poetry (& the poets who read -- there were others justing listening). From there the discussions & eating continued on to the sunny backyard, the smoke from Pierre grilling lamb-burgers keeping the mosquitos away. From all reports the partying kept on into the night, but I left while it was still daylight, filled with all the good things (most of them, anyways) that fill one's being with light.

New York State Summer Writers Institute, June 28

The Summer Writers Institute at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs is a program of workshops & readings by A-list writers, many of whom return year after year (as do some students). In addition there is a full schedule of free readings by these same writers, nearly one each night. This was the first in this year's series, with the first pitch by former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, reading poems with jazz accompaniment by Todd Coleman on bass & Pat Labarbara on tenor sax.

But first we have to endure the ritual adulation from Bob Boyers, who out-did himself tonight with a comment that Pinksy's poetry is able to avoid "nebulous immensities" which brought chuckles from the audience, a later comment by Pinsky himself & even table talk during the reception afterwards. Mercifully, tonight the introduction was short.

Robert Pinsky's movie-star looks could probably pack the house even if he wasn't a celebrity-poet, a fine one as well, & basically a nice guy. There were the other celebrity poets in the front row (Carolyn Forche, Frank Bidart, etc.), standing-room-only in the rest of Gannett Auditorium, with honeys at my feet in the aisles & a representation of local area (Albany, Saratoga) poets.

Pinsky began with a poem about Adolf Sax, the inventor of that quintesental jazz instrument; he also performed "Samurai Song," "Antique" (a love poem involving his parents, "Street Music," Ben Jonson's "His Excuse for Loving," "The Refinery" (which included a history of the English language, & the intervention of some gods), & ended with "Rhyme." His presentation was respectful of the musician's space, as were the musicians sensitive to the words. He read the poems as if they were "songs" or musical compositions, repeating lives, even whole stanzas. The musicians' charts were copies of the poems themselves, & Pinsky allowed plenty of time for these 2 seasoned jazz players to stretch out & play.

There has been much debate since the 1950s about combining jazz & poetry, but Robert Pinsky's performance tonight with Todd Coleman & Pat Labarbara showed how well it could be done when both the poet & the musicians pay attention, & are sensitive, to what the other is doing. Just like Life, I guess.

Sunday Four Poetry, June 27

I was late getting to the Old Songs Community Center in Voorheeville, having been at the Old Songs Festival in nearby Altamont, a volunteer at the Beer Tent. So I missed a bunch of open mic poets & I can only surmise who they were from looking around the room. But Father Dennis Sullivan was reading as I got there, with his sensitive, thoughtful, well-tuned poems (one of the reasons I go back there most months of the year).

Larry Rapant read 2 poems, outrageous images of history in "Tune for the Misbegotten," & the rhyming poem, "The End of the Affair," both in his non-family style poetry. Edie Abrams was doing the introductions & read her poem "On the Arts," a meditation on the collision of emotionally moving art with political prejudice. Mike Burke's poem "Lakeside Rock", was also a meditation on the long life of Life & the short life of our own existence, or as they used to sing on Fraggle Rock, "pass it on." Alan Casline read from his 2009 Chapbook, Grandfather Carp (bRAINdROP bOOKbENDERS) "Woods Popular Natural History, 1920," "Doubts On the Way," & one for Dennis Sullivan, "A Step in Our River's Stair." Then I brought up the rear with 2 new(!) poems, "Poem" (copying Frank O'Hara) & "Some Morning."

The afternoon's featured poet (& the reason for my frantic rush from the beer tent) was Mary Kathryn Jablonski. As folks know, I published (under the A.P.D. imprint) her 2008 chapbook, To the Husband I Have Not Yet Met. Her well-crafted reading combined, as she said, some "very new poems, couched with older poems." She began with one responding to an incident in 2007 where poet Josh McIntyre proposed to Beatriz Loyola onstage at Caffe Lena, "UG2BKM" (trans., You've Got To Be Kidding Me), then to "Letter 1" of the Husband poems, a good transition. "Scarlet Tanager" brought in one of her frequent images, astronomical features, while the following poem "Girls Washing Eggs" linked back to the bird image. Family memories, as images of loss, or regret, or of time passing, made up "Elderberries" (her Polish grandmother Sophia) & "Josephine Sky" (her mother), with "Letter 10" in between, to complete the complicated weave to the last poem, a loving Valentine to her new husband, "Sequel, A Thousand Times" complete with references back to her Husband poems, & to the first poem she read, a counter to her cynical reaction to a marriage proposal. Not only has Mary Kathryn's poems matured, but so has her skill in putting together a reading that is engaging & fresh, without tiring.

This series is taking a break for the Summer but will be back in September. Look for it on the 4th Sunday of each month, 3PM, in Voorheesville, at the Old Songs Community Center.