Poets in the Park, July 31

As it used to say in the Uncle Wiggly story books, "If the Mr. Ding-a-ling ice cream truck doesn't stop at the poetry reading & drown out the words of the poet with a tinkling version of "Fur Elise" I will bring you the story of the last Poets in the Park." Actually, reality was much stranger, as it often is, as you will see in a moment. Tonight the series came to a close with Susan Deer Cloud & Guy Reed, with good weather, a lovely audience, & my parking spot saved for me.

Susan Deer Cloud started with the poem "Marlon Brando Dies at 80" for his work supporting native people & his general contrariness towards the Hollywood power structure. But right in the middle of the poem, a woman wandered up to the Burns statue, parked her grocery cart, gave Susan a hug & a kiss, then wandered off again. At which point 2 Albany police officers who seemed to have been watching her from their cars, came up to the woman & quietly placed her in custody in handcuffs, put her in one car, her grocery cart in the other, & off they went. Susan continued on, & the incident was a prescient link to her next poem, "Car Stealer" the title poem of her book (FootHills Publishing) about a rebel boy in her youth. This she followed with an effusive dream poem about Bethel & the Woodstock Festival. Her poem "Sugar Daddy" is included in the first volume of I Was Indian: an Anthology of Native Literature that she edited for FootHills Publishing. A long, pensive love poem "Waking To Rain I Think of You" took us into her waking bedroom, then she ended with what she called her happy poem, her Chinese poem, "Happy Man," read barefoot & encouraged us to be barefoot too, as many of us did.

Guy Reed began by taking off his shoes too for his first time reading in Albany, first time outside, & a poem just written today, "July 31", pondering the death of Michael Allen White, a15 year old son of a co-worker, killed in an accident. Then a short poem by Jack Gilbert on grief. "Born Late" was about words, worn out with Time, needing new letters, new words. There were love poems ("The Body Falling in Love"), some so short they flit by like bluebirds ("My Beth"), & poems on the birth of his daughters ("Baby Rose" & "Sadie of the Lilacs"), or "How to Paint Like a Five-Year-Old," a political/terrorist dream poem, "4th of July," which became a meditation on his belief in whatever god/the spirit is, a list/rant of causes, slogans ("Two for One"), & discovering melancholia in the 3rd grade ("October Grey"). He ended with "Still Life with Acorn," a poem about poems & being overtaken by real life.

So that was it as the sunlight faded to dark for Poets in the Park for 2010, a great gathering of poets & poet-listeners at the Robert Burns statue in Albany's Washington Park. Thank you Hudson Valley Writers Guild for co-sponsoring with a grant that enabled us to bring in some poets from beyond the region, thank you people of Albany for being there as part of Whitman's "great audience." And as they say in the Uncle Wiggly books, "If global warming doesn't melt the ice-caps & floods Washington Park so that the Robert Burns statue becomes a home for carp & eel, we will back next year with more Poets in the Park."

May the Muse be with you.

Poets in the Park, July 24

The third in this year's series, I planned this program specifically with the National Peace Conference, being held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel this weekend, in mind. The poets were 2 generations of Army veterans, Thomas Brinson, who had served in Viet Nam, & Tamara Gabbard, who served recently in Afghanistan. Thomas has read in Albany at open mics & at the Sanctuary for Independent Media last Veterans Day with me & with Dayl Wise (in the audience tonight), & has a chapbook of poems, Love and War, out from Post Traumatic Press of Woodstock, NY. Tamara read at open mics in Albany some years ago, including at the Lark Street Bookshop, & currently was part of the crew arranging the "Heavy!" art exhibit at the former St. Joseph's Cathedral in Albany, & is organizing the group art exhibit, "Convergence," in NYC.

Thomas Brinson began by saying that poetry has been the primary way for him to survive battle & "the never-ending results of battle," & read a short speech from the movie "Platoon" by way of introduction. Written in Viet Nam in 1967-68, "Patriotic Pondering" considered what he was doing there. He read some poems from his chapbook, also from the same time: "One Precious Event" was a brief moment of tenderness in war, then "Stark Memory" & "War Is Over For Me." Two poems contrasted a portrait of a (male) soldier with his rifle ("Six O'Clock News 1968") with a sequel written 35 years later "Six O'Clock News 2" about a woman soldier cleaning her weapon. The Long autobiographical poem "War Person" written 1983 traces how he came to be, haunted by war from childhood. Then, as a peacemaker in war-torn Sri Lanka he sees that, maddeningly, war is still going on ("Entrenching Tool"). Even a victory parade for his team, the NY Giants, turns to a meditation of entertainment versus the reality of war. He continued on with "Portents" then "Pleiku Jacket" & ended in the tears of the last lines of a poem written in April, interacting with a sculpture in Woodstock, "Metal Statue Alone in the Field" (made by a Viet Nam vet who has died of the effects of poisoning from Agent Orange.

Tamara Gabbard began with a tribute to Hunter S. Thompson, "Fear & Loathing: an Abstract Interpretation" on the power of words, then read a kind of journal entry, about herself, looking for herself. Since this is the park, the outside world often intrudes, fire-engines, motorcycles. Tonight it was a Mr. Ding-a-Ling ice cream truck just as Tamara began her poem "War Child," about the children she saw in Afghanistan, & the need for peace. Other poems from her experience in Afghanistan included "Fall" (from a Blog she wrote) but no trees, & playing on the word, & description of the country and ending in mayhem, & the descriptive & philosophical "This is the War." A recent poem was on walking meditation with the great advice, "Chill while you stroll." "Playa España" was a descriptive piece about connecting with Nature, then a love, longing poem written while mingling with her thoughts & drinking wine ("It's Late"). She came back to end with a poem about herself, about Life, "A Wrinkle in Time." A very touching & moving reading, even if it was, as she said, in no particular order.

We can never predict what will happen when we are reading in the Park, but at least the weather has been cooperating so far, & we've been ending just as "Annie Get Your Gun" starts over at the Park Playhouse & the poets prevailed.

"Poeming"

You worry that you are not writing enough poetry
& I can't respond, having written nothing today.

I went out on the porch to shut off the light
saw the Moon behind thin clouds, almost full

like your breast behind lace, I imagine
& didn't write a poem about it.

Poets in the Park, July 17

Once again on a Saturday night in July we gathered in Albany's Washington Park for the 2nd in this year's Poets in the Park. Robert Burns looked down from is perch & Tom Star-Dust saved me the parking spot I need.

Aleathia Drehmer, publisher of the micro fold-out zine Durable Goods, came all the way out from the Southern Tier of New York State to read to us tonight. She started with a sestina with love & Pi & a whale & an albatross, "The Core of My Dysfunction." Then on to generally shorter poems. Some had to do with divorce/marriage crumbling, as "Four Cents an Acre", "Nothing Ever Changes" or perhaps, "Waiting by the Window." Other poems responded to the work of other poets, as in "Dies Irae" (pondering her personal image growing imperfect), & "He Wanted a Love Poem." Her poems are filled with precise images of the world around her, as in the description of a street person ("Shabby Chic") or cops on a plane ("Survivor Guilt"), even among the "diner politics" in a rural Georgia waffle house. & watch for her poem "I Lose Things" to be on someone's rock CD someday. She ended with a longer piece, a 9 part elegy to her mother, based on the Catholic ritual of a Novena, "Lost Season".

Moses Kash III is well known to the Albany poetry community, but has done few readings other than participating in open mics. He is one of the Elders & I was pleased to have him as a featured poet. He took the opportunity to sample some of the themes & styles that those of us who hear him at open mics have come to know as his work. Race one of Moses' important topics & so he began with "The Negro" & continued with the longer celebration & litany, "Black Arts: My Soul is Burning" then on to the sad & angry "Black Babies." His poem "Comes the Dawn" meditates on love & loss & "By the Sands of the Sea" is a rare straight-out love poem. He also touched on another of his grand themes, religion & sports figures, with "The Great One." Some of Moses' work is written like songs, crying for a musician, so he ended with a sample in "You're a Ghetto Superstar." A good sample of his work.

The free series continues during July, 7PM at the Robert Burns statue in Washington Park, Albany, NY.

UGT Presents: Erotique Noire… What's Your Fantasy? July 16

One way to pack the Linda Auditorium on Central Ave. is with the erotic, so I had to show up, hoping to last all night (like a 20-year old). And wouldn't you know, the host, Mojavi, had me go first (or was it Ms. Bliss who was controlling the list?). So I performed my poem, a favorite of 3 Guys from Albany performances, "To My Penis."  Then I was followed by Mary Panza with, as she said, poems out of the Archives, including my favorite "The Blues."

That barely got the night going. In between, Mojavi helped promote the table of sex-toys & paraphrenalia that was doing the kind of business you would expect, so if you think that's a dildo in his hand in the photo, you are correct. And then poets were all women from that point on (up to the stand-up comic).

I try to keep notes on the poets & the poems but I'm having trouble reading these pages & some are stuck together. I know there was Penny with an ode to safe sex, &

Blue Storm with a paean to her dildo, "Me Myself & My Rabbitt" She also offered some of the most helpful advice for the night, "suck a dick & save a life." Antoinette Lawson had a sexy poem called (I think) "Undress" then a couple of more women doing a whole string of candlelight sex & fantasy poems, oh yes. Camilla Henry sang songs done by Alicia Keys, then Nakia Tillman thought about her boyfriend after he breaks her heart.

It had been a long day & I was on my own & the heat kept getting turned up & the toy table was confusing, & I was perhaps the oldest white guy in the room & it was time to go home. I'm sure I missed lots of good stuff.

It's not always erotica at UGT, but that frequently rears its beautiful head (so to speak) not matter what the theme of the night might be. The third Friday at WMHT's Linda Auditorium. Check the website for the next theme.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, July 15

A hot night at the Social Justice Center: the weather, the featured performer & the open mic poets; it's a wonder the place didn't catch on fire. Our muse was Tuli Kupferberg singing his anthem, "Nothing" from the Fugs 1st album. Tuli became star-dust this week.

We began as we often do here with Alan Catlin, tonight reading "Lady Day Sings the Blues in an Open All-Night Club," starting off the night's jazz theme in another Hot place.

The first of the night's virgin readers was my colleague from Veterans For Peace, Ed Bloch, who read his poem "The Horla", from his book on his experiences in World War II, Courage, Coward, Courage!! - Steps Along the Way. Bob Sharkey's poem incorporating paintings from the Metropolitan Museum, was "The Blues at Dawn", with references to Jason Crane's poems & his legendary bag. Brian Liston was also here for the first time & performed his short, signature poem "The Autistic Super Kid." Don Levy read his new poem (you can find it on his Facebook page) "All Hand Jobs On Deck, or Boop Me All Night Long" (Popeye & Betty Boop having sex, if you must know).

When I invited Jason Crane to the featured poet here, I wasn't surprised when he, the host of The Jazz Sessions online, proposed a jazz-themed reading. However, I was shocked when he asked me to play saxophone with him (obviously he had never heard me play). So tonight was the debut (& undoubtably the final) performance) of The Poet's Jazz Trio: Jason Crane on soprano sax & poems, Tom Corrado on bass, & Dan Wilcox on alto sax & percussion. Now in one of the wonderous ironies of Life, the technology that makes this Blog possible & easy to do, also makes this Blog obsolete since Jason recorded his/our performance & you can hear it yourself, rather than read my rather Gutenberg-era summary. But I will press on.

Jason dedicated his reading to Gene Ludwig, the jazz organist who recently left this Earth, reading his poem "Gene Ludwig" (from Unexpected Sunlight, FootHills Publishing). Then the group began by slaughtering one of my (& Jason's) favorite jazz tunes, Thelonious Monk's grinning "Blue Monk." "91" was to/about another gone jazzman, Hank Jones, with Tom's walking bass, then the slow, dark narrative "Blackout." He brought us back to the day's news with "Deepwater Horizon," then the sad vignette "First Night." "Oh Lord" is a tribute to Mingus & the new social/survival issues of our time, ending with a sax solo. Sun Ra, though "up there" too, is still a lot of fun to hear, & Jason's tribute ("To Swing You") to this weirdo jazzman/spaceman tried to give a taste in words, with Tom & me in the background. "Strings" was about cats & their guts (or our own). "Long Day in America" is another vignette with accompaniment, then he ended solo with a solitary writer "Stephen Edward."

So after the break I read, of course, "Acrostic Jazz" for Thelonious Sphere Monk. W.D. Clarke's poem was an adult fairly tale, "Ebenezer's Bed." Our bassist, Tom Corrado's tongue-in-cheek poem "A History of the World in Four-Line Feeds: Part 17" began with a quote from Jacques Derrida. Alan Casline's "Spontaneous Blues" poems were written in pocket notebooks, like Kerouac, tonight he read Chorus 5, listening to a bird. Moses Kash III just wrote/re-wrote/edited "Wasted Souls" today, about the invasion of other countries by the USA, but ending with ice-cream. Julie Lomoe's "Slump-a-Dump" was in rap rhymes on her writers' block (if you write about your writer's block, does that mean it's no writer's block?).

Another first-timer at the SJC, Malcolm Willison, said he was glad to finally make it here & read a political piece, "Up-sizing." Avery was still another SJC virgin, with a piece of paper "In My Pocket." Ed Rinaldi's short poem, "I Could Be Asleep Instead," was inspired by Theodore Roethke. D. Alexander Holiday read a chilling poem of childhood trauma by Bruce Weigel, "The Impossible." Sometimes, just by being at the end of the list, you end up being the "ultimate" poet, & so Terry Bat-Sonja was the last up & read an untitled lush description of a bird on a lawn.

Every third Thursday ("if you can remember "third" you can remember "Thursday") at the SJC, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY, 7:30 PM, $3 donation, featured poet & open mic.

Live from the Living Room, July 14

It was nicely air-conditioned, one could say a most-cool night at the Gay & Lesbian Community Center on Hudson Ave. in Albany, NY, with our equally cool host, Don Levy.

Even cooler was our featured poet for the night, Jill Crammond Wickham. She began with a poem for her co-President of the HVWG, Carolee Sherwood (who was off doing the poetry thing on the Left Coast), a patchwork poem of the lines of Anne Sexton, "You Are the Answer." She was also the proprietor until recently of Miss Jill's Art Studiio, "was" because the landlord kicked her out, but her poem brought in what the kids know, & they really do. Jill's titles themselves can make for an interesting Blog, but the problem is that some are so long that I can't keep up, scribbling in my my reporter's notebook (where the hell is my voice recorder?). She included a couple of her signature "June Cleaver" commentaries on suburban housewives (I liked her naming birds at her feeder for her former boyfriends), but a also a bigger chunk of "circus" poems, like "Lady Derringer," "On Keeping Up Appearances: The Wooden Woman at the Circus Museum Speaks" (see what I mean?), the mis-heard poem, "Did You Make a Date to Join the Circus?" & the "Ghazal In Anticipation of Love's Resurrection." But is "Pole Dancer's Diary" with all it's gardening really a June Cleever poem? Then there was "Little Red Riding Hood Discusses Her Costume," & a Goldie Locks poem, & Barbie tells "What the Dolls Do While We Sleep," even an ekphrastic poem. All full of word play & sex & attitude. Who knew this was her first featured reading? & her hair was perfect!

With only a few open mic poets there, Uncle Don let us read up to 3 poems if we wanted -- & I did: the Frank O'Hara inspired "Poem," & from Cape Cod, "The Easel's Story," & "Sand Sheets." Jason Crane is on his bike a lot & can easily imagine drivers' reactions as he did in "This 2-Wheeled Life," followed by "On Tuesday All As One" as he goes officially car-less, then a lonely, just-written poem.

Bob Sharkey began with a prose piece from his series set in Troy, "The River" then an erasure poem based on Michael Ondaaje's novel about the early jazz musician, Buddy Bolden. Sylvia Barnard brought a recent poem about a visit to the "Adirondacks," moose, deer, & tourists in rhyme. Don Levy brought the night to a close with a collage of history of the gay liberation movement, based on an anthology with the same title, "Out of the Closets: Voices of Gay Liberation," then the Facebook commentary, "How Can You Have Too Many Friends?"

If not cool, at least pleasant & straight-friendly, every 2nd Wednesday, 7PM.