Sunday Four Poetry, November 25

Back again to this most pleasant of reading series, a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon. There were about 20 folks in the Old Songs Community Center for the open mic & today's featured poet, Phillip Levine.

First up to the open mic was a peace vigil companion from Grannies for Peace, Dorothy Richards, who read a series of haiku in the Japanese style; a first-timer we were glad to welcome. Joe Krausman began with a diversion on translating, then into a poem that uses Thanksgiving travel in a grim/humorous way, then the equally quirky "Tsunami." Dennis Sullivan, our host for the open mic, began with a poem he wrote for "E.A.", filled with images from the Catholic version of Xtianity, including the remarkable line, "… prepare to take one in the groin for Jesus" (!), followed by a poem on forgiveness, written during storm Sandy, "I Chose Liberty." Obeeduid began with a long introduction, about Xtian monks in ancient Ireland creating illuminated manuscripts, to the poem "My Great Hunger," invoking the idea of the Gaelic language (or "Irish" as it is also called) being fashioned from the leftovers of the other languages of the Tower of Babel (explains a lot about why Irish is so unpronounceable).

A word-sculpture by Alan Casline

Alan Casline referred back to Native images & stories in his poem about 2 springs that spoke as books, & read a new poem, "Before the Predicted Storm," backwards as suggested by a poet friend (it worked!). Tom Corrado presented a word-play dialogue, with his characteristic puns, "The Nuanced Perceptions Survivor in Nine and a Half Acts." Edie Abrams explained that she has written 2 poems in response to poems by Dennis Sullivan, that her poem to the one he just read she will read in December, then read her response to his frequent use of "hoi polloi" by declaring us/we not philosopher kings.

Arlen Westbrook was back again, this time with an anti-war poem from written during the 1960s, "All Fall Down." I followed with a recent poem that considers my less-than-compassionate reaction to others, "Shredded Pants," then my response to the prompt to write a scary poem, "This is Not Trick or Treat." Mimi Moriarty read her recent poem "Learning Vietnamese," a tender picture of music & sharing among women who share much without the common language to explain it all, a marvelous piece. Howard Kogan read what he called "2 vaguely theological poems," the first from a workshop with Bernadette Mayer, a poem from the point of view of a firefly, then a stunning poem about looking for god, "Blue Heron."

Rick Harrienger was also back (as "Sir Charles" so as not to be confused with "charlie") with poems in ballad rhymes, "The Warrior's Song" (from his experiences in Viet Nam) & a holiday theme poem, "Reflections in a Fire," or, as he proclaimed, "so what if I make it rhyme." Philomena Moriarty read a duo of disaster poems, "Corpses" (for the victims of Hurricane Katrina) & "Fukashima 50."  Ann Lapinski rounded out the open mic with the more gentle "The Magnolia."

Phillip Levine is one of those activist poets who not only writes poems but makes things happen in the poetry community, running a weekly series for a long time at the Colonie Cafe in Woodstock, the ongoing monthly Woodstock Poetry Society reading series, another monthly series in Kingston & serving as the poetry editor of the regional magazine, Chronogram. He read from a wide-spectrum of his poems, including 2 influenced by the work of James Joyce, "Soon" (inspired by Ulysses) & "Hooked" (in the style of Finnegan's Wake), also "Small Things" from a recent profile in Ulster magazine. Sometimes his intros became long diversions that filled up his time & got in the way of the poems, but he managed to squeeze in a series of pieces on writing, "The Clown at the Chalkboard," "Poet on Point" & the related "A Riderless Horse." His poem "Colors" was for a woman who at the time was threatening suicide. He ended with his familiar card-trick/aphoristic poems, short pieces written on playing cards, shuffled & chosen at random.

This series continues on the 4th Sunday of each month at 3PM at the Old Songs Community Center up in Voorhessville, NY, a modest donation -- & a trip after up the road to Smith's Tavern for pizza or sandwiches & beer, or whatever. How else do you want to spend your Sunday afternoon?

Nitty Gritty Slam #31, November 20

or, since this was "Ladies' Slam Night," this might be called "Nitty Titty Slam." Only women were permitted to sign up for the Slam, but the other half of human existence was allowed to read in the open mic, with Mojavi arriving just in time to host the open mic.

 First up was Alyssa Nieman, with a breathy reading of a piece about building a sand castle. Tasha read a poem from her cellphone about a friend with depression. Since it was "Ladies' Night" I pulled out "The Bra Poem" & the bra (sorry, I don't have pictures, but someone must). Jess ListenToMyWords read from her notebook a poem to her sister. "Hey Girl" from Emily Gonzalez is a stark piece about a woman in rehab. Kevin Peterson read a new piece for his brother, "Rock Paper Scissors Shoot." Eugene O'Neill/"Truth" performed rap to a background tape, could've been anything. Poetyc Vysonz had fresh ink too, "The Last Shall Be First," part 2 of his frequently performed "reversal poem," history turned inside-out. I think Avery's poem "Avoidance is a 9-Letter Word" was about taking a shit. Mojavi, from his cellphone, wondered "How Much for a Kiss?" Christopher the Poet was back in town with what sounded like an erotic poem, but it was about weed.

Sarah reading a sestina at a Slam

el presidente Thom Francis was the host for the Slam, 6 women poets (Sarah, Shannon Shoemaker, D. Colin, Elizag,  Jackie K. & Alyssa), with different rules: 4 rounds, no elimination (girls hate that), with varying time limits, with the 2nd round at 1 minute perhaps the most interesting. I was one of the judges & no one got less than an 8.0 or more than a 9.1 from me, with the self-referential "I slam/I don't slam" poems getting the least points, no matter how great the delivery or entertainment value. There were a few real poems, including at lead-off sestina by virgin poet Sarah, who left after 2 rounds, & a couple of titillating pieces by Jackie K.

Thom Francis (right), with "Charlie's Angels":
D. Colin, Elizag & Jackie K.

When the dust settled the winners were Slam team members D. Colin (#1) & Elizag (#2), with Jackie K., MFA student 3rd. As far as I'm concerned, every night is "Ladies' Night" with me, but then you all know that.

Nitty Gritty Slam is every 1st & 3rd Tuesday at Valentines on New Scotland Ave., check out AlbanyPoets.com for a schedule, then show up & read/perform. $3.00 for students, $5.00 for the rest of us.

Community of Writers, November 18

[Disclaimer: This event is sponsored by the Hudson Valley Writers Guild, of which I am the President. While some folks have labeled my Blogs as "reviews" I like to characterize them as "reports" & I have never made any claim to "objectivity," since I am an active participant in many of the events that I report on.]

As it turns out, this was the 10th annual Community of Writers at the Schenectady County Public Library, which has happily co-sponsored the event with the HVWG. This year there were 10 authors in various genres who read, including a couple of amazing young writers from whom I hope we will be hearing lots of good writing in the future. The Schenectady County Poet Laureate (yes, Virginia, the position does exist) Stephen Swartz got us off to a good start with rousing ode to the city of Schenectady in the style of Allen Ginsberg, & dressed in what he called a "Romney meets the Village People outfit." Bob Cudmore didn't so much as read as recount in the style of a story-teller 3 stories from his recent book, Stories from the Mohawk Valley.

Erin Billings read an early section from her novel Sincerely (Open Door Publishers, 2012), written last year when she was 15 years old (!). Poet Sharon Stenson read a cluster of poems, ranging from "A Country Garden" to "Roadkill," including a sestina about Clipper ships. Patrice Kindl gave a fine, in-character reading from her novel set in the 19th century, Keeping the Castle. Chaitali Banerjee read an essay about observing a great blue heron while bird-watching at the Old Niskayuna railroad station. April Seeley, who has read her poetry here in past years, today read a short fiction piece, "Sand," about young friends growing up & what friends do to help each other, seasoned with a touch of humor.

Ryan Smithson is another young writer who has been reading excerpts from his moving memoir Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19-Year-Old GI (HarperCollins Publishers, 2009) at a number of local events; today he read a late chapter, "Words on Paper." Victor Smith read suspenseful & humorous excerpt from his novel Huntington Pass (Author House, 2011), involving the character Buck Avery breaking into a funeral home. The afternoon had been hosted by poet Alan Catlin, who concluded the event with some of his poems, including some inspired by trips with the library group, some poems on the theme of "white" both dreams & nights, a "found poem" from a conversation by 2 Viet Nam veterans, & ended with "Memorial for Tom Nattell in 3 Parts," short parts in fact that sounded very like some of Tom's short poems.

The Hudson Valley Writers Guild is proud to have had this long & productive association with the Schenectady County Public Library (& the Friends of the Library) in bringing local authors to the library audience & we hope to continue to do so for many years.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, November 15

On a night of many events, competing poetry readings, a jazz concert, etc. we still had a decent crowd of indecent poets for the open mic & for our featured poet, James Belflower. I invoked the Muse, "the old poet of the City" (as Lawrence Durrell dubbed him) C.P. Cavafy, then on to the open mic. 

First up was Alan Catlin, playing off the city poem of Cavafy, with his own "neighborhood poem" "Parallel Lives." A new face & voice tonight was Arielle Gumson with a poem in rhyme about the need for people to work together (her father told her she should come here). Comrade-in-(dis)arms Dayl Wise came up from Woodstock tonight & read funny piece about taking Ho Chi Minh to a Mets game.

Shirley Brewer came from an even further distance, Baltimore, MD & was there with Rezsin Adams; she read a poem written for Ted Adams that she had read at his memorial service almost a year ago, "Staircase Anthology."

James Belfower, tonight's featured poet, is one of the organizers of the Yes! reading series. After checking for Johnny Cash fans in the audience, he read a single long piece "Johnny Cash at Folsom," an exploration of myth & how we make it, he explains. The piece includes quotes from the taping of the concert, ponderings of prison movies, & stones & words, lines from the songs, the lines often broken off, the way a tape machine will truncate a line or word. An interesting piece.

After the break I read a new poem written in response to a prompt to write "a scary poem," written just after Halloween & just before the election, "This is Not Trick or Treat."

Jan Farrell has been coming to the open mic of late, but this was her first time reading, a nature poem "The Quiet Life of a Recent Wave." Tess Lecuyer has been reading on this street for a long time, a brand new poem, "Wild Pumpkins," another nature poem, on making a jack-o-lantern, & more. Kenyatta Jean-Paul Garcia read in the open mic last month & was back (wishing Ted Berrigan a happy birthday), a wild ride titled "Don't Lose the Sun." The evening ended with last month's fine featured poet, Anna Eyre, with a piece from her Snow White series, her mirror on the wall.

Another night of varied poetry at the Social Justice Center (33 Central Ave., Albany, NY), just like any other third Thursday, 7:30PM, donations support the featured poet, other poetry venues & the Social Justice Center.

2nd Sunday at 2 -- Poetry + Prose Open Mic, November 11

My co-host Nancy Klepsch could not be here today so I had to wing it alone, but it was easy. While some of the open mic readers were here early, others came in later, adding to the bottom of the list.  I began with an old poem for the day (Veterans Day), "Peace Marchers at the Viet Nam Memorial."

First timer Bruce Ottmer read a string of rhyming poems, to his late wife Clare, who was a painter, & to his cat, even one for a dog, complete with a painting by his wife; he got carried away & didn't have time for the poem he wanted to end with ("Ode to an Artist") but had copies for us all. Kathy Smith was more careful about her time & began with "In the Distance," again a dog -- I was beginning to worry if this would be a theme today -- but she went on to a recent poem "Midnight After the Hurricane in the Garden Near the Airport." David Wolcott read from his prose memoir, an excerpt from a chapter titled "The Wooden Shoe," about a commune he lived in in Vermont around 1972.

Bob Sharkey read an ekphrastic/museum piece, "Offering Bearer," from his new chapbook Surface at Sunrise (Benevolent Bird Press, 2012), then a prose piece, "The End," from a series about the fictional bar The Iron Ear. Joe Krausman read "The Answering Machine," funny & metaphysical, then the crazy poem "My Son the Meshuggahna." Sean Heather McCraw's first poem, "Tomasina," was about the seasonal appearance of a turkey in the neighbor's garden, then a remembrance of being 17 & waiting for the surf to take her away, "Nightwaves, a Memory." Ron Drummond began with 2 sentences on crows in his yard, then a long piece celebrating Obama's election victory in 2008.

Poetry + Prose takes place on the 2nd Sunday at 2PM at the Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River St. in Troy, NY -- it's free!

Book Launch for Cadillac Men, poems by Rebecca Schumejda

Finally, the book of poems we have been hearing from for years at her readings is out from the great New York Quarterly Books. This reading was at Half Moon Bookstore on Front St. in Kingston, where Becky has hosted many readings over the past few years. She read with Cheryl A. Rice & Nathan Graziano.

Cheryl A. Rice has a new chapbook out from her Flying Monkey Press, Kingston is Burning, but most of the poems she read were not from the chapbook. But most any poems from Cheryl are worth hearing/reading, from the bar poem, "Poets Night Out," to the consideration of alternative lives in "Delorean," to wedding poems ("Exhibit B" & "We Live in a World") to the sexy "Hot Tub." The one poem she read from the chapbook was the one the title of the chapbook is taken from, "Baghdad/Kingston" that is based on/inspired by my poem "Baghdad/Albany."

Nathan Graziano also has a new book out, the collection of short prose pieces, Hangover Breakfast (Bottle of Smoke Press). He read mostly from the book, short, first-person narratives, usually with humor, often referencing pop culture, such as his opening piece, "The Teenage Couple Who Has Sex in a Slasher Flick." One of his sub-themes seems to be puking, as in "Confessions of a Recovering Crier" & "Bad News." And how could he not write about being a poet ("The Published Poet")?

The small back room of Half Moon Books was not only packed with most of the mid-Hudson Valley's literati, but also with a noisy flock of little girls whose insistence chattering & clattering was ineffectively on occasion shushed by one of the moms in the room. But the readers kept on, & Becky even confessed later she didn't mind the distractions.

Anyone who has been at any of Rebecca Schumejda's readings in the last few years as heard poems from this series now collected as Cadillac Men, about the characters & events in a pool hall Becky & her husband once owned. She introduced us (again) to such characters as Mikey Meatballs ("Table of Truth"), "Bobby Balls-In-Hand," Dee ("Going Our for Ice-Cream") or Aristotle ("Sober on a Snowy Day"). There was even a poem about her daughter as a toddler among the pool tables, "First Steps." Good stories, good poems & always good to hear.

These books (& others by local writers) area available at Half Moon Books, Front St. ("every city on a river has a Front St."), Kingston, NY.

Pine Hollow Arboretum Reading, November 9

This was the last of the season's readings here in Slingerlands, NY where we park on the lawn. Tonight's featured poet was Bob Sharkey, whose new chapbook Surface at Sunrise has just been published by Benevolent Bird Press. The publisher, Alan Casline, was also our host. He proposed the theme as "jumping the shark," to be interpreted however we like. He also asked some of the poets to describe their favorite TV comedy episode.

AC Everson linked the theme to Cape Cod where she recently distributed her parents' ashes, did 2 poems, "Vain Creatures," & "Patriotic Musings." Sally Rhoades began with a poem published in the 2007 journal High Watermark Salo[o]n, "I Love to Dawdle," then a tribute to her waitress Mom. I followed with 2 new pieces, the street observation "Shredded Pants" then a "scary" poem "Not Trick or Treat." Jill Crammond read a couple of mother/daughter poems, one about picking up a hitchhiker in the North Country with her mother, the other (also North Country) "Leaving the Wedding with My Daughter, a Fish Tale in Many Parts." Joe Krausman began with the disaster poem "Panacea," then a poem for Bob Sharkey that plays on "shark."

Bob Sharkey, who is a regular on the local poetry scene, gave a nice mixed-bag reading, beginning with the new piece "Prayer for New York" & a chunk of a poem by Anne Sexton, read for New Jersey. He followed with a poem from Surface at Sunrise, "The Dutch Girls." Bob has been experimenting with an invented form of 64 words & read some prose & poetry using that limitation, including a review of his favorite 8 poems from Best American Poetry 2012. He has written a lot about his hometown of Portland, Maine & read his favorite poem from that group, "Monument Squre," a catalogue of the characters her saw there. He ended his reading with 2 poems from the chapbook, "An American Dream" (which had inspired the poem Joe Krausman read earlier) & Bob's own favorite from the book, "While Caged Animals Arrived." This was a most-welcomed chance to hear a big chunk of Bob's work, rather than the 1 or 2 pieces usually allotted to an open mic. I'm pleased to have his new chapbook, Surface at Sunrise, too.

After a break, Tim Lake made a rare appearance, reading "Home for the Holidays," a 2011 meditation on the homeless & rabid shoppers on Black Friday, & the up-to-date "Contemplation After Layoff." Obeeduid's poems dealt with stones, the round rocks in strata with reference to the Seneca emergence myth in "The Great Hill People" & a meditation on gravestones in "The Book of the Dead." Alan Casline also read a story of a stone, the tale of heroic State Workers in "Perious Frink & the Secret of the Stone." Our host at the Pine Hollow Arboretum, John Abbuhl, read a bouquet of his philosophical nature poems from his little notebooks, the poems titled "Wolf," "Fulfillment" (his most recent poem), & "Universality." Edie Abrams was the last poet up with a poem "The Hudson" that contrasted walking a dog there & more recently along the Normanskill, then a new poem (in-progress), a meditation on being Jewish "November 9, 2012."

Watch for this wonderfully relaxed series of readings to start up again in April.