Book Signing: Trees, by Sylvia Barnard

I have known Sylvia Barnard since my undergraduate days at SUNY-Albany & we have been colleagues in the Albany poetry scene since I moved back here a number of years ago. I also featured her at Poets in the Park last year & she will read in the Third Thursday series this month. While she was preparing the manuscript of her book she asked me to read through it for her & I offered a number of suggestions.

It was a pleasure to see Sylvia surrounded by friends at the Book House this Saturday afternoon. She talked briefly about her life & her poetry, with reminiscences of the early days of the Albany poetry scene. She read a generous selection of her poems, which in many ways is an autobiography in verse, with poems of memory of her youth, her mother & her ancestors, of her daughter, her loves & losses, & her travels to Britain, Greece, Cyprus, & elsewhere.

Her book is available at the Book House & anyone interested in the poets of the Albany scene, or who just likes good poetry, should have the book in their collection.

Elisa Albert & Rebecca Wolff, March 15

This reading was presented by the College of St. Rose MFA Program in Creative Writing, at the new Huether Hall on the ever-expanding St. Rose campus.

Rebecca Wolff is a familiar face/voice in this area as the editor of Fence Magazine, housed at the NYS Writers Institute at the University at Albany. She read a late chapter ("Late November") from her novel The Beginners (Riverhead, 2011) with the ongoing monologue of a most-annoying character, real or not. She also read a selection of her short, spare poems from her collection, The King (W.W. Norton, 2009), described by one critic as "poems about motherhood."

Elisa Albert is the MFA visiting writer. She read a series of short segments from her new novel currently "in the publishing pipeline" (as she said), "The Fourth Trimester." What the chunks she read were about were the trials & tribulations of being a mother of a new baby, meanwhile building/rehabbing a house with an indifferent husband, with a bit of hero worship of a poet/punk-rocker thrown in for spice.

There was an informative, thoughtful discussion afterwards about the "literature of Motherhood" with references to the late-19th century short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Ironically the pieces read today (with the exception of the poetry), while dealing with marriage & child-rearing from the women's point of view in the 21st century, sounded a lot like the tone, the strutting, of mid-20th century male-dominated novels like the work of John Updike or John Cheever. But then, what do I know, I'm a poet?

In any event, hearing these current, young novelists I was reminded of another mid-century women novelist, Doris Grumbach, who taught at the College of St. Rose, & wrote what I recall was a roman à clef about the school, The Spoil of the Flowers (Doubleday, 1962), back when St. Rose was an all-girls Catholic teaching college. I think it's out-of-print -- sic transit gloria mundi, etc., etc.

Book Signing: The Resurrection Waltz by R.M. Engelhardt, March 14

The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza was the scene of the book-signing of R.M. Engelhardt's latest (his 13th he says) book of poems, The Resurrection Waltz. Just that morning the Metroland Readers' Poll was published & Rob, a perennial contender in this rite of Spring, tied for 2nd place with, of all people, me -- Mary Panza was this year's "Best Local Poet."  In addition the Albany Times-Union Preview section contained an in-depth profile of Rob by Amy Biancolli.  So "congratulations" & hand-shakes were the order of the night.

The poetry/music duo, Murrow (Thom Francis & Keith Spencer), performed first, with alternating old & new material, including the favorite, "Trucker."

Rob read a substantial selection from The Resurrection Waltz (Infinity Publishing, 2012). I lost count of how many poems, but then so apparently so did he: having announced he would read "2 more poems" he read 4 -- the more the merrier (or scarier, given the dark-angst of most of his poems) I say. The book is available online & at the Book House. It is certainly the best produced of his volumes so far & includes, he says, some older poems in revised versions.

Rob is also re-starting his "School of Night" poetry open mic series next month on the 2nd Thursday of each month at the Pearl St. Pub on Stueben Place (because to be on Pearl St. would be redundant). It's billed as a "Traditional Open Mic" so bring "traditional" poems.

Live from the Living Room, March 13

Always high on my list of the monthly poetry events to join in, listen, read, with our host & my passenger, Don Levy. Tonight the open mic list included a covey of regulars, with a visitor from afar & a couple of shy listeners -- as it should be.

Tonight our featured poet was Alan Casline, director of the Rootdrinker Institute & publisher of Benevolent Bird Press. He titled his reading "Political Tracks on the Face of the Tao of Nature." Like a good Taoist, he cast the I Ching before the reading, getting hexagram #22 (Bi), variously translated as "Grace," "Elegance," or "Adorning," leading to the poem "When Flexibility is in the Balance." Of course, the natural world was the subject of the poems he read, including a poem about a spring in New Mexico, "Gate Closed" & the playful song in the voice of a "Lightening Bug/Firefly." Another poem explained "Why I Don't Pitch My Tent Inside the Fairy Circle" (good advice I hear). Some of the other poems were "The Last Will & Testament of Frederick Krause," the Spring rain poem "Off the Face of a Field of Grass," & "Downstream from the Escarpment." Often philosophical & meditative, Alan's poems can be playful too in their use of language, as well as tender & wistful.

Sylvia Barnard is out & about promoting her new book, Trees, but tonight read new poems, "Wind" about wind-turbines in Sicily, & "Autumn 2012" in which she combines the loss of lab mice at NYU during Hurricane Sandy with the killings in Newtown. Obeeduid celebrated his heritage with 2 Irish-themed poems, the first on the Irish language, "My Great Hunger," then a poem on Death "The Melancholic Truth" (or as the Irish put it, "life is a dirge"). Alan Catlin's poem "My Dream Date with the Bronte Sisters" recalled the early Albany rock club, J.B. Scott's, while "The Happening" characterized a modern poet in 1950's era film noir. I did 2 poems of Winter, the older, darker "Winter Light," the newer "Winter Peace." A.C. Everson read from her early self-published chapbook, And Then Some, from "the worst time" the poem "Twice More," then a poem from "good times" "Close to Home" with the audience quickly joining in on her repeated refrain. Bob Sharkey read from a couple of his ongoing projects, first from "the Genome Project" the poem "Wise Guy," then "What's That Sound?" single words from his word-a-day project.

Terry Provost was still in town & began with an old poem on Chaos Theory (& the butterfly as the leader of the Free World, or not), then the equally philosophical "A Day Without Wittgenstein…, on words, spelling & meaning. Our genial host, Don Levy, concluded the night with the urban poem, "Noisy Neighbors" & a poem on the old-time TV show, "Hullaballou." There was a good crowd tonight with some listeners who wandered in &, of course, Alan's wife Jennifer Pearce in addition to the poets who read.

A wonderfully relaxed, straight-friendly venue at the Pride Center of the Capital Region, 332 Hudson Ave., Albany, NY, on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7:30PM, with a featured poet & open mic for a small donation. Join us.

BookMarks: Are You Experienced?, March 11

David Wolcott

BookMarks is the Memoir Project Reading Series at the Arts Center of the Capital Region. This night's reading, "curated" by David Wolcott, was devoted to writings about drug experiences, which ranged from the expected stories of getting high on illegal drugs to experiences with clinical & prescription drugs.

Carol Derfner's "Kitchen Witches" was about her experiences in college with pot & pot-head friends.

Darby Penney wrote about a religious experience while under Nitrous Oxide in the dentist chair ("Wisdom Tooth").

D. Penney, J. Lomoe, C. Derfner, K. Appleman

Leslie Neustadt's poem "Brush with Madness, Circa 1970" was about a vision of herself as Medusa in a near-deadly combination of a man, LSD & depression.

"Jim and Mescaline" by Bonnie Cook described a hippy summer escape from New York City & the appearance of a toddler while tripping -- was the baby there, or not?

Jill Rafferty-Weinisch was instrumental in getting the Memoir Project started (among other wonderful things) when she worked here at the Arts Center. Her piece "Ace Frehley Tried to Kill Me" was about attending an Iron Maiden concert back in 1988.

B. Cook, L. Neustadt, B. Engelman, J. Rafferty-Weinisch

"My Encounter with Gentleman Jimi" by Julie Lomoe was about her 2 meetings with Jimi Hendrix, & about smoking pot, taking mescaline.

Bonnie Engelman wrote about her teen-age experience with acid as a high school student in New Jersey in "Smashing Sunshine."

Ken Appleman's "When She Died She Left a Houseful of Drugs" was a tender extended metaphor on grieving, carefully using the leftovers.

Each of the readings were carefully timed, as were the question & answer periods after each reader, & the variety of styles & subject matter within the theme, not to mention the excellent quality of the writing, made for a most enjoyable evening. Check the Arts Center website for information on the remaining readings in the BookMarks series.

Metroland Readers' Poll, 2013

Imagine my surprise to wake Thursday AM to a message from Thom il papa Francis that Mary Panza, R.M. Engelhardt & I had won the top 3 spots in the 2013 Metroland Annual Readers' Poll for "Best Poet". Then it dawned on me, I had not voted. I mean, I didn't even know to vote. Somehow I missed the Metroland issues with the ballots -- actually, I think I've missed the last 6 months of Metroland, that's how irrelevant ole Metrobland has become to my life.

Those of you who are regular readers of this Blog will know that I annually (anally?) parse the results of the poll to determine how the voting came about. But this year I blew it. I didn't even realize the voting had begun. It slipped by me, was under the radar, I didn't notice, just plain forgot.

The results this year were that Rob & I tied for 2nd place, with Mary Panza on top (as we like her to be) in 1st place. The 3 of us have been circling about the Readers' Poll for years, with the occasional flash-in-the-pan non-poets inserting themselves randomly in the list now & then. It proves the point that I've made year after year that it takes only a handful of votes to make the list. & as I've also said, each year I vote early & often for R.M. Engelhardt, so if I had voted this year as I had in the past there would be no tie: Rob would be #2 & I #3. Whatever.

But congratulations to us all, for if nothing else than for living long enough to become this 3-way of Albany poets (hmm?).

Now, as I do each time I appear on this list, I wonder where is my token? (as they once said in New York City about awards, "that & a token will get you on the subway").

Poetry + Prose: 2nd Sunday @ 2, March 10

I was the solo host this lovely Sunday afternoon, with a list of 13 readers from near & far, as well as an audience of rapt listeners.

Bob Sharkey was up first with a prose piece, inspired by an exhibit here at the Arts Center of the Capital Region, "Clumsy Federal Agent Goes Undercover at a Beauty Pageant," then a poem from his chapbook, Surface at Sunrise, "Twilight." Harvey Havel was up next with a piece about a frustrating experience all-too-familiar to PC users, about trying to download audio software. Howard Kogan's poem "Kaddish for Newtown" was a meditative prayer & a call for action. I inserted myself into the list at this point with 2 Winter poems, the 2011 "Winter Argument" & the recent "Winter Peace."

Kathleen Smith said her piece, "Ice & Summer," about a crash & its aftermath was inspired by watching truckers at a diner. Terry Provost's connection to the Albany poetry scene goes back many years; he now lives in Ohio, & today read a long, intense poem, "Celestial Mechanics," starting with a paean to an orange then progressing to a lime-sized tumor in his brain, fortunately benign -- good to have him back, & still with us.

Next was a new voice & face, T. Rusch with a small cluster of poems, "Kristallnacht," an untitled piece about the last election, & "New Surroundings." Sean Heather McGraw's poem "The Tattoo" was about a relationship & the way it marks one, while "Compass," a song, but not sung, was about hope & love.

Brian Dorn read 3 poems, all rhymed, the first about chess played on a board v. video games, "My Queen," then "Monkey Bars" about evolution, & finally "an Easter poem," the marvelous piece on the life of Jesus in a minute or 2, "3 Days" -- marvelous even to an Buddhist/Anarchist/Church-burner like me. David Wolcott read from his ongoing memoir, this an excerpt from a chapter about building his house with his Dad, & the subsequent naming, "Champ du Soleil," under the influence of psilocybin. Tim Verhaegen had poems to read today, "Physical Pain" (in the life of a drama queen) & "Letters," on saving old correspondence. Kate Laity read an essay/meditation on writing (& her vision of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.), "Me & Margery Kemp." Barbara Kaiser finished off the afternoon with 3 short, humorous poems, "Superhero," "Hedges & Sketches," & "A Weather Coma."

This open mic is friendly to prose as well as poetry & takes place on the 2nd Sunday of each month at 2PM in the black box theater of the Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River St., Troy, NY -- Free!