Scissortail Creative Writing Festival, Friday, April 7 — Afternoon Sessions

One way to get around the conflict of competing sessions of readers is to split the difference — go to part of one, then part of another. This is made easier by the printed program of the readings that lists the authors in the order that they are reading. So, after the lunch break that is exactly what Sally & I did.  We started out in the Estep Auditorium.

I first met Alan Berecka at my first Scissortail Festival & found out he grew up in Utica, NY (he is now the Poet Laureate of Corpus Christi, Texas) & invited him to read at Poets in the Park in Albany when he was back in the Northeast for a family wedding. Today’s reading was from a forth-coming collection of poems, The Hamlet of Spillville, which he explained was a sign that suddenly appeared in his small town in upstate New York. He began with some poems on the art of writing poetry, “Blind Faith,” “The Point of No Return” (on the infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters writing the work of Shakespeare), & “The Catholic Conundrum” with the monkeys again making angels with the ringing of the typewriter bell. “Spurred on to Poetry” was about gambling with the late (& beloved) poet Jim Spurr &, another Scissortail reference, “Science & Bliss” another poem for Ken Hada (cf. the poems by Sally Rhoades & Paul Austin). I really like it when Alan takes on religion as does in the poem titled “The Perils of Harold Bloom,” & “A Matter of Faith: Why Matter Might Matter.”

Then Sally & I had to sneak out & go across the way to the North Lounge. We got in just as Terri L. Cummings was beginning her reading of poems with the theme, “The Nature of … beginning with the nature of childhood, a poem about being in love with her cousin, the nature of love, the nature of war, the natured of loss (a poem on the death of her son), the nature of Time, & finally on the nature of writing, 2 or 3 poems on each theme.

Ron Wallace is another perennial favorite, not just because he is a Yankee fan & one of the few “liberals” in Durant, OK. He began with a poem about his failure to be a pacifist “Anger Management,” then a philosophical poem about finding a bus ticket in a second-hand copy of Robinson Jeffers’ poems. Several poems were on the topic of the passage of Time, such as “How the Hell Did I Get Here?” with the marvelous line about preachers “beating Bibles into bayonets.” Baseball is a frequent topic in his poems; “A Curveball in the Dirt” answered the question “how are we supposed to live?” with the examples of different types of pitches. There was plenty of philosophical ponderings & humor & irreverence, such as when he takes on Billy Collins in his poem “Cicadas.”

At this point I had to stay in the North Lounge for the next session since I led it off as the other poet from Albany, New York. My program was titled “Where is the nearest ocean?” with most of the poems from my FootHills Publishing chapbook Gloucester Notes. The nearest ocean is about 500 miles South of Ada, the Gulf of Mexico. I ended by reading #14 in my series titled “What Makes America Great” this one about a couple who bought my lunch after seeing me at a peace vigil outside the Mall.

Also in this session was Jennifer Luckenbill from Oklahoma City who read from a series of poems on her mother’s death. The poems included one titled “The Heart of the Galaxy” about her mother’s long suffering from PTSD from serving as a nurse in Viet Nam & her struggle to receive treatment. “Wash Your Hands” was on the frequent command, particularly from a mother who was a nurse. “Death Certificates” was about finding many copies of that grim document in her files. The poems were powerful in their plain, direct language, with the simple images of everyday life & of a daughter’s love for her mother.

Lyman Grant was the last reader in this session. He began by recalling the “Men’s Movement” in the 1980s & read from his mss. titled “Old Men on Tuesday Mornings,” the title poem about guys hanging out, talking which is mostly about their fears. “Small Birds” brought together noisy birds, a hawk & reading Thomas Merton. A poem about teaching titled “Humanities” had the unforgettable phrase “circus acts we call universities.” He read several poems about relationships & his wife, including “Little Storm,” “From What Planet?”, & “Cooking.” There were poems about his father & his father-in-law, & he concluded with “To Those Who Would Say He is Unhappy.”

Scissortail Creative Writing Festival, Friday, April 7 — Morning Sessions

Friday morning (& afternoon) there were once again competing sessions. Since I had traveled from Albany, NY with Sally Rhoades that made my choice easier -- she was in the first session. Besides, when I hear her read in Albany it is usually at an open mic where the poets are limited to 2 or 3 poems (sometimes only 1!), so this was a opportunity to hear her read an extended set.

Sally was introduced by the wonderfully exuberant professor Josh Grasso. Sally included a cluster of poems inspired by the readings & writers of Scissortail, such as her opening poem written the Sunday after last year’s festival “Truth Nips at Your Feet,” then “Climbing Mt. Joe” about a trip to the Adirondacks in New York State with Ken Hada, “Fire Flies & Cicadas for Ron Wallace” was actually an Albany poem for the poet from Durant, OK, & “Driving with my Aunt Polly” with her singing was inspired by Texas poet Carol Reposa last year. There were poems about her mother, including “Glazed Donuts.” At one point she put on her Women’s March “pussy hat” to read about her father & how her protests began in the womb. Go Sally!

Rob Roensch one of a number of the writers from Oklahoma University, read a story titled “Victor, Jonah, Laney,” about a young woman in a milltown in New Hampshire, a musician, working at Target, partying — good descriptive, narrative writing.

For the second half of the morning readings I stayed in Estep Auditorium, a difficult choice with good writers in both places, but I wanted to hear once again fellow New York writer, director & actor Paul Austin. He began with his latest poem based on a conversation with Ken Hada, a meditative piece about a visit to a family grave “If I Go Too Long.” He went on to a piece from his Mother & Son sequence, he at 14, with his mother chasing off a scam, then others, including a descriptive piece about Antonin Artaud in a film about Joan of Arc. He ended with a tour-de-force as a black street character, “Talking Blues,” a sermon on suicide, a great role.

Michelle Hartman is another favorite whom I like for her feisty performances (& interactions in real life). But today she began with a reading of her new book about the travels of someone abused as a child, Lost Journal of My Second Trip to Purgatory, including a multi-voice piece with Ann Howells “Oddly Oddly Oxen Free” about a brother’s abuse of his sister, then the chilling “Eyewitness Never Unscathed” about a sister beaten when she says she is gay. Others were equally grim, such as “Mother Committed Suicide” (but she didn’t), & one about escaping 2 bad marriages. The title poem of the collection is about a stint in a mental hospital. Mercifully she ended with a few of her poems not in the book, tinged with humor, even if a couple of them were about death, concluding with 2 satirical pieces, “Caught in the Crotch Fire,” & what she described as “a Deepak Chopra poem” “Fist Full of Pills.”

The last of the morning’s sessions started off with the former Poet Laureate of Oklahoma, Benjamin Myers. When I was here in 2013 I bought his book Lapse Americana (NYQ Books, 2013) which is one of the rare books I turn to on occasion to re-read some favorites. Today’s reading included some fascinating poems about being a professor, “A Brief But Not Brief Enough History of Boredom” a funny piece about a lecture on Dante, an introspective poem about being a professor “Cumae,” & “Shakespeare & Company” a meditation about rejection slips & papers to grade. His poems, while often humorous, also delve deeply into about what it means to be in the world with others, such as “Smith & Sons” about boys he grew up with, “The Angels of Juarez,” or “The Orphan” about watching his children playing imagining to be orphans stranded on an island.

One of the thrills for me for this year’s festival was the reading by Roxie Faulkner Kirk from her forthcoming novel, The Northeast Corner Section. She read from the first chapter, a story about a young woman who runs off to join “the Jesus circuit” as lead singer with an itinerant church, her husband the controlling full-of-himself reverend, & his father a domineering patriarch. It was one of those readings that made me want to run out to the book table & get a copy before everyone else buys them up, but, alas it is not out yet. & this was her first time reading out in public.

Scissortail Creative Writing Festival, Thursday, April 6 — Patricia Hampl

The Scissortail Festival always includes featured readers. Patricia Hampl, tonight’s reader, had been in the audience all day, fully engaged with the Festival, listening to the other writers, making new friends as well. She was introduced tonight by Sarah Peters of the ECU faculty.

 Patricia read from her forth-coming book The Art of the Wasted Day (Viking Penguin).  She began with a discussion of whom she called “the first modern day-dreamer,” the French writer Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592) & his Essais (1580). The title of her new book was, for me, provocative, as I’ve become quite adept at frittering away my time, & not feeling at all guilty about it.

The segment that she read weaved a memoir of her early piano lessons while in Catholic school discovering books, her sheet music dissolving in the rain, seamlessly moving back & forth through time. While written in prose the leaping associative connections from her childhood to her late husband was poetry, which indeed she had started out with as a young writer. Once a poet, always a poet, I guess.

During the Q&A after her reading she talked about the current fascination with memoirs as a form of writing history with a way to put the “I” into the story. Also as a way to introduce the bigger story — of political, spiritual issues — into the personal & collective narrative.

At the end she was awarded the Scissortail commemorative plate given to each of the featured readers, something to fill with cookies, as it is already filled with memories. &, as expected, there was a long line afterwards of book-lovers eager to get their copies of her books signed.

Scissortail Creative Writing Festival, Thursday, April 6 — Afternoon Sessions

The afternoon readings were characterized by 2 sessions, each with 2 competing programs, one in the Estep Auditorium, the other across the way in the North Lounge — choices, choices. I opted for the North Lounge for both sessions.

Steve Petersen served as MC for the first session, & the first reader was novelist George McCormick from Cameron University in Lawton, OK whom I had heard read in past Scissortails. He read “new pages” as he described them from a novel in-progress, "Saints," a working-class story of a film-maker & his memories of Lawton & the roadside shrines.

Sarah Webb, from Burnet, TX is also a writer I have heard at earlier Scissortail festivals. Today she read a cluster of poems with the Moon in them, many, as she said, “ordinary,” others more “fantastical,” such as “Climbing the Sky,” another about the goddess “The One Who Slings Us Around,” & “What the Fox Said” (what’s true/not true). A couple poems focused on poets, “Whittling the Moon” about letting the poems come & “Barefoot” with the poet walking on holy ground.

Although this was Jim Benton’s first time reading at the festival, he had been here previously & began with some tribute poems to Scissortail, including one on the different reading styles of the writers, then a long, dramatic piece for Naomi Shihab Nye (who was the featured poet last year), & the satirical “This Poem Comes with Written Instructions for Reading It Aloud.” He also read poems from his “Okie Odyssey,” riffing on Woody Guthrie, then a couple poems on his father (referencing Homer's Odyssey) & grandfather & a couple poems set in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Sarah Peters did the intros for the second session in North Lounge, with Tom Murphy, from Corpus Christi, Texas the first writer up. He began with a love poem, “My Whisper” & his reading ranged far & wide from that, from a descriptive tanka “Mesquite,” to a piece that began with naked outdoor sex that moved on to images of Native genocide victims, to a funny, political piece about cloning Hitler “They Found One Tit Hair,” to the complex eco-poem “Sacred Waters, even a villanelle, & yet another reference to The Odyssey “Wedding Dress.”

Carol Coffee Reposa usually reads her poems at the festival, but today read a personal essay “Incident at a Party: The Help Meets Gone with the Wind, 1983,” a complex memoir of growing up in a racially segregated town in East Texas, & the repercussions later, with overtones of class & role-reversals, that generated much discussion later hanging out for happy hour. & a brave piece to write & to read.

Richard Dixon from Oklahoma City read a couple memoir-based essays, “Winding Stair” about a trip to rural South Eastern Oklahoma, thinking back to his childhood, to country music, & “Shingles” another mix of memory & a current description sparked by watching roofers on a church roof across from his office.

More to come.

Scissortail Creative Writing Festival, Thursday, April 6 — Morning

Actually, I’m starting with Wednesday evening, the night before this festival that ran through Saturday, in Ada, Oklahoma at East Central University.

Albany poet Sally Rhoades & I flew down to this fantastic annual event that we both have attended for a number of years. After arriving on Wednesday evening at our respective hotels, we drove over to Polo, a Mexican restaurant on West Main St., to join festival Jefe Dr. Ken Hada & a grand cluster of poets & writers for a loud, convivial meal. We were joined by one of the festival’s featured writers, Patricia Hampl. Many of the attendees had been here previously, know each other, perhaps have traveled together, & so the meal was full of good-humor, teasing, faux (& perhaps real) insults, & just plain ole camaraderie, as well as the pleasure of making new friends.

Dr. Ken Hada (r.) & sign language interpreter

So the next morning we all gathered at the Estep Auditorium on the campus of ECU for the start of 2 1/2 days of readings by a variety of readings by writers of prose & poetry, for the 12th year of this annual festival. Some folks have asked me "why Oklahoma?"  I was drawn here when 3 Guys from Albany went to Albany, Oklahoma & were invited to be part of the Oklahoma Labor Fest in 2010, brought here by Jeanetta Calhoun Mish, who was recently named as the Oklahoma Poet Laureate. Through Jeanetta we met poet Ken Hada, as well as raft of Okie poets such as Ron Wallace, Dorothy Alexander, Johnie Catfish Mahan, & the late Jim Spurr.  I took the leapt to Ada, OK the following year — & I’ve never regretted it for nano-second. I’ve been here on the odd-numbered years since.

The first poet up, was Brady Peterson from Belton, TX. He began with a description of his home in a poem titled “Sand Creek Fault Lines.” Place, the great American theme of Whitman, Hart Crane, Charles Olson, & so many others, was just as pervasive here. He also read ekphrastic poems about French Impressionists, about punctuation & tequila, family memories & the marvelous poems “Chant” repeating the word soffit.

Rebecca Hatcher Travis is a proud citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, who read her poems in honor of her mother. She began from her book Picked Apart the Bones (Chickasaw Press, 2008), poems from studying the genealogy of her family. “Legacy” was about the land to pass on, “Seven Sisters Hill” about her mother, her aunts, & ”Remember This” about her people’s forced removable from the deep South to Oklahoma. She also read from a forthcoming collection Constant Fires, other poems about standing on Native ground, on Native wisdom & thought. Another new Oklahoma friend.

Michael Dooley read a prose memoir of his father & his grandmother, a family story of a fire & the origin of family strife, “Mary Mother Of…”

After a break we were back in the Estep Auditorium for three more readers. Various members of the ECU faculty serve as MCs for the sessions, this one by the wonderfully effusive Josh Grasso. First up was another of the Scissortail favorites, Elizabeth Raby, who read from her new book A Matter of Time. The poems included memories of her mother (“Multi-flora”), her earlier time in Burlington, VT (“Battery St.”) & a series of stories about her family, children & ex-husband. “My Hearing Aids” was a funny take on what is an all-too-common experience with many I saw in the audience.

Paul Bowers began with poems from his book, The Lone, Cautious, Animal Life (Purple Flag Press, 2016), poems that included swallows, horses, his daughter, even the Wildebeast. His new poems included one titled “An Oklahoma Poem that Makes No Mention of Tornados,” & one from newspaper headlines, “State Flu Deaths Double in a Week.”

Dorothy Alexander is one of the Oklahoma poets that I most look forward to seeing again when I come to the Scissortail Festival. In fact, I had first met her back in 2010. She is an attorney & social justice & environmental activist with as much feisty energy as women (or men) half her age. She read from her new, limited-edition chapbook, Leaving My Father’s House (Chapeau Rouge Editions, 2017). Many of her poems were own variation on the Haibun, a short prose piece followed by a short poem, in her case not necessarily a haiku, such as “Barnyard Misogyny,” & a couple about traveling through the Soviet Union in 1986. “Blurred Lines” was about drinking, gambling & the lives of hookers, while “Chimayo Springtime” was a tender love poem. She also included an old poem, “State of the Arts in a Red State.”

Time for lunch, but as I said to Ken Hada it was already worth the trip.

Yes! reading series, April 1

This series is held at Albany Center Galleries, now on Broadway in Albany, NY & tonight was a showcase for Barzakh, the online literary magazine from UAlbany graduate students. James Belflower, co-coordinator of the series with Matthew Klane, introduced Victorio Reyes, now the Editor-in-Chief, who set the tone by citing the poet June Jordan: “all poetry is political,” & read Langston Hughes' poem “Letter to the Academy.” Perhaps not setting the tone, but sending a message.

Victorio introduced Ben Nadler, the fiction editor, who read a section from The Sea Beach Line (2015), a story of a seeker, trying to get sober from hallucinogens after being kicked out of school, who then returns from New Mexico to Brooklyn to look for his father.

Jil Hanifan is a familiar face on the community poetry scene & one of the faculty Directors of Barzakh. She read a cluster of urban poems, mostly short, about a vacant lot, rabbits, & “How to Get Along With Witches,” then a longer piece that I had heard at another community open mic, “St. Christopher’s School Bus;” this time she explained she had been studying the work of C.D. Wright as a background.

The next reader was the Poetry Editor, Laurin DeChae who generously read a selection of poems by writers in the latest issue, a variety of styles & voices. She also read her own work, “The Sensorium of the Cyborg,” a sci-fi like description playing with the “I” as subject/object.

The last reader was another faculty Director, Micheal Leong, with a reading of excerpts of a translation of a long prose poem, Sky Quake, by Vicente Huidobro (1893 - 1948), a poet of the early 20th century avant-garde movement in Chile & the Surrealists in France.

You can find out more about the Yes! Poetry & Performance Series on Facebook, check out the venerable Albany Center Gallery as well.

Rigoberto Gonzalez, March 31

Rigoberto Gonzalez presented the Creative Keynote at the UAlbany English Graduate Student Conference in Milne Hall at UAlbany’s downtown campus on Friday, March 31. The event was co-sponsored by the NYS Writers Institute, & he was introduced by local activist poet & UAlbany faculty Vicotorio Reyes.

Gonzalez’s prepared talk was titled “The Apocalyptic Clapback” in which he stressed the importance of poetry/art & politics, not just now in the immediate political situation, but in all times as a way to move our culture forward. He said a number of his works have been banned, including his memoir Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa & the children’s book Antonio’s Card, even one of his poems (in Maryland) which he read here in Albany.

He also read the moving, chant-like poem “In the Valley of Missing Sons” from his collection Unpeopled Eden (2013), winner of the Lambda Literary Award, then on to a climate-themed love story “Alfonso” from the chapbook Our Lady of the Crossword (2015). He ended with a longer story/memoir about picking grapes as a young migrant worker with his father, grand-father & cousin.

One of the great assets for the community at large here in the Capital Region, & for the literary arts community in particular, is the NYS Writers Institute. Visit their website for more information (& to support their ongoing work).
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