Poetry and Prose @ La Perla, April 30

I arrived early enough to have a leisurely dinner before the open mic. Last month, my first time here, I had arrived on time, was able to get a drink & an exquisite plate of calamari in the back room where the reading is held. But there are few places to put a drink or a plate of food, so I thought, why not come early to have dinner at the bar? At the bar this night was the host of the open mic, Rhonda Rosenheck, poet & poetry organizer, with a pizza that she offered to share, with a side of conversation — Perfect!

Thus, I could relax for the open mic, even a nearby piano upon which to rest a glass of wine. The first on the open mic list was Malik Sanders starting off with a love/breakup poem titled “Heart Zone,” the second titled “Wind Down Stream,” both expansively lyrical. Nathan Smith, whom I’ve seen at open mics in Troy read a memoir poem “Dogwood,” then a love poem interestingly titled “To Kill a Metaphor.” 

Our host, Rhonda Rosenheck, read what she called “a snippet of a memoir” set in Boston, about a boyfriend diagnosed with melanoma, “How Joe Tully Dreamt Up His Best Friend.” Ashraf Kamal is a resident fellow here at Arts Letters and Numbers working on a memoir that he read from last month, this night he read another segment from the manuscript about going to a party, & on looking good naked.

I remember seeing Bonnie Cook read from a memoir a while back, tonight she said that what she was reading was a “fledgling attempt at poetry,” a poem about fungal bacteria whose scientific name I did not catch. I was next with 2 political pieces, “Crane Alley” (the modern site of the 1886 Haymarket riot in Chicago), & one inspired by images of flaming Teslas, “Fire Elon.” David Gonsalves read a prose poem titled “A Man Admonished” (was it him?), a bit longer than his usual driveby poems.

Nancy Klepsch, who had filled in here for Rhonda last month, read 2 poems from a forthcoming anthology titled Writing the Land: Rensselaer County New York (Hudson Taconic Lands, & Arts Letters and Numbers) her poems titled “Deep in the Kinderhook Preserve” & “Dear Kinderhook.” Anne Hohenstein began with a short poem inspired by reading the poems of Charle Bukowksi, the a piece that included actual quotes from a legal deposition, “Martyr a Minute,” & “Virgin on the Lawn,” inspired by the theft of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary from a neighbor’s lawn.

But it wasn’t quite over. Rhonda offered the opportunity to read 1 more poem to those who only read 1 earlier. Interestingly enough each of the poems read were on the theme of light: Bonnie Cook read, “After Derek Wolcott,” Malik Sanders a poem beginning, “In the mirror … me, myself & I…” & Rhonda Rosenheck read one titled “Time to Ponder.”

This community open mic takes place each last Wednesday of the month at La Perla Restaurant at Gregory House Country Inn, 3016 NY-43, Averill Park, NY, in a pleasant room off to the side of the dining area. A special menu for the poets, drinks, or get there early & have dinner in the dining area. Bring poems.

 

Third Thursday Poetry Night: Melissa Anderson, April 17

Our featured poet, Melissa Anderson, did what all good poets do, brought her friends & relatives to her reading, with a mix of familiar faces & new faces for the open mic. Perhaps it was the first time Melissa read at the open mic here that she said her that her grandmother, Cathy Anderson, was a poet — & many of us remembered Cathy fondly as one of the “Voorheesville poets.” So, I celebrated the memory of Cathy Anderson as our Muse tonight by reading her poem “Lover” with its mention of April & violets from the 2006 collection Poetry Don’t Pump Gas from “The Every Other Thursday Night Poets.”

Starting off the open mic list was the ever-performative poet A.C. Everson with a recitation of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows,” -- could’ve been a sing-along. Leslie Gerber hasn’t been here in quite some time & read “Praise the Broken Promise of America” by Alison Luterman that has been getting quite a bit of “air time” lately, appropriately enough. Rhonda Rosenheck  was back here with a 2 part poem “How Do We Teach Men…” consisting of a sonnet & a Haiku written at a retreat in the woods.

Diana Steenburg was a new name to me, a virgin reader, with a seasonal poem “Daffodils,” a memoir from her childhood stealing flowers. David Gonsalves has been here many times, read an intricate prose poem titled “A Man Admonished,” perhaps autobiographical.

Melissa Anderson first read here at the open mic many months ago, but I didn’t know then that I had seen her read in the open mic at Caffe Lena back in August 2012, when she was just starting out her career as a poet; I only learned that when I went looking through my files for a photo of her to use in the publicity & discovered the shot from 2012. Tonight she read from her book Dogstar Poems (Main St. Rag Publishing, 2024) (full disclosure: I had read the manuscript in order to give her a blurb for the back cover). She started off with a poem from her day job making furniture for Chipotle restaurants, “Work Song,” inspired by a mountain of road salt outside the window on the docks, them to a pandemic poem, “Bedroom Window Lockdown.” She explained that “Dogstar” was another name for what is commonly known as “Polaris” or the North Star, & that many of the poems are about looking for direction, as in the poems “Reflexivity” & “Better.” Melissa is a key member of the Cafe Euphoria slam team & so ended with a semi-humorous slam poem set in NYC talking to her younger self about breakups, “Four Years Later, I Return to the Scene of the Crime.” A good sampler with more gems to be found in the book.

After a short break we continued on with the open mic. I read a seasonal poem, “What Passover Has Taught Me.” Another new name on the list, Amanda Pelletier, read “Beach Glass,” in the persona of a bottle tumbled by the surf. Austin Houston has been featured here in the past, tonight read “Hello” a gentle poem inspired by his job transporting patients in a hosptial. Tom Bonville read “Getting Closer,” a descriptive tale of the night, awake with his thoughts.

S.L. (Sam) Maurice has been working on revising a previously published collection of poems, Vibrant Sounds Colors & Motions, read one of the poems, the swirling memoir “Schoharie Rorschach.” Elaine Kenyon brought the night to a close, not with one of her own fine poems, but with a poem by Naomi Shiab Nye, “Famous.” 

We gather each third Thursday of the month at 7:30PM here at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY for an open mic with a featured reader — your donation supports poetry events in Albany & the work of the Social Justice Center. Join us! 

2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, April 13

Our first session in what looks to be our new home, Collar Works at 50 4th St., Troy — & the open mic poets actually found us. With some rearranging of furniture, in what was once the lobby of a bank, we were ready to go.

First reader was new to 2nd Sunday, David Britton, he read a fantasy tale entitled “Taller,” ironically a short story. He was followed by another David, David Gonsalves, with an untitled piece on Passover, then a poem by June Mandelbaum, friend of his mother, a seemingly unfinished piece also untitled. 

Bob Sharkey read a story about visiting a friend in a rehab facility that made him realize how lucky he was; then he read a poem titled “Bird of Love is Patient” by Parrish Finn, of Cork, Ireland, which was a finalist in the 2025 Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Contest — one can find the winners here.  Julie Lomoe read a descriptive piece, like a diary entry, beginning with a turkey vulture, about waiting to pick up her husband after a medical procedure. 

K. Twigs had found us for the first time last month; today she read 2 short pieces from the same collection-in-progress that she read from last month, pieces titled “The Tale of the Sea Giant,” & “Fragment for Robert.” 

My co-host, Nancy Klepsch, read a rant entitled “The Bible is an Anthology,” addressing America as a character, a la Allen Ginsberg.

April being National Poetry Month I read 2 poems about poetry, the first the title poem from a collection I’ve been floating around, “Peacocks in the Driveway,” then “Something That Matters,” a poem inspired by a line from the gone local poet Catherine Connolly (1969 - 2012). Sally Rhoades, freshly back from the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival in Ada, OK, read “Our Last Fathers Day” from her new book, Taking Time (The Troy Book Makers, 2025), then a new piece titled “Hugo” about her “little brother.”

The name of this open mic, 2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, tells you some of what you need to know, now at Collar Works, 50 4th St., Troy, NY. Hope to see you there. 

Jazz + Poetry Reading, April 10

at the Opalka Gallery at Russell Sage College, Albany, NY, in conjunction with National Poetry Month & Jazz Appreciation Month (&, I also note, that April 10 this year is “Poem in Your Pocket Day”), with the back drop of the current exhibit, Osi Audu: The Self in African Art.

The evening began with an hour of jazz by vocalist Jeanne O’Connor & Azzaam Hameed on the keyboard, to an enthusiastic, appreciative audience. I like jazz & I like poetry so it was a perfect evening for me.

Local poet Carol Durant was the emcee for the poetry reading, organized in 2 sets, with 5 poets, plus an add-on student in the first set. 

Suzanne Rancourt read first & in her first set read a poem each from her books Songs of Archilochus (Unsolicited Press, 2023) & Old Stones, New Roads (Main Street Rag Press, 2021), & a new piece about AI, “Long Haul.” In the second set she read a brutal, upsetting poem from Songs of Archilochus, then another (not from the book) titled “Tunneling with My Friend Mole.”

It was obvious from the start that Shana Gourdine is a motivational speaker as she read from her book The Mask Behind the Mask a poem in the form of a lecture, “You Matter,” as was the next piece titled with the repeating refrain “Power, Position, Positively.” She continued in the same vein in the second set with 2 pieces about continuing to struggle against hurdles including medical issues, one piece even titled “Overcomer 2.3.”

Josh Herter was introduced as being on the faculty here at Russell Sage College & he read just one short poem in each set, the first titled “The Scent” about the way Autumn smells.

Reading only in the first set was Emma, who is a student at the College. She read a piece about self-image titled “Pretty, Ugly” that cleverly flipped the language in the first part of the piece from negative to positive in the second half, that the audience seemed to like.

Lani Larson began each of the pieces she read with quotes from her own writing; in the first set she read only one piece, “Tortured Poets.” In the second set she read a new version of the well-known “Irish Blessing,” then a meditation on why she writes.

In her first set Carol Durant read from her phone, the first piece a reflection on creativity & community at Eden Cafe coffee shop & performance space, the next was a defiant rant, “In My Hair.” In her second set she read 3 poems from her 2020 collection Cold Pressed and Just Brewed Poetry & had the audience call out random numbers to correspond to the pages of the poems on the book, the audience creating her set list.

Check out the current exhibit at the Opalka Gallery, 140 New Scotland Ave., Albany, NY & check their website for other activities & events there.  

Salon Salvage, March 28

This was my first visit to the new home of this monthly reading at the Upstairs Arts Collective, at 403 Fulton St., Troy, NY. The 3rd floor (there is a classic clattering elevator) space is the studio of host & coordinator of Salon Salvage Matthew Klane (with Hajar Hussaini & Amie Zimmerman) & this night there were about 25 in the audience, fellow poets & artists scattered about the split space.

Matthew began the night with a tribute to the recently gone poet/translator/professor Pierre Joris. Matthew recalled how he first met Pierre at SUNY Buffalo before Pierre went on to settle in Albany, then read from the 2007 anthology Oh One Arrow (film forum press) 2 selections by Pierre “#7 exhalation (tarab)” & “#11 comradeship (rifq)” from Pierre’s series Meditations on the 40 Stations of Mansour Al-Hallaj (also published as a chapbook by Anchorite Press, 2007).

Hajar Hussaini introduced the first reader, Maggie Greaves, who teaches at Skidmore College, & whom I’d see read last Fall at the monthly reading & open mic series at the Saratoga Springs Senior Center. A couple of poems were repeated from that reading, including the hilarious “Things My Daughter Said During the Wildfires.” She included poems on Outer Space (e.g., “Outer Space is the Suburbs”), her daughter, love (e.g., “My Husband Washes the Dishes While Humming”), & she ended with “Autobiography” that began with a quote from Gertrude Stein. Her poems are built on images of a mix of the everyday & the exotic, simply told.

Mayada Ibrahim read from an anthology that she is compiling of translations from the Arabic of contemporary Sudanese poets, all, or mostly women. While she did mention their names it was difficult for me to be able take down that information, but the poems were all compelling pieces, including a series of prose poems on death & mourning, one in which a woman in labor calls out, “a god!, a god” on the birth of her child. I’d be very interested in reading the anthology when it comes out so I hope she is able to keep at it.

Judith Braun is well known in this area as a visual artist; she was born in Albany & has returned to Upstate New York after years in NYC. Tonight that work was shared along with written autobiographical pieces from years past. She read 3 pieces against the backdrop of large projections of her visual work, mostly drawings, that were “unrehearsed,” i.e., not coordinated with the writing. The first piece, “The Life of an Artist,” was a humorous, perhaps ironic, take; “He Liked My Work” was a chatty autobiographical piece, with occasional rhyme, on being arty; while “A Wink and a Nod” was about a romance from some years ago.  Over the years I have seen Judith Braun’s work in a number of local venues & this was a pleasant, informal retrospective of her work & life.

This “Multi-modal poetry & performance series” continues on the last Saturday of each month at Upstairs Arts Collective, 403 Fulton St., Troy, NY at 7pm, donations encouraged. Find them on Instagram. 

 

Poetry at La Perla, March 26

Although this monthly poetry open mic has been going on since last year, this was the first time that I was able to get there. The usual host is Rhonda Rosenheck, but this night Nancy Klepsch was the substitute host. The reading was held in a sitting room separate from the dining room & bar. There is a separate menu of mainly small plate items & drinks can be ordered & then delivered to the room. I had fried calamari which was perfectly done, lightly battered. The seating was on couches around a coffee table, a couple of small tables, with more chairs brought in as needed, so it was somewhat awkward if one had a drink & something to eat; fortunately for me I had grabbed a chair at one of the small tables. Since it was set up as a “round robin” there was no central point for the readers & the lighting was  scattered table lamps, so if one needs a strong light it would be behoove one to grab a position early.

The open mic list kept growing as folks arrived late, or came in from the dining room. I read first, an older poem, “Kerouac,” about living in Northport, NY where Jack Kerouac had lived at one time, & a new piece inspired by online images of Teslas burning, “Fire Elon.” I had hitched a ride to here with Sally Rhoades & her husband Hasan Atalay, MD; Sally read 2 poems from her brand new book, Taking Time (The Troy Book Makers, 2025), the first about where she grew up in Northern New York State, “Salmon River,” then a poem about a rainy day in New York City, “A Solitary Man.”

Bob Como read a long piece with references to Allen Ginsberg, pondering souls, & the piling up of words. Ashraf Kamal read a section from a novel-in-progress, “The Periphery of Mind,” an episode where the main character considers returning to Pakistan; Ashraf is an artist-in-residence here at Arts Letters and Numbers, the arts organization that also owns La Perla.

Phil Good read a piece titled “Visitation” about a conversation with a friend, & in which the late Bernadette Mayer makes an appearance. Our host, Nancy Klepsch, read 2 anaphoric poems, the first with the repeating line “I made pizza…,” the 2nd from a chapbook that I don’t have, a poem titled “Watching the War in Ukraine on TV.” David Gonsalves 2 poems were titled “Short Leash” (mixing anxiety & blueberries) & the enigmatic “Pagan Angel.” 

The poems that Sarah S. read revolved around a pregnancy & the subsequent (?) baby, “The Tributaries” & “Rose Court Mornings.” Steve L. read a persona piece titled “The Germantown Busker” (I asked him if it was about the Hudson River hamlet, but he said it was a generic “Germantown), then on to a piece beginning “A storm is on the river…” both pieces filled with musical rhythms & words. Local author Julie Lomoe began with a piece in a Moonstone anthology out of Philadelphia “America Armageddon,” then a long, prosy piece pondering death, “Family Funeral in March.”

Check out La Perla Italian Restaurant, 3016 NY-43, Averill Park, NY, then check the listings on the website of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild for this & other open mics in the area. 

Third Thursday Poetry Night, March 20

It was an unfortunate night: the scheduled featured reader had created a scheduling conflict & could not be here. I dutifully waited to see who would show up for the open mic & eventually we had a small group for an intimate, informal sharing of our writing.

Sylvia Barnard read a piece inspired by a performance at the Deerfield, MA Library of a person posing as a one of the ancestors who had lived in the village, Sylvia thinking of her own forebears there.

David Gonsalves read the whimsical “Sonnet Composed While My Muse Was Out For Lunch.”

Austin Houston’s “Future Proofing” was a hopeful poem of he & his wife planning to have a family.

Sally Rhoades read 2 poems from her latest collection of poems Taking Time (The Troy Book Makers, 2025) “Lilacs” (inspired by one of my poems), & a poem about a foster home she was in as a child, that she said she had never read out before tonight “Burke, NY.”

I read last, my birthday poem from January, “Self-Portrait with Cat.”

I attempt to have a featured reader each month, along with an open mic for community writers, on the third Thursday at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY, 7:30pm — your donation supports poetry events in Albany as well as the work of the Social Justice Center.