Frequency North, April 23

This was the second of the day’s “Standish Room readings,” this one in the Standish Room located on the 2nd floor of the College of St. Rose’s Events & Athletics Center, as part of the College’s ongoing reading series, Frequency North, coordinated & hosted by Prof. Daniel Nester.

Tonight’s reader was Stevie Edwards.  She gave us ample selections from both of her books, Good Grief (Write Bloody 2012) & Humanly (forthcoming from Small Doggies Press), beginning with poems from Good Grief. These poems introduced her to us as Michigan working class, for example “2 Trailer Park Girls Go Around the Outside,” “For an Uncle I Know Only Through Letters & Collect Calls” (because he is serving a life sentence in prison), “The Hippy Church I Was Raised In Doesn’t Believe in Sin.” Apparently she had read earlier to classes here & she read by request, a poem with advice on love, “3 Rachels.”

Moving on to Humanly, she said she was doing “weird ones,” among which were a series of poems about being in a mental hospital, including “Stepping Inside of November,” “What Was the Most Delicate Thing About the Psyche Ward,” & the poem that probably got her the gig here (Google “sestina Nester”) the sestina “In a Psyche Ward.” Her poems followed an arc from the psyche ward to the struggles after (e.g., “Waiting at the Temp Agency”), to, as she said, “the happy stuff at the end of the book,” a poem about going shirtless in a biker bar “Fabulousness,” a short love poem “Offering,” & another Rachel poem “Spell for Rachel’s 80th Birthday.”

This was a relaxed, unpretentious reading of poems that most folks could understand, if not relate to, even if you were not an academic or a student in the MFA program. Frequency North, like the Writers Institute, offers an opportunity for the community-at-large here in Albany to hear & meet established & up-&-coming writers of poetry & prose in relaxed settings, for free — such readings in New York City at venues such as the YMHA would cost $12 to $18. It beats tuition.

Writers Institute Reading, April 23

This was the first of the day’s “Standish Room readings,” this one held in the afternoon in the Standish Room of the Science Library at the UAlbany Uptown Campus, a seminar with poets Alicia Suskin Ostriker & local favorite Joan Murray. Later in the evening both poets would give a reading, but I attended the afternoon event so that I could go to another reading in yet another Standish Room at the College of St. Rose, just a couple miles down Western Ave.

Joan Murray, Alicia Suskin Ostriker, Don Faulkner

Don Faulkner, Director of the New York State Writers Institute, served as the host & began by referencing the recent death of the American critic M.H. Abrams, & his classic study of European Romanticism The Mirror and the Lamp, in which Abrams showed that until the Romantics, literature was usually seen as mirror reflecting the World, but for the Romantics writing was more like a lamp, the light of the writer’s ideas shining on the World. He asked the 2 poets if they saw themselves as a lamp. Ostriker said she saw herself as a “vessel” while Murray said she doesn’t use metaphor, writes more directly. Then the questions went on from there.

Ostriker described her early writing in form until she discovered free verse, or as she likes to call it, “open form.” Topics ranged from women writing about pregnancy & childbirth as a modern phenomenon, to political poems, to MFA programs v. communities of writers.

I’ve been drawn to Ostriker’s work since I first saw her read in 1986 at a bookshop in Hastings-on-the-Hudson, & a few years ago saw her read & be part of a panel discussion at Split This Rock in DC. I am less familiar with Murray’s work, but she has a strong following in the area of women who had been in a workshop with her some years ago & have continued meeting as a peer group since then.

The Writes Institute has a regular schedule of free readings, seminars & films throughout the academic semesters. Unfortunately readings by poets were rare this past year.

Poetry Salon & Art Opening, April 19

The streets of Albany were not the only place that poetry was happening during April here in the Northeast. Up in the hills the Rensselaerville Library sponsored a series of events throughout the month, including workshops, open mics & poetry-related art projects. This reading today was held at the Way-Out Gallery & was basically an “invitational open mic” with each of the 12 readers, many of them it seems from right here in town, getting 5 minutes each.

Linda Sonia Miller served as the host, & brought up Ginny Carter first to pay tribute to the late Galway Kinnell, reading 3 of his poems, & talking about the time he was here reading his work & meeting the folk in town.

Tom Corrado served as the MC for the readers, reading selections of his very short poems from his chapbook 40 Women (Orb Press, 2013), in between each poet's reading. Alan Casline read poems about a landslide at the Helderberg escarpment, a slug, & corn. I read poems from my chapbooks Poeming the Prompt (A.P.D., 2011) & Coyote: poems of Suburban Living (A.P.D., 2014) in an effort to sell books later (in spite of the room filled with well-heeled Rensslearville ladies I only sold 1 book). Howard Kogan chose well, reading “Dick & Jane,” “A Close Family,” “Imagination,” all good poems. Katrinka Moore’s poems were short, meditative, including one in response to the poems on display downstairs in the art gallery (“Breathe”), & a cento (“Call into Being”).

Linda Sonia Miller began with a Rensselaerville-inspired poem, then a trio of sonnets, including the marvelous “April Debate.” Mary Ann Ronconi (another local) read a series of amusing pieces “How I Died (7 Deadly Fears),” a list of imagined deaths. Mimi Moriarty’s poems were all art-related/inspired, everything from a “Diner” in Canajoharie, to “Death as Art” inspired by an artist’s quotes. Cassandra was a fortunate last-minute add to the program, I particularly liked her poem “Izzy’s Beans” which was a recipe from a former prisoner, a dish I could almost taste. A couple of Claire North’s poems had an Irish obsession with death.

Peter Bourdreaux read his poems to the musical accompaniment of Tom Corrado, first on harmonica, then on flute &, for Peter's final 2 poems, on string bass — & the twang! of the E string coming off the bridge (ouch!). The final reader was Susan Kayne with a protest poem “Aquaduct 2011 21 Horses Die.”

Meanwhile downstairs in the gallery there was an opening showcasing the woodwork of Alberto Caputo, & the wordwork of artists young & old who had participated earlier in a workshop on visual poetry, combining text & other visual media.

Albany WordFest - Slam Invitational, April 18

The concluding event of WordFest 2015 was the Slam Invitational held at the Steamer 10 Theater, Albany, NY. There were 7 — count ‘em 7! — teams from New York & Massachusetts, including Albany’s own Nitty Gritty Slam Team that hosted the event. Thom Francis, el presidente of AlbanyPoets & the Nitty Gritty Slam manager (I guess) served as host/MC, which was no easy job with this boisterous audience.

Pilot Light Poets

The “teams” performed as individuals or as duos, but the individual performers were not introduced or named, identified only by the Team names, which were Pilot Light Poets (Pittsfield), Pure Ink (Buffalo), Nickel City (Buffalo), Roc Bottom Slam Team (Rochester), Rhyme for Reason (Syracuse), Underground Poetry Spot (Syracuse), & the aforementioned Nitty Gritty Slam Team (Albany). There were 4 rounds, no eliminations, the order of performance after the first round varied by the scores (I think).

Pure Ink

The first round almost drove me out, what with all the ole Slam clichés manifesting themselves so early on. Lots of loud, preachy pieces banging you over the head with their message for a full 3 minutes, often recited way too fast — as well as plenty of "poetry therapy" — sometimes all in the same piece. K.P. (from the Albany Team) shouted a piece on lucid dreaming which made me wonder, what would this poem sound like if read/recited in a normal, indoor voice?  Then I had that same thought about some other pieces in the following rounds.

Roc Bottom

In round 2, I began to have some hope for real poetry with the Nickel City poet’s piece on “fat kids” & body image when he started off in a quiet voice, but he soon went into his Slam voice & it became just another Slam performance. & the preaching & shouting continued with the other teams — I get it, racism & discrimination (for any reason is bad), so was Columbus & the genocide of native peoples. But I was cheered by the originality of a piece the Pilot Lights Poets entry did based on the Mario Brothers video game.

Nickel City

Round 3, after a break, began with a bad sign, the “sacrificial poet” used to calibrate the judges was Elizag who did a familiar piece on white privilege (that’s not the bad part), the bad part was that she got all “mother-fucking-10s” from the 5 judges. & the night went on from there. If there was an award for cramming all the Slam hot-button clichés into 1 piece (into a love poem, ostensibly, at that), it would go to Amani from the Albany Team, who also got all 10s (maybe that is the award). But the Underground Poetry Spot duo’s love poem was a welcome relief, as was, almost, the Nickel City poet’s poem for her daughter, if it hadn’t been delivered in unrelenting pressured speech. The moving piece titled “Open Letter to a Priest” from Pilot Light Poets, that I had heard in an open mic a while back, was delivered in a welcomed more modulated performance, but suffered from a time penalty.

Underground Poetry Spot

The 4th round predictably was full of 10s, but unfortunately their ubiquity negated their significance, judges had lost their ability to judge — maybe they were as exhausted as the rest of us? While the shouting continued, with some manic jerking around the stage, & a good piece that unfortunately didn’t stop when it was over (from the Nitty Gritty team), there was a thoughtful piece from Roc Bottom on the distractions of drugs & video games in the 'hood, & another, a powerful feminist statement (that got all 10s) “A Poem for a Co-Worker I Should’ve Hit with My Car” by the Rhyme for a Reason poet.

Nitty Gritty Slam Team

So when all the scoring was tabulated & the numbers crunched the winner was Pure Ink, with Roc Bottom in 2nd & Nickel City in 3rd place. I have no idea how I would have scored this, though I have my own particular top-of-the-heap poems, of which there were few amidst the many spit & attitude — & preachy — performances. At least here, unlike at some Slam invitationals I’ve heard of, the home team did not stack the judges & the results, & the visitors got treated fairly & with respect. I guess what I want to say is that “Slam” would be a lot more fun if it weren’t so god-damned competitive, & formulaic.

Rhyme for Reason

& so, with a big sigh of relief, but also a bit of a sad sense of it-is-over-for-another-year, I bid a bourbon farewell to Albany WordFest 2015. What can we say to Thom Francis & AlbanyPoets, & all the participants in this week-long event that can express how fantastic this experience was? The best tribute I can pay to WordFest is to draw a straight line through history from The Readings Against the End of the World organized by Tom Nattell from 1984 to 1993 to this annual event. If the World does not know that Albany is Poetry City by now, it must be smoking all that “free weed” that Tom promised.

So, if the academic poets & right-wing word-haters don’t take over & turn paper into smoke (as Uncle Wiggly once said, I think), we will continue on — writing poems, going to open mics, organizing readings & arts events & we will see you next year for WordFest 2016 — deo volente.

Albany WordFest - Open Mic, April 17

Our host Mary Panza

This is always the wildest night of the WordFest, & once again was held at the UAG Gallery on Lark St.  Folks had been signing-up online for weeks with the 7:00PM to 10:30PM time slots completely filled by Friday night. Of course, that doesn’t mean that everyone who signed-up showed up. This year, by my guess, a little over a third of those who signed up were a no-show. But who cares? What matters is those who did show up to read, including a few who weren’t even on the list.

Debby Mayer

Unfortunately I missed the first 2 poets, Judith Prest & Jessica Rae, 2 fine area poets you can sometimes find at open mics, & arrived as Alan Catlin was reading about a party in a backyard, Sylvia Barnard read about aging & the passage of time, while Debby Mayer explained “Why I Let My Dog Hang Her Head out the Car Window.”

Charles Straney entourage

There were some early no-shows on the list & host/MC/Ring Master/Dominatrix Mary Panza, often abetted by MC-in-training, Julia, established the ritual of calling out “They’ll rue the day!” whenever a name was called & no one answered. But Joe Hesch was there to read, as was Howard Kogan (his poem about imagined lives, “Bit Player,” perhaps my favorite of the night); Charles Straney should come more often & read more of his barn poems, while Joe Krausman makes it to lots of open mics & did a rare “accounting poem.”

Thom Francis with Molly & Julia

Cheryl Rice had poems for Groucho & her uncle, A.C. Everson had “new ones!” she proclaimed (later posted a marvelous video montage of the event); Brian Dorn read about all 40 poetry venues he visited this past year, & Jay Renzi’s phone rang while he read.

Brian Dorn reading, Don Levy lurking

L-Majesty mixed pomegranates & playgrounds, then Tim Verhaegen introduced us to his parents, “The Fuck Family,” & Bob Sharkey did a poem from past WordFests, & Don Levy was, well, Don Levy looking at “Hot Dudes Reading.” Steve Minchin had a gay tally sheet, Adam Tedesco got all auto-biographical on us, while Tess Lecuyer was proud of all new poems.

Ian Macks was a new face but read new poems & those from a chapbook, & Poetyc Visionz also had a new poem “The Black Experience,” while Anthony Bernini read of woodchucks, aging, youth & a tornado, then Caroline Curran included a marvelous piece of fiction about a clash with a student in class wearing headphones, & the poet going by the name Mystic breezed in with a cluster of short poems.

L-Majesty & his audience

I used my time to read, not my own poems, but poems of 2 friends who could not be there, the odd, reclusive poet from the West Coast Lee Pursewarden & former Metroland’s Readers’ Poll 2nd place Best Local Poet, Gary Murrow (both with poems in the new edition of Up The River). J.L. Weeks, a stranger, read untitled pieces from many late nights, &, of course, R.M. Engelhardt read dark pieces, new poems from a new manuscript “The Bones of our Existence.”

The no-shows kept piling up & Shannon, who hadn’t signed up, got a chance to read about frogs & phone booths & happy endings. The last poet of the night was also a fill-in, Lizzie, who did 2 poems, the last a funny piece on therapy, ending the evening with a smile — for many reasons.

There was one more event left to the 2015 WordFest, & if I can decipher my pages of notes, I will write about it next.

Albany WordFest - Third Thursday Poetry Night, April 16

I am always pleased & honored to the have this third Thursday series I run at the Social Justice Center included in the annual WordFest schedule; in one way or another this has happened for years. Tonight we had 18 people signed up for the open mic & to listen to returning visiting poet Michele Battiste who was the featured reader.

& I was very happy to see that Mary McCarthy signed up to be the first poet in the open mic; back after a too-long absence she read a poem for Easter, decrying the violence in our society, even in religious images. Jill Crammond also was back with a poem based a her daughter’s list of spelling words, with a nod to William Carlos Williams. Dave Kime made long drive north taking on, without the mic, a deconstruction of both Republicans & Democrats into acronyms. Kim Henry made it to still another open mic this week, read an untitled piece on child molestation, appropriate for next week’s Take Back the Night. Don Levy read a poem titled “Hibernation” (or, What I did in the Winter). Susan Riback showed up to read from her little notebook a poem about Spring & “tapping” I.V.s. Jessica Rae read a poem about how to respond to her least favorite question, “What Do You Do?” Shannon Shoemaker sat right up front & read an untitled, short, new piece, about chasing endings.

Michele Battiste read in this Third Thursday series when it was at Café Web back in 1998, later in other readings elsewhere in the area, & we were so glad to welcome her back during her visit here (to her “poetry tribe” she said). She started with 2 Moon poems, the first based on artwork done as war-shields, “The Rebel Tells of her Creation” in a variety of versions, then “When the Light Falters” with the Moon as being out-of-practice. From her new book Uprising (Black Lawrence Press, 2014) she read 3 poems, each in the voice of a different persona, beginning early just after World War II, then in the voice of one of the Jewish survivor/refugees in 1951 ("Miksa Beckmann"), & then one from the period during the chaos of the Hungarian Uprising in October 1956. This book is a stunning example of what some critics have dubbed “docu-poetry” (or, as Ed Sanders called it “investigative poetry”) in which the poet writes about moments in history, incorporating the voices & experiences of people who lived through those moments.  Michele has used her extraordinary skills & talents to make the story of the Hungarian revolt real.

She ended her reading with a poem from a new chapbook, LEFT: Letters to Strangers (Grey Book Press, 2014) that grew out of a writers’ group of which she was a member, each poem in the book in the form of a letter to a member of the group, wonderful, playful, quirky poems. How proud we are of this poet who first shared her work with us on the stage of the QE2 back in November, 1997.


I returned us to the open mic reading my new poem “Didn’t We Do This in Saratoga?” Then Kevin Peterson read a Neruda poem then one of his own that a friend thought was like the Neruda poem, both tender love poems. Kat returned for the second time, from Saratoga, to read her poem “Gathering Our Seed.” Alan Catlin followed with a poem “The White Giant’s Thigh” (or, you can take the poet out of the bar, but you can’t take the bar out of the poet). Karen Fabiane was next & read a poem she began in 1975, eventually finished in spite of changes requested by an editor, the deliciously irreverent “I Fucked St. Joan.” Joe Krausman’s poem was a counting piece for which he had to use his fingers. Bob Sharkey read his tender poem about his granddaughter & her doll, “Walking with Baby.” This year’s Metroland Reader’ Poll Best Local Poet, Brian Dorn, read a piece appropriate for WordFest “Her Attributes.” A.C. Everson, who ushers at local music venues, read a poem from Saturday night’s gig about watching young children running, having fun. We ended the night with a new face & voice, Don Fons, who read a poem “Will You Forgive Me?” that he said was written in his “pre-rapper” days.

It was another fantastic night of poetry & poets here on yet another Third Thursday at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY — 7:30PM, $3.00 donation that supports poetry events & the Social Justice Center.

Albany WordFest - Metroland’s Best Poets, April 15

Each year Albany WordFest acknowledges the winners of the Metroland’s Readers Poll Best Local Poets with a reading featuring the lucky/hard-working word-smiths. This year the winners were, in 1st place, Brian Dorn, 2nd place, Mary Panza, & a tie for 3rd place between Elizabeth Gordon & Jay Renzi. The reading was held at The Women’s Building, 373 Central Ave., with R.M. Engelhardt, who is frequently (i.e., almost always) on the Best Local Poets list, as the host.

Elizabeth Gordon started off with a cluster of Haiku, then read the post-seasonal “Taking Down the Xmas Tree.” Her last poem is one of my personal favorites, about being new on the job (& a woman holding her own) “Carpenter’s Helper.”

Jay Renzi popped up out-of-the-blue last year on the Metroland list, but has now been coming around to some of the open mics. He began with a poem he does with dancers “Blessing the Virgin Oil,” then on to a newer poem “An End to Discord” (or, the door to Fraggle Rock). He then read a selection of mostly short, rhyming poems from his latest chapbook Remembering the Smoke -- you know, poets hang out at bars, drink, smoke & pick up strange women.

Mary Panza, who has been in the poetry scene here long before she was legal, read her classic “This is Not an Angry Poem,” then a poem that I must’ve heard before but was surprised when she quoted Charles Olson (!) “Understanding Christopher” (who was not in the audience), then her wonderfully vicious take-down of Shel Silverstein “Fuck the Giving Tree.”

Brian Dorn has for the last few years been going to more poetry readings than I get to. He read a small bouquet of his usual rhyming poems, then launched into the epic “40 Venues” which is a tour of all the places where readings are held that he has been to -- formidable.

There seemed to be some discussion as to whether there was an open mic, or not — it hadn’t been announced as such -- but some of the community folks in the room seemed to think so.

When the floor was opened up to other poets only Amani, who is part of the Nitty Gritty Slam team, stepped up to do a far-ranging piece from her phone, on Mother Nature Turn Down for What, but then that might not be the title.

But yet another WordFest event in the books & (lots) more to come, we’re just getting tuned up.