Poets Speak Loud!, September 26

It was really no choice at all — the TV debate between Trump & Clinton, or poetry at McGeary’s — duh! But it seems some other poets made the other choice (‘though at least 1 was reportedly sighted in Portugal). But there were some poets on the sign-up sheet & even some spectator souls who wandered in & stayed. Our host, Mary Panza, said we could read up to 3 poems if we wanted.

I was up first to read “Ordering Lunch” (from boundless abodes of Albany), “I’m Doing my Best to Preserve the Adirondacks” &, for the night, “When Donald Trump Farts.”

The 3 poems that Bob Sharkey read are among my favorites among his work, “Scarey People,” “Things,” & “There But for Fortune” (re-written fortune cookies). Adam Tedesco read a fictional narrative, “Bales of Hay,” by his friend Dan Majors, then selections from his new chapbook of his long poem Heart Sutra, in which “my heart” is a character.

Tonight’s featured poet, Ian Macks, did what any good featured poet does: brought a bunch of friends to his reading. He began with a ruminative poem started by his father’s hug. He said he had published a chapbook, but I didn’t catch the title, & he said he couldn’t find a copy (but an instantaneous internet search later revealed a chapbook titled A Loss and Gain of Comfort from Bottlecap Press). He read “Now This” about a poem, “Violations Volition” about parking tickets, & the first of urban poems, as was “Manic Machines.” “Never Regret Never Forget” was a political piece on the anniversary of 9/11, & he ended with a love poem “Half-Hearted.” But not quite yet — his poems were short & he was being conscientious about not reading too long, so Mary called him back for an encore, which he read from his phone, beginning with more urban dystopia, then a poem exploring doubt, then another on disappointed love.

There were just 2 open mic poets left, both former features here. J.L. Weeks did her poems, untitled, from memory, the first a portrait of one trapped in a room while the birds are free, the 2nd, a hate rant about the “umbrella man” — her use of rhyme relaxed, unforced. Karen Fabiane did 3 of her breathless, mumbled poems, the 1st “kind of new” with an undercurrent of sex “Unsing,” then one inspired & titled from an Alison Bechdel cartoon “Andalusian Girls,” then visited by the dead in “Makes a Great Shake.”

The millions of people who watched the debate tonight would have done better to have heard these poets. But then there are more last Mondays coming up for Poets Speak Loud! at McGeary’s on Sheridan Square in Albany, NY. Check AlbanyPoets.com for details.

100 Thousand Poets for Change, September 24

Faculty & Area Poets

Once again SUNY Adirondack in Queensbury, NY hosted a reading by community poets & a featured reading by equally community poet Joseph Bruchac. Kathleen McCoy served as our coordinator & host. This is an inter-national event initiated by West Coast poet Michael Rothenberg, intended to engage poets in the larger world of social justice issues promoting peace & sustainability. A number of us had read here last year, & this was the 4th year that Kathleen had organized the event.

I was first on the list & read yet again “When Donald Trump Farts.” Carol Graser was less confrontational with a tender tribute to her recently deceased mother. Tina Garvin Curtis read 3 short poems, “Apotheosis of a Carthusian Monk,” “Grasshopper” (to her son?), & “Bush Meat 2016.”

Pat Leonard introduced herself by saying she was born in 1924, grew up in a small town in California where, at that time, everyone rode horses, read a memoir of that time “The Land of My Childhood.” Lee Gooden had read last year, began with “an angry young man poem” a political piece, then a more gentle piece for his daughter’s 12th birthday “Mooing at Ducks.” Neal Herr was another returning performer, with his guitar, to perform a song based on, he said, a true story in which “life is a zig-zag.”

Stu Bartow read from one of his books, & even brought a show-&-tell-prop, for the poem “Whelks” which he likened to the code-breaking “enigma machines.” Lucyna Prostko read “For All My Saints,” a rich imagistic poem inspired by the Sigismund Bell in the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków in her native Poland. Steven Johnson seemed to be a last minute add, had left his poems at home, but read a wonderful little piece “Time of Your Life.” Paul Pines had also arrived late, began with “Andrew Wyeth Enters Heaven 2” from his book Message from the Memoirist (Dos Madres Press, 2015), then he did something he said he hadn’t done before, read from his iphone a recent poem about aging & walking his dog, “Twice Around the Block.”

Kathleen McCoy, who has organized this & past 110 Thousand Poets events, read from her recent book Green and Burning (Glas Agus a Dhó) (WordTech Editions, 2016) “Otzi” about the ancient mummy discovered in 1991 in the Italian Alps, a questioning, descriptive poem.





Joseph Bruchac Reading

Joe Bruchac is well-know in the area as a poet, activist for the environment & native peoples, & a prolific author. In addition, his readings are a model for young performers about connecting to an audience, with warmth, & information & feeling; one can learn a lot about native history, culture & language from a Bruchac reading. He began with a melody from his cedar flute, then read poems from recent anthologies that had included his poems, offering (i.e., tossing) the books to members of the audience.

One of the fascinating, for me if not for the rest of the audience, was Joe’s use of the Abenaki language. He read Spring-time poem, “Let’s Go,” first in Abenaki then in English from a bi-lingual book he did with his son Jesse Bruchac, Nisnol Siboal/Two Rivers. Joe also read a Abenaki story of 7 wise men from one of the many children’s books he has done. However, he said that when he writes for children he is also writing for adults, for everyone.

Joe’ newest book of poems is Four Directions from Mongrel Empire Press in Norman, OK & he read 4 poems from that. Then on to some new, unpublished poems, “Black Hills,” “Wind Thanks,” “Old Caller” (at a square dance), “Carolina Walking Bird,” & a compelling eco-poem with audience participation (“water is life”) about the pipeline opposition in Standing Rock. Then he returned to the new book for 2 more, “Deer Pond” & “South Branch.”

He left some time for questions, even a request for another poem, from the audience, then ended as he began with the rich, resonant tones of the cedar flute.

Gloucester Writers Center, September 21

I had planned to spend a long weekend on Cape Ann, then saw that Don Byrd, former UAlbany professor, Olson scholar & poet, would be doing a reading on Wednesday night so I extended my stay (not a hard decision to make) so I would be here for his reading. The room in Vincent Ferrini’s old place was filled as usual, Gloucester being a very literate town.

Don was introduced by Gloucester poet Amanda Cook, then he went on with a casual talk among friends with some poems thrown in. He began by wondering what it means to be “a follower of Olson,” recalling his first visit to Gloucester in a snow storm in January 1971, after Charles Olson’s death. Of course Gloucester poet Gerrit Lansing was in the audience, relaxed on the couch, & Don paid tribute to him as a direct source of information about Olson, reading from Gerrit’s poem “The Burden of Set.”  Gerrit had once been the proprietor of a storied used bookstore on Main St.

Don said he had prepared a 3-hour lecture on the topic of the books on mathematics in Olson’s library, but there seemed to be little interest in the audience, but plenty of chuckles. Instead he read a poem he had written this week, “Poem to Be Read In Place of a Lecture on Olson & Mathematics.”

Don talked about being in Lawrence, KS in April 1970 during riots there, as in many places in America at that time, over racial injustice & the Vietnam War, read his poem about the 2 halves, then a poem “Call for a General Strike” from his book-length poem The Great Dimestore Centennial (Station Hill Press), the cover photo of-which is of the old Woolworth’s in Cohoes, NY.

From there he talked about reading Olson’s papers in the archives in the University of Connecticut in Storrs, particularly the chaotic stack of paper that George Butterick published after Olson’s death as Maximus III. This led to his own stack of papers, what he has been writing recently, & reach what he called “a terrible poem” from “a sequence neither beautiful or good,” then to a descriptive, ruminative poem about a large, brown book held together with tape (Maximus III?) & his morning, & the “The First Message” which he said was an old poem to his father on “befuddlement,” originally published as a broadside that he had to take take from his wall to type because he had no typed copy.

During the following questions & answers, he talked about Olson as “community,” & about the Ralph Maud library of books cited & referenced by Charles Olson, recently installed just down the road at 108 Main St. He also talked about the writing of his study Charles Olson’s Maximus (University of Illinois Press, 1980), his research & help from George Butterick who at that time had not yet published his authoritative A Guide to the Maximus Poems of Charle Olson.

It was a classic “Gloucester evening” which happens a lot now with the Gloucester Writers Center’s regular schedule of events. See their website & stop by sometime. Maybe I’ll be in town.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, September 15

The calendar can be an odd duck, but not so strange once you have observed it’s peculiarities over time — this week the 2nd Wednesday of the month (yesterday) was followed by the third Thursday (today) & that meant the monthly open mic at the Social Justice Center in Albany. But first, I invoked the Muse, another gone poet, one I only recently found out had gone back in December, Wendy Battin (1953 - 2015), & read her poem about what I call “Oil War 1” the 3-part “Mondrian’s Forest” published in Sam Hamill’s anthology Poets Against the War.

First up on the open mic sign-up sheet was Richard Jerin, “happy to be here” he said, reading from his notebook a piece titled “01” a remembrance of 9/11. As it happened, Richard, & the next 3 readers had read last night at the open mic at Arthur’s Market in Schenectady. Alan Catlin, many years a bartender, read “Friday Happy Hour at the College Bar” about the first Gulf War on TV. J.J. Johnson also read a political piece, this from recent news, the rhyming “Deaf, Dumb & Deplorable.” Don Levy was the last of the readers from Arthur’s Market last night with a heavily researched bit of Gay History “The Origins of Brunch.”

Another series of similarities this night was 3 of us folks with some variation of the name “Daniel.” The first of that unique group was Daniella Toosie-Watson who recited her moving childhood memoir “Linguistics of Broken English.”

Our featured poet was Daniel Summerhill, just back from a poetry tour of the U.K. Tonight he read from both his books & started with “Ode to 1920” from Brown Boys on Stoops (2 Pens & Lint, 2015), then “Meditations on a Bookshelf” (written during a class) from Crafted (Genesis Press, 2016), & a poem to his young daughter “13 Letters to Genesis.” “Woodstock” is a poem about what it means to be an artist, then on to the challenging “Ode to Elijiah” done from memory, & ended with “’93 Camaro” about being homeless with his mother. But this was not enough, as the audience, cheered on by Amani, called him back for a rare Third Thursday encore.  He read “Life-Support” about being an artist, a sweet dividend. Daniel Summerhill is one of those rare poets who not only performs his poems well, but also writes real poems worthy of reading. But I was sad to hear he was leaving tomorrow morning for the West Coast, glad he had blessed this City with his words while he was here.

After the break I started off the 2nd half of the open mic with a poem from this Summer “Finding Pokémon.” Then I was followed by the return of Jan Farrell who read “Nightlights” (about stars) to “help everyone sleep well.”

Alan Casline read what he called "an experimental piece" titled “Slow Ground Blues.” Sylvia Barnard, who got here too late to sign up 1st, rose to talk about a visit to her old home town in Western Massachusetts where she found an old map from 1885, then read the poem about the map mixed in with her childhood memories. Bob Sharkey read a poem titled “Attica,” from 16 or 17 years ago, remembering that murderous event from 45 years ago this month. Brian Dorn was back reading a favorite, in rhyme of course, “In God We Trust.” Former-feature here Amani O+ rounded out the night with a brief piece about her ongoing, unrequited crushes on poets.

So join us at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Avenue, Albany, NY each third Thursday of any month at 7:30 for a featured poet & an open mic for the rest of us, your modest or immodestly generous, donation supports poetry events & the work of the SJC. Bring a poem, too.

Arthur’s Market Open Mic, September 14

Back up to Schenectady on the 2nd Wednesday for this series with our host Catherine Norr & tonight’s featured poet Leslie Neustadt but there were a bunch of eager folks signed up for the open mic.

First up was Richard Jaren with a 2-part poem “Promises” that can’t be kept. Carolee Bennett was back out again to an open mic to reprise the sad & tender poem she read Sunday at the Arts Center in Troy “Let It Be.”

Ginny Folger read a variation on a nursery rhyme titled “3 Misses Muffets” then a piece on aging & actuarial tables “16 Minus 6.” That must have started something because Judith Prest read a poem titled “What Gets Us In The End” & then funny versions of what all poets are familiar with “Rejection Letters.” Barbara Traynor continued the aging theme with a poem titled “Enough.” Donna Dakota read a funny, clever narrative piece “Standing on the Porch of the World’s Perfect Poet.” Taylor Pangburn’s poem “Rehab” was about attending a staff meeting.

Leslie Neustadt, tonight’s featured poet, began with a signature poem, “Mishmash” reveling in her Jewish culture, from her book Bearing Fruit (Spirit Wind Books, 2014), & returned throughout her reading to other poems from this collection, including “Bitter Greens,” “Sand Hogs,” “Child of My Child,” & the revealing “Teshuvah” about abuse by her father & her lifetime of healing. She also read some new, “raw” (as she said), poems from classes & workshops, poems from dreams, on disease (“Incurable”), poems about her mother-in-law, her mother & from a new series of found poems from the pages of the New York Times. It’s hard to pin down this eclectic poet.

Catherine Norr returned us after a break to the open mic with one of her own poems, paying tribute to Leslie, “Matzoh” about asking the questions at Passover.

The long-time Schenectady poet Esther Willison made a rare appearance & read “My Screen Door” (as a metaphor of her life) then a poem in praise of Nature in the style of the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. The more ubiquitous Schenectady poet, Alan Catlin, took us in unlikely directions in his poem “Haydn at 4 AM,” then from series of memories of that day “Remembering Working on 9/11.” I followed with my poem “Song of the Tallest Tower” written between the 1993 World Trade Center bombing & 2001. Don Levy is not a sports fan but admitted to like watching young men leaping off cliffs in his poem “Divers,” then explained a bit of gay culture in “Bear Facts” (“bears” are large-sized men, like Don).

Cynthia Finnegan introduced herself by saying she was “not a poet” that what she was reading was “just words” that she wrote on the death of her son, like a letter in rhyme — sometimes “just words” are a poem. Samson Dikeman, who in the past was frequently at open mics in Albany, read a descriptive piece, “Breakwall,” about watching couples at Lake Ontario. Malcolm Willison’s first poem was also descriptive, #11 from his series about Elizabeth Bishop’s house in Key West “Demolition by Neglect,” then a sober “Forecast” of the end of life on Earth.

Shae Fitzgerald’s love poem “Enough, Enough, Enough” was filled with images of the heart, while in her poem “Blood Moon” she became one with all the others looking at the Moon. Candice Arney began with a quote about faith, then read 2 poems also praising faith. Tzipporah Harris read a poem about vacation (written at a women’s writing workshop) “When My She is My He.” J.J. Johnson read 2 recent poems “about hatred” he said, “Planting Dandelions” & ripped-straight-from-the-News “Deaf, Dumb & Deplorable.” Carol Graser put an amusing cap on the night with a poem as a reality TV show “What If Emily Dickinson.”

The open mic at Arthur’s Market in the Stockade Section of Schenectady takes place each 2nd Wednesday of the month, starting at 7:30PM, with a featured poet & an open mic for the rest of us, with our host the affable & sometimes musical Catherine Norr.

Harmony Cafe, September 12

Once again Michael Platsky, the host of this weekly event, invited me back to be a featured poet here among the poets & players of Woodstock. Michael began the night with a reading of his poem “Ashes Not Dust” to Woodstock habitué Roxie Dawn.

Alison Koffler, one of the fine Woodstock poets, tonight read a poem based on the seasonal tale of Persephone “Koré Yet Again.” Cheryl Rice’s moving poem about 9/11 & what we can do to make the world better, “Morning Prayers,” can be found on her FaceBook page. Donald Lev is the patriarch of the poetry scene, former editor & publisher (with the late Enid Dame) of Home Planet News, & has a regular spot here on the open mic list as #4, but tonight no one signed up to be #1. His poems were characteristically wry, short & quotidian, “What It Is” (a nose), “Listening to Old Music,” “Conundrum” (what day is it?), “Accessibility” about the NY Daily News,” “On the Destruction of the World Trade Center,” & “Wheels.”

So that is what I had to follow as the featured poet. I began & ended with political poems (respectively “When Donald Trump Farts” & “If Peace Broke Out Tomorrow”) with “Another Tuesday” about the coup against Salvatore Allende & the aftermath of the destruction of the WTC thrown in, & lighter poems in between, such as the recent “Finding Pokémon” & poems from Gloucester Notes (FootHills Publishing, 2015).

Leslie Gerber followed with a piece about elks in heat (“Definitive”) then a series in some sort of a Korean form on “freestate love” & a poem by the dead Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska. Lenny Brown read some historical poems, “Stephan the Dissenter,” “Tsunami Fukushima” & one on Robin Hood. Quintessentially Woodstock Pamela Twining invoked football for a poem on death (“Touchdown”) then a childhood memoir poem titled “Tom Boy” about learning about sex.

Post Traumatic Press publisher Dayl Wise began with a political poem about drones, then on to “Savanna Georgia” in the persona of a person in the slave market, & ended with a poem titled “A Father’s Responsibility.” Rich Rhinehart did a piece in hip hop rhyme wondering who he is… Philip Gurrieri struck a shaman pose speaking into his stick for a free-style rant with biblical references that turned 2 audience members into toads (by mistake, I'm sure). Woodstock icon Andy Clausen bounced off one of my themes with a piece on the coup in Chile “A Be-Bop Bill," & a Burroughs-style routine.

The last reader was the very tentative Laurel Manley with the wonderfully tender “Exodus” & “Light Year Time.”

I don’t know how Michael Platsky does this Monday after Monday at the Harmony Cafe (at the Wok’n’Roll on Mill Hill Rd.) in Woodstock at 8PM — a featured poet & a spirited Woodstock-style open mic — please be generous to support the featured reader.

2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, September 11

Back for our 7th season (!) at the Arts Center in Troy, your hosts, Nancy Klepsch & I, were pleased to see so many of our regulars, even some who had not been here in quite sometime.

First on the sign-up sheet was Peggy LeGee with “My Letter to Werner Herzog,” a piece about her struggles with gender, & the “Tranie Christ.” Dan Curley read a story told to him by his father about that old staple of the medicine cabinet “Iodine.”

Joel Best began with “Dialogue,” then a funny piece filled with advice & bumblebees “Our Trip to the Moon.” Bob Sharkey read for us a 21st Century American version of what the Japanese call “haibun,” prose & poetry, about his youth & meeting his wife in New York City, “In the Beginning.”  Carolee Bennett was back after a hiatus with 2 poems, “Let It Be” fishing for trout & remembering her Mother, & then one that combines some of her frequent themes, family relationships & a fascination with outer space, “Juno Goddess of Marriage Struggles to Face Her New Career as a Spacecraft.” I followed with an old poem written after the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 & before 9/11/01, “Song of the Tallest Tower.” Nancy Klepsch began with an experiment in not making too much sense, a piece shaped by dreams & desires, then a poem on the recurring gun violence “This Is Not My Beautiful Place.”

Kate Laity introduced her prose fantasy, “How to Seduce Anyone” as “frivolous” but it contained an important message from a Fairy Godmother: “don’t be evil.” Tim Verhaegen was allowed to keep his puppet from Friday night’s puppet show & read the same, sad memoir of his grandfather, back in the Summer when Tim turned 6 & “everyone was still alive.” Howard Kogan read 3 memories of working in New York City on September 11, 2001.

Jil Hanifan’s first poem was in the persona of a bus driver in post-apocalypse Albany, then another urban piece “4 Rabbits.” Karen Fabiane read new poems based on email & phone conversations, “Lark St. & Madison” a memoir of gay bars & of 2001, & a poem about the the sequelae of a foot massage. Elizabeth Gordon was back from a poetry tour & also read a memoir of gay bars, including finding the Pulse nightclub “A Hiding Place for the Orlando 49.”

A fine start to our 7th season at the Arts Center of the Capital Region, where we gather to read poetry & prose each 2nd Sunday at 2 — & it’s free.