Tim’s Zoom Open Mic, August 6

Tim Verhaegen is reveling in his new-found love of Zoom with this 2nd poetry open mic he’s organized, this time experimenting with a featured poet, Avery Stempel. Tim's format was an initial round, followed by the featured poet, followed by a 2nd round (which I missed, on my way to still another online event).

I was first up & since this day was the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan by the United States, ushering in the Atomic Age with the 1st ever war-time use of the atomic bomb, I read Tom Nattell’s chant-poem “Hiroshima.”

Mike Jurkovic read an equally dark screed set in the current time “Totem America.”

Jan Tramontano, beaming in from Florida stayed on theme with “Life on Planet Insanity” a political rant about being in Florida, about wealth, prejudice, ignorance & the need to be “staying away from the dumbbells.”

Bob Sharkey continued on the theme with a poem about the slowing down & the lies.

Howard Kogan read his poem “Diplomacy” about poets Issa, Du Fu, & Li Bai trying to get together for dinner & french fries, being diplomatic about it all.

Tim Verhaegen said that his twin brother Todd died last month but that he, Tim, hadn’t seen him for years, & read a poem about the dysfunction of their family, with a list of Todd’s issues & problems, I sensed his way of confronting the loss of his brother.

Cheryl Rice said that she is resisting writing plague poems then read what I think was titled “Feejee” (Fiji, or any phonetic version).

Jill Crammond has been brought out of the suburban hinterlands by the magic of Zoom & read what I dare say was a “religious poem” titled “Self Portrait as an Artifact.”

Carolee Bennett also Zoom-ed in from the ‘burbs with a commentary on the times that are so crazy “No-one Believes in Madness Anymore.”

Avery Stemple, the featured poet, once ran his own open mic in a bagel shop in Troy, & would also pop up at other open mics throughout the area. This night he read a varied selection, starting with his piece about smiles, in the guise of a motivational speaker, “From Me to You.” He talked about doing a poem a day during the pandemic & read a selection from the series, day #120 (July 25), #137 (August 1) about things that need to be done around the house, day #122, day #133 (on change & losing friends). Then to a piece from his Chakra series, “An Unfolding.” Then back to the pandemic series, eventually ending with an affirmation #132 stating that no one who writes is alone.

At this point, as I was about to leave for yet another online event, Nick Bisanz’s Facebook house concerts covering rock tunes from various eras, & Tim was discussing going into a second round of poems, bearded Don Levy popped up, but seemed to have difficulty navigating Zoom. I haven’t seem Don at an open mic since venues were shut down & hope he gets it figured out so he join us all in cyberspace soon.  & I'll be back too.

Poetry Night at Caffè Lena, August 5

As with (nearly) everything there are the pluses & minuses to this COVID-19 pandemic, poetry readings/open mics no exception. For example, I miss the personal contacts, the informal, private chatting at in-person open mics, but on the other hand, folks who have moved & no longer living local to the reading can attend Zoom open mics & share their work. The Poetry Night at Caffè Lena has been continuing with a splendid array of local writers actually reading on the stage of Caffè Lena, but the various & fascinating poets in the open mic are no longer there, & then again the reading runs just about an hour (during which time I don’t have to wear shoes, or even pants), but I don’t have a reason to come to Saratoga Springs (not sure whether that is a plus or minus). 

Carol Graser is still our host & keeps the reading going very fast, which is streamed & recorded on YouTube, which I under stand is better for sound quality than Zoom. 

First up this night was Marilyn McCabe who is a Caffè Lena favorite who has a string of books I admire. She began with poems from her new chapbook Being Many Seeds, which won the 2020 Grayson Books chapbook contest. Each poem is included in several forms, the original, & manipulations of the texts such as erasures, that address our relationship to the Earth. Also each poem includes a quote from a special favorite of mine who has informed my thinking, the French Jesuit philosopher/theologian & paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881 - 1955) — you can bet I’ve bought this chapbook. Science continued as a theme in her reading, including a poem about sitting in a traffic jam & thinking about Schrodinger’s cat, a poem titled “On a Night of Weary Walking,” & an old piece she began with singing a snippet of “Deep River.” 

Elizabeth K Gordon, known on the Slam circuit as Elizag, showed off her new haircut, then launched into the celebratory “On Receiving My First Social Security Check,” then on to a poem about visiting Celia in hospice, what she doesn’t remember & the music she does remember. She read a couple pieces from her still-current collection, Love Cohoes (2014), “The Clotheslines of Cohoes” (inspired by Allen Ginsberg’s “America”), & “This Yes” in her invented form the “cohonna.” She ended with 3 new ones, “Milk for the Tear-Gassed Eyes,” “Guinness to Fertilize Xmas Trees,” &, looking forward, “When We Come Together Again.” 

I often refer to D. Alexander Holiday as my racial consciousness Jiminy Cricket & he certainly was that tonight with the works that he read from other black writers & from his own body of work. He began with Dudley Randall’s (1914 - 2000) chilling “Ballad of Birmingham“ all-to-poignant for today. Then on to

his own work, “We Are Gathered Here Today” from his 2003 book Letters to Osama, “Rest In Peace” (for Amadou Diallo) from I Use To Fall Down (2001), & “The Apologia” from Kith & Kin: A Klannish Klownish Tragik Komedy (2017). He included to my delight his performance of Dudley Randall’s dialogue “Booker T. and W.E.B.” then ended with an add-on, also done from memory, “On Seeing Two Brown Boys in a Catholic Church” by Frank Horne (1899 - 1974). 

I do miss the open mic poets, but with only 3 poets who kept to their time this reading, while giving us some marvelous poetry, it was also mercifully short. 

[I forgot to “take pictures” this night — even with online readings I try to take screen shots. But I wandered through “the world’s largest collection of photos of unknown poets” to find photos I’d taken of each of this night’s poets when they’ve read at Caffè Lena in the past.]

 

Poets in the Park 2020, July 25

For over 30 years we have celebrated Poets in the Park on Saturdays in July. The series was started by Tom Nattell, & I have been hosting it since 2005. This year I waited as long as I could before scheduling a reading, paying attention to New York State’s rules & guidelines for gatherings under the cloud of COVID-19. Finally it was announce that outdoor arts events could be scheduled for gatherings of 50 or less, & I breathed a sigh of relief — this is a poetry event so we have never had 50 people here. I decided that even if we couldn’t have a full schedule we could have at least one reading.

I had heard Austin Houston read at open mics, particularly at Poets Speak Loud, & felt he needed a venue to stretch out in & read more than 1 or 2 poems. He started his reading with what he called "an introductory poem," a philosophical statement of resistance, a theme & mode that ran through the work he read this evening, on what he described as “the COVID journey.” The poems included “Corona Madness” & “Pandemic” about hoarding & people exposing themselves to the virus, with a plea to be patient, then on to a couple of pointed, political screeds, “Corporate Greed,” & a piece about Trump’s playing “pretend” & his power addiction. “Drive-by” was a sad, descriptive poem about the recent flurry of shootings in the city of Albany. Back to the COVID theme, he pleaded with us “Don’t Be a Karen,” then ended on a quiet note with “Meanwhile” about the mundane details of daily life “while chaos reigns.” Hopefully we can get can back to open mics in the not-too-distant future & hear more of Austin’s work there.

Sarah Giragosian has also read at area open mics, & at poetry festivals, as well as being featured at a number of venues, including the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center. I knew that her new book The Death Spiral was forth-coming from Black Lawrence Press so I scheduled her to help promote it, &, fortuitously, she had received copies just this week. Most of her reading was from the book, beginning with the first poem in it, “Family History” a graphic tale of her great-grandmother’s surviving the Armenian Genocide, then on to an eco-poem “Mammoth Resurrected” questioning the cloning of extinct species. Referencing Austin’s work, she said that she too had written "Trump revenge poems" & read “Boldface, Pants on Fire” & a related fantasy, “The Second Moon Colony Will Not Fail." The poem “The Fourth Anniversary” was about celebrating with her wife, but haunted by a bad dream. The title poem of the book “Death Spiral,” Sarah explained, was about & described a dangerous courting ritual of the American Bald Eagle & was a metaphor for the politics of our time. She concluded with a poem from her first book, Queer Fish (Dream Horse Press, 2017) that she called “a queer bestiary” (an affirmation of homosexuality in all animal species), a tale of the long-eared hedgehog “The Queer Creatures that Rise at Dusk.” If you don’t have either of Sarah’s books, why not?

Perhaps next year we can return to a full schedule of Poets in the Park events, with the grace of face masks, social distancing, & perhaps a dose of vaccine.

May the Muse be with you.

Poetry Open Mic, July 22

Tim Verhaegen has been a welcome staple in the local open mic/reading/community workshop scene for many years, back to the 1990s. The first photo of Tim I’ve been able to find is from an open mic at Border’s Bookstore in July 1996, hosted by Mary Panza, a decidedly thinner & darker haired Tim. Recently retired from government service Tim has attended some Zoom poetry meetings & got the bug — not COVID — to take the leap to organize his first open mic. He set the list as folks arrived & put the order of the poets to his whim, & we went around twice.

Tim assigned me the first slot & I read the recently typed up “Content Advisory,” then in the 2nd round read the elegy “To my Parakeet Berlioz.”

Cheryl Rice began the night’s sub-theme with a new piece still on paper “Mask,” then a melancholy, related piece about finally getting out to a restaurant “Blue Devils” for sushi & a Mai Tai with it’s sad umbrella in the 2nd round.

Therese Broderick read from her chapbook of pandemic poems, in the 1st round “A Shortage of Crumbs,” about missing the open mics, then in the 2nd round, reflecting Cheryl’s theme, with one about finally getting to the Sake Cafe “Zen & the Art of Eating Inside a Restaurant for the First Time in 4 Months.”

Frank Robinson did a political parody based on the words of Nobel Laureate, Bob Dylan, memorably “how many years must a turd persist before it is flushed to the sea…” then in the 2nd round an anniversary love poem to Therese, his wife — ahh!

Howard Kogan was here from his home in Massachusetts to read about attending a poetry reading in a strange place “Die,” then in the 2nd round about waking up dead “One Morning.”

Bob Sharkey jumped into the issue of statues of former slave owners with “The Day Alice Green Drove Around the Philip Schyluer Statue” in front of Albany’s City Hall, then on the 2nd go around a strange poem from a prompt from a Bernadette Mayer workshop, “The Officer’s Hat” a memoir of piccolo player in a band & a hand job on a train.

Jan Tramontano was here from Florida, one of the pandemic hot-spots, to read the one COVID poem she has completed, “Il Nato,” about getting out a little, then in the 2nd round a descriptive piece about ex-Marine at “Paradise Nails.”

Mike Jurkovic is just down the River but didn’t have to drive to read a very new poem about pot smokers on the street “True Blue Sea,” then later one titled “Shamed Angels” referencing a magazine cover of Linda Ronstandt.

Kristen Day’s first round poem was an old piece about a trio in a nut house “Normal, Crazy, & St. Peter’s Girl Friend,” then in the 2nd round her hysterical, profane rant about rage at your ornery printer.

The sound of Peggy LeGee’s reading was a bit broken up but she was able to get through “Mommy’s Too Sick & Daddy’s Too Drunk,” then had better luck with a transition poem “A Little Girl Lost, A Little Boy Gone,” both poems in rhyme.

Our host, Tim Verhaegen, only read in the first round, a piece about breaking up from a 5-year relationship & what was wrong on both sides, “Boredom.”

This was Tim’s first foray, to my knowledge, in hosting an open mic anywhere, in any format & it worked quite well. There may very well be others in the future, stay tuned on social media — & keep writing.

Poetry/Spoken Word, July 14

Bennington, Vermont has been better off, as far as the poetry scene goes, since Charlie Rossiter got there & began this open mic series at The Tap House. Then along came corona & COVID-19. Since then Charlie has persisted on Zoom with his wide-open mic. & I have enjoyed being there without driving for an hour.

The host tonight, as before, as now was Charlie Rossiter, & did the 2-round thing.

I was first on the list & read a couple of older pieces, beginning with a variation on a poem by Rumi “The Phrasing Must Change,” then on the second round an even older piece just published in Laura Boss’ journal Lips (#51/52), the astronomical exploration of “The Transit of Venus.”

Barbara Sarvis, who had just hung around last month listening, tonight read a a rap piece written last week about the rules of growing up in the 50s & 60s “Like a Lady,” then later something from a workshop using “If…,” on the pandemic like a bird & illusions, & said she wants to do a painting about it.

Laura Ellzey sang songs in both rounds, in number 1 the 1972 hit “Summer Breeze” by Seals & Croft, then the dogs barked, then in the 2nd round Winnie the Pooh’s “A Little Black Rain Cloud.”

Jack Rossiter-Munley, who was downstairs then upstairs, played an instrumental "St. James Infirmary," then returned in the second round to back up Charlie.

Charlie Rossiter read his walk down the nostalgia road “Ode to the Old TV” & the old TV shows he used to watch on it, then in the second round, with Jack on guitar, a piece written back in Chicago “Alley Cat” for Walter & the boys alley catin’.

Tom Nicotera’s poem “Reading at Dawn” was a reaction to the book The Many Faces of Christ by Philip Jenkins & on hearing the cry of a crow, then it was a different critter in the second round “Grasshopper for Breakfast” a poem on fear & instinct.

Kenn Ash mixed up humor, rhyme & his pocket trumpet a piece about being short, then another on his muted trumpet “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” parody about missing the toilet last night; in the second round another funny rhyme on “Room Effect,” or the problem of “why did I come in here anyway?”

If you are interested in joining this monthly Zoom poetry meeting email Charlie at charliemrossiter@gmail.com for more information.

2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose, July 12

A 2nd Sunday open mic that wasn’t supposed to happen — Back 11 years ago when Nancy Klepsch & I began this partnership hosting a monthly open mic (for poetry & prose) at the Arts Center in Troy, Nancy proposed that we take July & August off (she teaches in a public school system so this pattern is hard-wired for her), I had no objection & that’s the way it was. Until this June at our Zoom gathering Nancy proposed doing the open mic in July; again, I had no objection. Then a week or so later she called to say that she & her partner Lauren were going camping & would I mind hosting the event. Again I had no objection, indeed that’s the great thing about having co-hosts, we can fill in for each other as the need arises. So here we were — & a good thing too: a third of the readers who dialed in were from out-of-state.

& the first of those was Charlie Rossiter from Bennington, Vermont who read “One Chilly August Morning Something Happened” (at Mimi’s Minnesota cottage), & “Ode to the Old TV” & the old TV shows from back then. Charlie hosts a Zoom gathering on the 2nd Tuesday of each month that pre-COVID he did from The Tap House in Bennington.

Sally Rhoades began with a political piece “White Men Walking,” then an excerpt from her memoir written for a class about her father “Planting Beans.”

Howard Kogan was a beloved regular when we used to gather at the Arts Center but tonight dialed in from Ashland, Massachuesett & began with “Slip Rock” about out cowboys out west, & “My Mother’s Pandemic” her germophobia vindicated by the current pandemic.

Jil Hanifan’s short, surreal poem “Nimble Finger Peg” was drawn from the Irish tradition of songs like “the Bonnie Swan” where ghostly harpers use body parts of the dead to make a harp, then read the less-macabre but related “In the Beginning String.”

Ken Hada was online from Oklahoma but has read in Albany & Saratoga in the past on visits to the East; “Woodpecker” took us from the sound & image of the bird on a path to the metaphysical & philosophical, & “Living with Gravity” was equally philosophical about living graciously. Ken directs the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival each year at East Central University in Ada, OK, & has a weekly podcast The Sunday Poems with Ken Hada.

Dan Curley read “The Free Sale” a touching family tale from his book 2019 book Conditional Future Perfect (Wolfson Press).

I read 2 poems from the exhibit of the work of Ruby Silvious pre-shutdown at the Albany Institute of History & Art “The Tone of Ruby’s Images” (from a workshop run by Therese Broderick) & “Museum Goers” otherwise known as “The Wrist-Band Poem.”

Joel Best commented on Jil’s poem saying his own work tends to be surrealistic, read “Blind Love” with its free flowing random connections, a good example.

Julie Lomoe read from her work in progress “Sub-Dural,” a combination of prose & poems, this excerpt titled “Celebrating Life & Death the Unitarian Way” a descriptive essay from February when we could still attend wakes & funerals.

2nd Sunday @ 2: Poetry + Prose formerly (& perhaps in the future) at the Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy, 10 months of the year, not usually in July & August, but who knows. Find it on Facebook.

2nd Wednesday Poetry, July 8

Good to be “back” in Schenectady, even better that I could do it from my home in Albany, even better to see that Jackie Craven is continuing this community open mic using Zoom. This was actually the 2nd Zoom event I was on this day, earlier I had attended a Zoom shiva for the mother of my friend Dina.

Here tonight, Alan Catlin was the first reader, beginning with a poem from The Secret Garden, “How We Live Now After Georgia O’Keefe,” then from Lessons of Darkness a couple of the very noir poems based on very noir films, including the “Murdered by the Numbers.”

Susan Jewell read from her on-going project of ekphrastic poems rejected by Rattle magazine “The Crossing,” & another submitted to another ekphrastic magazine “Odysseus Arrives from the Land of the Phoenicians.”

I began with a poem written at a workshop led by Therese Broderick on the art of Ruby Silvious “The Tone of Ruby’s Image,” then a pandemic-themed piece “Easter Sunday,” & one inspired by my granddaughter Jane “A Prayer for Super Heroes.”

Scott Morehouse lead us on an hysterical a-historic trip in 1953 with Eleanor Roosevelt giving Mr. Peanut a ride in her car, smoking & sharing a root beer at Woolworth’s, with Scott even doing a passable imitation of Mrs. Roosevelt’s unforgettable voice.

Sarah Giragosian, who will be reading in Poets in the Park on July 25 read from her new book The Death Spiral “Thumbnails of America” where the country is addressed as a person as in Allen Ginsberg’s “America,” then an eco-poem on climate justice “To the Source.”

Jackie Craven read what she described as “an old dog from 2012 … a complete flop,” a poem titled “Disgeographica” but recently published in Chautauqua — just keep sending those poems out, someone someday will want them.

Kathleen McCoy dialed in a little late, was not going to read, but fortunately was convinced that we wanted to hear her work, so read “Kindred Spirits” about a sculpture in Cork, Ireland honoring the native people of the USA for their support of the Irish during the Famine, then a descriptive piece “Back in Ohio.”

This open mic, now on Zoom, continues the 2nd Wednesday open mic formerly at C.R.E.A.T.E. community space on State St. in Schenectady, & maybe someday we’ll be back there. In the meantime find them on Facebook in a group called WritersMic.