Poetic License - Albany Reading 3, October 18

The exhibit of poems & art work inspired by them, the project we call Poetic License - Albany had been moved from the Art Associates Gallery up on Railroad Ave. downtown to Lark Hall, & looked just fine in the downstairs space. The reading itself was in the yoga room which of course was peaceful & pleasant. It seems to have been a practice room for dancers since the wall behind where the readers stood was all mirrors, which meant you could see both the front & the back of the readers at the same time; that could be either a very nice thing, or a bit unsettling, depending upon the poet reading.

Rebecca Schoonmaker, from the Upstate Artists Guild, & her daughter, Lucia Mabel Smith, who actually has artwork in the show, did the general introductions & I took over as M/C. Lucia’s introduction of me was the greatest I’ve ever got — “Dan Wilcox is the bestest poet & the greatest looking old guy.” 

As often happens at the Social Justice Center on the Third Thursday I got to introduce Sylvia Barnard as the first reader, & she read her poem, “Pont du Gard,” about a trip to France with her daughter to this ancient Roman giant-bridge-aqueduct in the present city of Nîmes. I followed with a brand-new poem, “3 Guys from Albany,” which was commissioned by the NYS Writers Institute for an upcoming celebration of Chet & Karen Opalka & 20 years of the Opalka Gallery at Russell Sage College; I also read the quite short “Haiku Haiku.”

Aaron had to be convinced to sign up to read & he gave a performance of a piece about writing (or not) a suicide note (or not). Ellen (who had the greatest sneakers in the room) read a piece with the provocative title “Traveling with Four Straight Girls” & another titled “Home” about memories.

Rhonda Rosenheck had a lot to read & read it all, beginning with her new book The Five Books of Limericks a chapter-by-chapter retelling of the Torah, then a poem titled “Who Starts the Telling?” about a family, cancer & death, then one of her crime-story poems “Slightly Bitter,” written in the rhyming technique “tumbling verse.”

The poet who goes by the name Sincerely Donnie began by quoting Shakespeare then read his own work, a poem of anguish. Courtney Symone read a couple of untitled pieces, the first a pandemic poem of grieving, then one on the language of photography & racism, on the thought “the photographer is a soldier…” Austin Houston read a poem about aging & missed youth, then one on marriage titled “’Til Death Do Us Part.”

We ended as we began with the mother/daughter duo of Rebecca & Lucia, with Rebecca reading the poem “Like Lightening” by Shawna Norton upon which Lucia’s artwork was matched up, then read her own poem she had entered in the Poetic License - Albany project, untitled but beginning “I head into the woods…”

Poetic License - Albany brought together area poets & visual artists, which culminated in exhibits & readings at 2 different galleries in Albany, the Art Associates Gallery on Railroad Ave., & the walls of Lark Hall on the corner of Lark St. & Hudson Ave. It’s such a good idea that we very well may try it again next year. Stay tuned.

You can visit the exhibit at https://www.poeticlicensealbany.com

Writer’s Mic, October 12

Jackie Craven is the host of this monthly Zoom open mic. Tonight only 5 readers, so she tacked on a bonus round, that a couple of us took up.

I read a new poem, “Solevo,” which is also the name of an Italian restaurant on Phila St. in Saratoga Springs, NY, then a poem titled “John Lennon” for his birthday which was Sunday.

Susan Jewell is a persistent writer of ekphrastic poems & read “Cacophony of Small Things” & shared the screen image for the August Rattle ekphrastic challenge that her poem was based on, then another also submitted “Thursday Morning.”

Scott Morehouse gave a humorous theatrical performance as usual of another romantic vignette “Palm Sunday Ecologue” a scandalous encounter at the Baptist Church,  — “a hedonist in need of an anti-histamine.” 

Greg Manzi was new to this group & easily fit in, he read from his book

We lived like Kings, by G.M. Manzi published by Raw Earth Ink, a short vignette about “Holding the Door for an Elderly Veteran,” & a piece titled “In the Company of Gods, Venus & Jupiter.”

Jackie Craven read a couple short prose poems about home repairs, “Bad Boiler,” & “Ghost Flushes,” sounding very close to home. Then, since we were finishing early, Jackie asked if there were any takers for a 2nd round, most declined, but I decided to read one of my poem cards about baseball titled “Dusty Baker” & Greg Manzi read an amusing piece about talking & smoking in bed with a girlfriend, “Of Stupid Grins & Stevie Ray Vaughn."

If you want to join us on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 7:30PM you can find the link on the Writer’s Mic Facebook page. Hope to see you there/here.

 

2nd Tuesday All Genre Open Mic Out Of Bennington, October 11

It’s a pleasant hour-long drive from my house to Bennington, VT, but now this open mic is on Zoom, it’s even nicer & I have been able to attend much more often than when it was a pre-pandemic in-person event. It is now in its 5th year emanating out of Bennington.

Charlie Rossiter hosts an open mic in Oak Park, Il,
February, 2014

Before he was in Bennington, Charlie Rossiter, the host of this open mic, ran open mics in Chicago where he developed a rap-like piece he uses as the intro to the reading. Charlie also likes to 2 rounds, nominally 1 poem each round, but who knows what will happen when a poet has the mic.

I was up first & in my 1st round read a poem for the end of the Baseball season, “Dusty Baker;” later, in my 2nd round read a new Haiku, the “Haiku Haiku.”

Mark W. O’Brien reprised the excerpt he read the last time I heard him on Friday, in which the protagonist in this novel-in-progress, “Escape” set in 1917, kills his friend at the friend's request. In his 2nd round he read a dream piece “My Equine Mythology.”

Jim Madigan, who Zooms in from Illinois, just read in the 1st round, a piece titled “The Calves of Adam Heart Mother,” inspired by Pink Floyd & the cow that jumped to the dark side of the Moon.

Sheryll Beddingfield also read only in the 1st round, a piece from a 2016 collection about people in a town in Scotland, the poem read as a curse for the children in her neighborhood on Halloween, a performance poem "A Spell Against the Tax Collector Who Harassed Women."

Tom Nicotera’s 1st round was a halloween poem, “Spiders Get A Bad Rap;” then in his 2nd round he read a new poem, “Fog,” a descriptive piece, sitting in his rocking chair writing poems, wondering.

Charlie’s 1st round piece was an ekphrastic poem & he shared the Zoom screen with a shot of the painting; in the 2nd round, a road-trip poem that Charlie is so good at, “Driving Red State Ohio.”

Bill Thwing piled all his poems in the 1st round reading short Japanese poem from Japanese Death Poems then his own poems responding, then a few more; had to leave before the 2nd round.

Julie Lomoe breezed in late in the first round while Tom was reading, then, muted but on-camera, spent her time looking through her poems, reading them to herself; when her turn came around she read a long piece of prose about attending the recent IWWG Conference, “Saga of the Viking Crone,” all about herself; the continuation that she read in the 2nd round was, as she said, “less long than the first part.”

A relaxed Zoom of poetry, prose, sometimes a guitar every 2nd Tuesday, you can be in Bennington from anywhere in the world. If you are not on Charlie’s list, email him at charliemrossiter@gmail.com so he can send you the Zoom link — you’ll be glad you did.

2nd Sunday @2 - Poetry + Prose, October 9

Back among the mushrooms, our co-host Nancy Klepsch is now working here at Collar City Mushrooms, not just on the 2nd Sunday. There were many of the “regular” folks here, but also a couple of 1st timers, even the return of a “rare-timer.”

Joel Best was first on the list with one of his classic stream-of-conciousness pieces, titled “Bad Saturday,” starting with light, moving through a Church, to bad wine, then one titled “A Cross Beyond.” I followed with a pastiche of T.S. Eliot’s first part of the first section of “The Waste Land,” mine a baseball poem for the season titled “Octoberland,” then one for a birthday today “John Lennon.”

Bob Sharkey is a long-time member of the board of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild, helping to support the work of area writers; his first piece was “Heat Wave,” a descriptive piece of observations in his backyard written this Summer, & a piece he said “has no context” titled “Poem for September 19, 2022."

Nancy Dunlop said she has been battling mental illness since she was a child, read from her new book Hospital Poems (Indie Blu(e) Publishing, 2022) & read 2 pieces from it, “Spilled Milk” & “The Woman in the Grey Sweater.” Anthony was not scared off by his last time here read from his journal about hiking in the High Sierras, an entry from June 29, 2022, & one from the next day June 30.

Emily was here for the first time, perhaps encouraged by the reader just before her on the list, read about her favorite hiking food “Frosted Animal Cookies,” then another hiking-food poem that I anticipated would have a disastrous ending based on its title, the rhyming “Hiking with an Apricot Tree.” My co-host, Nancy Klepsch, read an eco-poem that brought historical shivers to me, “Ronald Reagan Removed Jimmy Carter’s Solar Panels.”

Milo was also here for the first time, read a poem about “a needy dog” titled “The Dog Whines Under a Blanket Pulled Over Her Head,” then the interestingly titled “Zonnet.” Rhonda Rosenheck finished out the afternoon with selections from 2 new books, one under a pseudonym, The Five Books of Limericks: A chapter-by-chapter retelling of the Torah, under her own name, & Tongue Twisters for Terrible People by Bud Rose, both apparently available through Amazon.com

& that was it it for this month. But we will be back at Collar City Mushrooms, 333 Second Ave., on the 2nd Sunday of each month, at 2PM — check your calendar.

Pine Hollow Arboretum Reading, October 7

Another local open mic rises from the ashes of the pandemic & other catastrophes. The location is now the Pine Hollow Arboretum’s Visitor’s Center in Slingerlands, NY, but the host is still Alan Casline. The featured poet this night was Tom Bonville, but first a bit of the open mic poets on the list, many of whom were slowly emerging from the pandemic isolation.

I was signed up first & read a poem about my experiences in Saratoga Springs, inspired by the restaurant on Phila Street called “Solevo,” as the poem is titled as well, & the seasonal poem “Yom Kippur 4004.”

It was good to see Philomena Moriarty again & to hear her poems, the first “a cautionary tale” written before she broke her leg, “Betrayal of Objects,” then one written in the hospital after she broke her leg “The Soul Appears to Wait.” Alan Casline read a poem by the late founder of the Arboretum, & regular reader at open mics here, Dr. John W. Abbuhl, a piece titled “Art” written 9/24/2011. 

Mark W. O’Brien read entry #100 from his Blog spontaneous/sonnets on Blogspot, then a segment from the historical novel he is writing using newspaper accounts from the Altamont Enterprise at the time.  Nancy Dunlop had copies with her of her new poetry collection, Hospital Poems (Indie Blu(e) Publishing, 2022) & read 2 pieces from it, “Handsome Man” & “Knockout.”

Tom Bonville was the featured reader this night, & he began with a poem about the trees “More Beautiful,” then on to a series of mostly sad poems about love changing just for the sake of changing, about the end of a relationship, of the memories of the beginning, & wondering, perhaps…  Then to a poem titled “The Procedure” about blood drawn for a test, then a related, humorous take contrasting a mechanic’s test of a car battery with a test for cancer. He ended with a a couple of water-themed poems, “The Pull of Water” & “Fishing the River at Troy, 1959.” 

I’m not much for “dead cat poems,” but Tim Verhaegen read one about a cat he had as a child, “Steven,” that was not overly sentimental & explored his emotions from hindsight, then accompanied his reading of his poem “The Geeser” with recorded drum music. Joe Krausman was once described as a “flinty elf,” read a couple pieces with his characteristic humor, “Giving Advice,” &, with a nod to the Greek oracles, “Oh, for a Nurse Editor.”

Paul Amidon has had a collection of his poems recently published by The Troy Book Makers, Relatives and Other Characters; his poems are by turns nostalgic, introspective, & humorous, as were the two he read tonight, “Dance Recital,” & “Revelation” on the affects aging as reminders of the past. Tom Corrado read a poem about a cat, filled with puns, & chess & movie references, “Searching for Bobbie Fisher in 15 Days” (which was the 2nd enjoyable “cat poem” this night).

This is perhaps the first time I’d seen Sam Trumbore sign up for the open mic, ‘though he frequently attends accompanying his wife Philomena Moriarty; he read a thoughtfully written “land acknowledgement,” so necessary & appropriate for this area with its rich Native history, then, in a related vein, read a piece titled “River Invocation.” Our host Alan Casline brought the night to a close with his poems “Mother’s Day Gift” (of mushrooms, in rhyme), another in rhyme “Song of a Game of Shadows” about a chipmunk & an eagle, & an Autumn poem “The Wanderer.”

This new/reborn event is planned as a series, but when still seems to be unsettled. Your best source of the when & where of area poetry events is the calendar on the website of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild.

 

Caffè Lena Poetry Open Mic, October 5

I was glad to get back to this long-running open mic & its featured poets. Our host is Carol Graser who welcomed us with a poem titled "Sallow," then introduced the venerable Joe Bruchac to welcome us with a greeting in the Abenaki language.

The featured poet was Lance Henson, who in recent years returns around this season; his native name is Walking Badger. He once lived in the Capital Region, & his son Michael was actually born in Albany. Joe Bruchac accompanied Lance’s reading on his wooden Native flute, beginning appropriately enough with “Rain Song” & the sound of birds. He read poems about his grandmother, on wolves (written in Bologna, Italy), & poems to other poets, such as W.S. Merwin, Miguel Hernández, Charles Bukowski & others. There were short poems like Haiku, & a poem in a Native language, that could have been Chippewa. You can see his reading, which was live-streamed that night, at the Caffè Lena YouTube Channel.

Then on to the open mic, with Carol starting us off with her poem “A Prayer for the Sorrowful Brain.” I followed with a seasonal poem “Yom Kippur 2004,” & one from years ago dedicated to Lance Henson “I Meet an Old Friend on the Subway.” Kate read 2 poems, perhaps  related, “Barefoot” & “The Child.” Fred Ziernan (not sure of the spelling) read a poem about the 1983 war in Grenada.

Elaine Kenyon read a poem with a punning title “Coming Day Dreams” on sex fantasies, & an old poem from a workshop, apparently without title. Leslie Sittner’s poem titled “Gun Power” was a memory of her father hunting. Pauline read a descriptive poem about her stepmother “Lucia in the Garden,” then a piece in rhyme “Little Red Riding Hood Revisited.” Todd Fabozzi just read one piece, titled “American Spirit.”

E.R. Vogel asked one the Caffè Lena servers to video him while he read his poem about an old couch & it’s memories. Chris read a noisy poem about working in a factory, then a much quieter Chippewa lullaby. Rodney Parrott, who is usually here, read a couple pieces from an early collection of his work titled I’m Embarrassed to Say.

Ian McGrey read a poem about a hangover “Limping Home Two Days Dead. Julie Lomoe was dressed in a colorful coat & read a poem about memories associated with the Hudson River “River Reminiscences.”

This reading by a local, regional, or national writer, combined with an open mic for the locals, takes place on the 1st Wednesday of each month at historic Caffè Lena on Phila St. in Saratoga Springs, NY. Doors open at 6:30PM for sign up, the featured poet goes on promptly at 7:00 with the open mic immediately after.

Invocation of the Muse, October 3

This open mic/reading series has settled in at Lark Hall, tonight with plenty of new faces/voices. The host is poetry entrepreneur of Albany, R.M. Engelhardt, who introduced the night by reading a poem by Elliot Richman “The Death Camp at Walden Pond.”

First up in the open mic was a new face, Danni McCabe, who said “Love is my Muse” & read 2 poems about love, “Love Myself” & “The Lost Boy Kind of Love.” I was next with a poem about another kind of love, “Reading Mary Oliver while Masturbating,” then a poem for the season, “Yom Kippur 2004.” 

Another new face, Kealia Bonacci, read a poem that sounded like it came from a workshop prompt (i.e., “write a letter to your younger self…”) “A Letter to Younger Me on Much Older Men” full of advice that sounded like it came from personal experience. Pat Williams has been a regular here of late & will be the featured reader in November, he read in rhyme “Spring Rain,” & a poem about a bear “The Trapped Beast.”

Speaking of featured readers, Austin Houston was this night’s featured reader. He said that this reading was of poems that tell a story, said that he started writing about 10 years ago. He has, in the intervening years, attended many of the open mic venues & was the featured poet at the Third Thursday Poetry Night when I restarted that series after the pandemic in January 2022.

He began with a beginning poem, “My First Time,” then continued through a cluster of poems about dealing with depression. Then on to an in-your-face poem titled “Corporate Greed” from his 2021 chapbook Existence: Chaos in Our Own Backyard, then more recent poems, “We All Bleed Red,” “Golden Years,” “The Other Side” (visited by a spirit), & ended appropriately enough with a poem titled “If I Had Another Chance.”

After a short break, our host, R.M. Engelhardt, returned with a couple of his own poems, both sort of preachy, “The World Doesn’t Stop” (i.e., it goes on without you), & one introduced as “Here’s a poem about shit …” Josh the Poet recited his poem “Goddess of the World” dedicated “to the ladies” (I didn’t see any here). The next reader signed up as Irby Poetry, said he was “a man of faith” (whatever that means), & did an appropriately energetic performance of a poem titled “Caffeine.” 

Vanessa Bilanceni read 2 untitled poems, one about waking up in a tent in the dark, the other a love poem. John Decelles seemed very self-conscious or simply shy, or perhaps his on-stage persona, read a poem titled “Neglect,” then another titled “This is Not a Poem About Walking Outdoors.” Dan Williams began with an untitled love poem, then one contrasting “left eye, right eye.”

Having reached the end of the sign-up sheet, Rob opened up the chance for late arrivals to join in & got 2 takers. Alex said he was here for the 1st time (as were quite a few tonight), read from his phone a piece titled “Norma Jean” like a letter addressed to a “you,” as was his next poem “Dreaming of a Head-On Collision.” & the final reader was Lucious (? spelling) with 2 poems of teen age angst, born sad.

You can find this open mic each (most) 1st Mondays at Lark Hall, on the corner of Lark St., & Hudson Ave., (enter on Hudson Ave.), Albany, NY — $5.00, brings a couple poems to read.