Some Tuesday Poetry News

Happy New Year!  All of us here at Albany Poets wish you the best in the new year. 

Here is some upstate New York poetry news concerning some upcoming events and other things going on the community.

TONIGHT, Tuesday, January 5, 2010, 8:00PM

Albany Poets Presents NO GIMMICK OPEN MIC
Valentines, 17 New Scotland Ave, Albany

We start off the new year with our monthly open mic for poetry, music, and spoken word.  Old school open mic.  No gimmicks, no themes.   Sign up starts at 7:00, reading starts at 8:00.

Poet Rock Ritual
The Putnam Den, 63A Putnam Street, Saratoga Springs

If you are up in the Saratoga are tonight be sure to check out what Margot Malia Lynch is doing up at the Putnam Den with her weekly open mic of words and music.

The weekly poetry open mic continues!
Please join us at The Putnam Den every Tues.
Sign up is at 8
$5 suggested donation
21+

Poetry Slam
then the Poet Rock Ritual: open mic for poets and any kind of word artist. You will be backed up by a live band:
Chris Turano on Drums
Marc Latzky on Bass
and a mystery Guitarist.

Margot is hosting.

Happy new decade

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Caffe Lena Poetry Open Mic
Caffe Lena, 47 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs

More poetry in Saratoga!  Here is the info from host Carol Graser:

the first Wednesday of every month Caffè Lena presents:

Caffè Lena Poetry Open Mic
Wednesday, January 6
7pm sign up, 7:30 readings start
Featured Poets:
Barbara Vink
$3
Hosted by Carol Graser
Caffè Lena, 47 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs
www.caffelena.org     583-0022

Barbara Vink has been coordinating the Voorheesville Public Library Every Other Thursday Night Poets since its onset in 1991. She also hosts Poetry Performance Day events, and has been in a performance trio for several years with Tom Corrado and Larry Rapant.  She has read her poetry at many local venues and was one of the editors and contributors to the anthology Poetry Don't Pump.

Friday, January 8

No Gimmick Open Mic at the UAG
UAG Gallery, 247 Lark Street, Albany

No Gimmick Open Mic at the UAG is Albany Poets’ open mic series for poetry and spoken word held at the UAG Gallery on the second Fridays of the month during the fall and spring semesters.

We return Friday, January 8 to kick off the new year with your words.

The UAG Gallery is located at 247 Lark Street, Albany NY. The readings start at 7:00PM. This is a free event.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Woodstock Poetry Society
Woodstock Town Hall, 76 Tinker Street, Woodstock

Poets Bruce Weber and Laurie Byro will be the featured readers when the Woodstock Poetry Society & Festival meets at the Woodstock Town Hall, 76 Tinker Street, on Saturday, January 9th at 2pm. The readings will be hosted by Woodstock area poet Phillip Levine. All meetings are free, open to the public, and include an open mike.

Bruce Weber - Bruce Weber is the author of five published books of poetry, "These Poems are Not Pretty", "How the Poem Died", "Poetic Justice", "The First Time I Had Sex with T. S. Eliot", and the just released "The Break-up of My  First Marriage".  Bruce’s work has appeared in numerous magazines, as well as in several anthologies including recently in Up is Up, But So Is Down: Downtown Writings, 1978-1992, and Riverine: An Anthology of Hudson Valley Writers (New Paltz, NY: Codhill Press, 2007). He has performed regularly in the tri-state area, both alone and with his performance group, Bruce Weber’s No Chance Ensemble, which has produced the CD "Let’s Dine Like Jack Johnson Tonight". He is the organizer of the Unorganicized Sunday Reading at ABC NO RIO, editor of the broadside Stained Sheets, and the producer of the long running Alternative New Year’s Day Spoken Word/Performance Extravaganza. By day, Bruce is Senior Curator at the National Academy Museum, and splits his time between his homes in New York City and Saugerties, New York.

Laurie Byro - Laurie Byro's short stories and poetry have appeared in a dozen or so small presses. Additionally, her work has been published in The Literary Review, Single Parent, Redactions, Aim, Chaminade Review, Chronogram, Grasslimb, Re:al Journal, The New Jersey Journal of Poets, Red Rock Review, The Paterson Literary Review among others. Her work can be googled in on-line e-zines and in the Guardian Unlimited on-line workshop. She was thrice nominated for “The Pushcart Prize” and has won or placed in 27 IBPC competitions.  Her work was recently published in The Poetry of Place Anthology (honoring William Carlos Williams).  Her children’s poem "A Captain's Cat" has appeared in Cricket Magazine and a textbook "Measuring up to the Illinois Learning Standards". In 2009, Mayor Barra proclaimed Laurie Byro as the “Official Poet Laureate of Allendale, NJ.”  Her work draws on myth and fairytale and her experiences of foreign places in the years she worked as a travel agent. Her poetry insists upon the continuing importance of fantasy, mystery and “the other” in our lives. Laurie is head of circulation at a library in New Jersey where she facilitates a poetry circle.

Poets Speak Loud Tonight at Tess’ Lark Tavern

Tonight we will be gathering around the fire, rather the stage, at Tess’ Lark Tavern (453 Madison Ave., Albany) for our monthly open mic for poetry and spoken word hosted by Mary Panza.  This time around we are having a straight-up, old school, no-holds-barred, in between Christmas and New Years Day open mic with no special guests or featured poets.

Come out with your poetry and family holiday stories to share!

Sign up starts at 7:00PM, the open mic begins around 7:45.

Poetry and Spoken Word in Albany This Week

Here is some information on some poetry and spoken word events and open mics coming up this week.  It appears that this month’s VoX at the Fuze Box has been moved from the last Friday to this coming Friday for the holidays…mystery. 

Third Thursday Poetry Night
Thursday, December 17, 7:00PM
Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany

the Poetry Motel Foundation presents Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY

Thursday, December 17
7:00 sign up; 7:30 start
Featured Poet: Urayoán Noel

-- with an open mic for community poets before & after the feature: $3.00 donation, suggested; more if you got it, less if you can’t.

Your host: Dan Wilcox & the annual visit from Sanity Clause.

Urayoán noel is the author of Kool Logic/La Lógica Kool (bilingual press; a 2006 books of the year selection by el nuevo día) and Boringkén (ediciones callejón/la tertulia, 2008). Other works include the artist’s book Las Flores del Mall (2000) and various text-sound collaborations with composer Monxo López, some of which are featured on the dvd Kool Logic Sessions (bilingual press) and on the cd included with Boringkén.

Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, he divides his time between Albany and the Bronx, NY, and teaches literature and creative writing at the University at Albany.

v0x
Friday, December 18, 8:00PM
Fuze Box, 12 Central Ave., Albany

V O X :
ALBANY'S POETRY OPEN MIC
Special Mystery Edition

WHISKEY, RYE & POEMS .
At The Fuze Box

ON FRIDAY December 18th, 2009

Albany, NY's Open Mic For Poets
POETRY & THE WORD
*8pm Start time*
$4.00 Donation Requested

WHISKEY, RYE & POEMS ...
The Mystery "Noir" Edition. Bring your detective prose & mystery poems, even dress the part!

If you don't have any bring some excerpts by your favorite writer.

Hosted by R.M.Engelhardt
FuzeBox, 12 CENTRAL AVENUE, ALBANY, NY
Always Held On The Last Friday of Each Month.

HVWG Holiday Open Mic
Sunday, December 20, 2:00PM
Perfect Blend, 376 Delaware Ave., Delmar

The Hudson Valley Writers Guild will host "Season's Readings," an open mic for writers with a holiday theme on Sunday, December 20, at 2 p.m., at Perfect Blend in Delmar. Writers are invited to read two pieces on holiday (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, etc.) or holiday-related themes, such as kindness or generosity: one piece from a famous or published author other than themselves, and one piece that they have written. Hot coffee and warm words: what a great way to slow down for a couple hours this season!

The Perfect Blend is located at 376 Delaware Avenue, Delmar, at the 4 Corners. Hosts are Jill Crammond Wickham and Carolee Sherwood. There is no cover charge, but please bring canned goods or other nonperishable food items for donation to the local food bank. The event is open to the public. Bring family and friends for a new holiday tradition!

Approximately 30 minutes prior to the event start time, a sign-in sheet will be available for those interested in reading. To keep the reading moving along, please select poems no longer than one page. If reading prose, please limit each piece to excerpts of 400 words per piece.

CONTACT: For more information, email hvwginfo@gmail.com.

For the complete calendar of events, go to www.albanypoets.com/events.  While you are there, be sure to subscribe to calendar so you can always know what is going on in upstate poetry and spoken community.

“Poet Rock Ritual” Coming to Saratoga Every Tuesday Starting Tuesday, Dec. 15

Just got this in from Margot Malia Lynch about a new music/poetry/spoken word series up in Saratoga.  Sounds very interesting and should be a great time, especially considering where the inspiration came from.

Margot Malia Presents: POET ROCK RITUAL
An open mic for poets backed up by live musicians.

Every Tues night
Starting December 15th

PUTNAM DEN
Saratoga Springs, NY
(where backstreet billiards used to be, an alley street between phila and caroline, walking distance from caffe lena's, the library..)
518-584-8066

Sign up @8
830 SLAM (if there's enough people...)
9pm POET ROCK RITUAL
This is going to be a very interesting and organic process. I have a clear vision of how I would like it to go but new projects like this take time to get in the groove. I hope you'll stop in a be a part of the process. I've been wanting to bring the poetry and music phenomenon to my hometown for several years and am ECSTATIC it's happening.
$3 wines
2 for one well drinks
$3 suggested donation

The Putnam Den just opened up this summer and is a FABULOUS, huge NYC warehouse like spot. There's couches, plenty of breathing space, murals.

I remember when I was going to the Poetry Jam in boston from the beginning. It feels awesome to be a part of a growing and evolving creative community. The Poetry Jam is celebrating it's 13TH YEAR. www.poetryjam.com Let's make this!

Your help in spreading the word is awesome to me.

MUSICIANS! CONTACT ME IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BEING A PART OF THIS. If you are a good listener and think you can support the mood of any kind of poem and improvise with others. Margotproductions@yahoo.com

Busy Week of Poetry in the Area

A busy week here in the upstate poetry and spoken word community.  Here is some information on two of the readings coming up.   For a complete list of events, go to the Events Calendar.

Wednesday, November 18
7:00PM
Cock N Bull Restaurant
Parkis Mills Rd, Galway, NY 12074

You very well may have heard about the Open Mic to be held at the Cock n Bull Wed., Nov. 18 at 7pm-9pm.  I am writing to ask you all to come and share in this fun event.  This isn't your usual open mic.  We are expecting a host of performing artists -- readers, singers, musicians from the community of Galway and beyond.  If you want to share your talent, sign up is at 6:30.  If you want to just enjoy the events, the fun begtins at 7.  Or you can come earlier and have a bite to eat.  The bar will be open for those who wish to have a drink.

This event is sponsored by the Galway Public Library, the biggest little library in the state.  Please come and support the library and have a good time.  It's free, though a small donation will be welcomed.  Oh, and there's free refreshments, compliments of the Cock n Bull. What more could you ask?

Thursday, November 19
7:00PM
Third Thursday Poetry Night
Social Justice Center
33 Central Ave., Albany, NY

Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY on Thursday, November 19 with a 7:00 sign up; 7:30 start

Featured Poet: Barbara Adams -- with an open mic for community poets before & after the feature: $3.00 donation, suggested; more if you got it, less if you can’t.

Your turkey host: Dan Wilcox

Barbara Adams is the author of two books of poems, and a book of literary criticism on Laura Riding. She is a retired Professor of English at Pace University. Born in Manhattan, she has lived in the mid-Hudson valley most of her life. Her poems appear in the two anthologies of Hudson River writers, "Riverine" and "WaterWrites."

21st Annual Day of the Poet Contest on Thanksgiving Saturday, Nov 28

After the Thanksgiving holiday and all the Black Friday madness, be sure to go over the Colonie Library and check out this great annual poetry and spoken word event.

POETS' CORNER at the COLONIE TOWN LIBRARY and the SPC present the 21st Annual DAY OF THE POET --a poetry reading contest

Saturday, November 28, 2009 at the Colonie Town Library (William K.Sanford Library), 629 Albany Shaker Road, Loundonville, NY (near the Times Union Building off the Northway)

Reading starts at 10:00AM. Entrance fee: $3.00

Day of the Poet also features open stage readings by past champions and other local poets not competing.

How it works:
Competing poets are given three rounds. Poets present their original work only. Rounds are timed at two, three and four minutes respectively.

Poets are judged based on:
1. timing( get it close to the mark.)
2. presentation
3. content( profanity is discouraged unless used well. It is a library.)

Note: No artificial timing devices (watches, timers, alarm clocks, folks in the audience waving hands) are allowed. Timing is a unique feature of this contest. Poets have to depend on their own internal clocks. Preparation ahead of time to stay close to the time targets is recommended.

Prize amounts:
$200 First Prize
$50 Second prize
Third place prize is based on Entrance fees

To register or for more information call Timothy Lake at 518-274-0131.

Past First Place Winners:
1989- J.J. Clarke
1990-Roberta Waugh
1991- Paul Genega
1992- Judith saunders
1993-Frank Murphy
1994- Kym Flemming
1995-James Patrick Casey
1996- Sylvia Barnard
1997- Laura Minita( age 8)
1998-Anne Goodwin
1999-Viktor Batorsky
2000-Edward Sherlock
2001-Margaret Black
2002-Therese Broderick
2003-Todd Broomhead
2004-Serafina Whelen
2005-Kathy O'Brien
2006-Timothy Lake
2007-Alan Casline
2008-Miriam Axel-Lute
2009- who knows? Maybe you will take this spot in an auspicious list of competitors.

Poetry at the UAG Gallery This Friday, Nov 13

Albany Poets and Jawbone are once again combining forces to bring poetry to the UAG Gallery.  This Friday Jawbone will present a reading with James Belflower and Lucyna Prostko followed by our monthly open mic for poetry and spoken word.

Here is the information from the good folks at Jawbone:

Jawbone is pleased to host a first book release party/reading this Friday, November 13th at 6:30pm in the United Artists Guild Gallery (247 Lark Street). Please come early and enjoy a refreshment/chat with the authors.

An open mic hosted by Albany Poets will follow at 8pm.

We hope that you will attend and support two very talented poets and PhD Candidates.

COMMUTER by James Belflower: Modeling the courage of the witness as a compelling poetic subjectivity, COMMUTER attempts to encourage response by negotiating notions of the self. Juliana Spahr calls COMMUTER "a painfully beautiful and transformatively aestheticized book."

James Belflower is the author of Commuter (Instance Press) and And Also a Fountain, (NeOpepper Press) a collaborative echap with Anne Heide and J. Michael Martinez. He won the 2007 Juked Magazine poetry prize and his work  appears, or is forthcoming in: Jacket, EOAGH, Denver Quarterly, Apostrophe Cast, First Intensity, Reconfigurations, Konundrum Engine and O&S, among others. He curates PotLatchpoetry.org, a website dedicated to the gifting and exchange of poetry resources.

Infinite Beginnnings—Lucyna Prostko's fierce, quiet book shines like the
wooden boat in "Homecoming" that "beckons the winds with all its power."  Prostko makes poetic speech feel somehow inevitable, yet unexpected and fresh; there is nothing self-conscious, no straining for high art, in her mastery. "The human stories in her poems haunt me. . . . Clear-eyed and steadfast in her honesty, Prostko doesn't pretend to easy understanding of the mystery she touches at the deep heart of our being, but her love for the world is palpable in every poem"--Joan Larkin, Judge, Bright Hill Poetry Book Competition.

Lucyna Prostko was born in 1971 in Poland, where she grew up in a small village of Solistowka in Mazury. From an early age, she has been immersed in the stories of her grandparents' lives who have been tragically affected by the outbreak of World War II. She came to New York City at the age of 19. She received her BA degree in English from Hunter College and MFA in poetry from New York University, where she was awarded The New York Times Fellowship. She has been writing poetry in both Polish and English, and her work has been influenced by both Polish and American poets, in particular Boleslaw Lesmian, Czeslaw Milosz, Tadeusz Rozewicz, Wislawa Szymborska as well as Emily Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, Galway Kinnell, Philip Levine, Sharon Olds, and Louise Gluck. Her poetry has appeared in The Bitter Oleander, Fugue, Washington Square, Painted Bride Quarterly, Ellipsis, Quiddity, Five Points, and other literary magazines and in her collection, Infinite Beginnings, judged winner of the Bright Hill Press Poetry Book Competition by Joan Larkin and published by Bright Hill in 2009. She has been teaching literature and creative writing for the past ten years. She currently teaches at Queensbury High School in upstate New York and pursues Ph.D. in English at SUNY Albany. She lives on Hunt Lake in the Adirondacks with her husband, Mirko.

The evening starts at 6:30PM with the “No Gimmicks Open Mic” hosted by Mary Panza will begin after the two featured poets at 8:00PM.  Sign up for the open mic will be available throughout the night. 

Home Planet News Benefit and Reading This Sunday

The Bohemian Book Bin is proud to welcome Donald Lev, one of the founders of The Home Planet News (an Independent Literary Review that includes Poetry, Fiction, and Theater) for a gala poetry event and to celebrate the emergence of Home Planet News issue #63

The following poets will be reading their work which is featured in The Home Planet News Issue #63: Andy Clausen, Teresa Marta Costa, Justin Parrinello, Michael Platsky, Judith Saunders & R. Dionysus Whiteurs.

Suggested Donation $5.00 includes refreshments & free copy of HPN, plus face to face with Donald Lev

Donald Lev and his reclusive cat Kit Smart live in High Falls, NY, where he spends most of his time publishing the literary tabloid Home Planet News, which he and his late wife Enid Dame founded in 1979 in NYC.

Donald Lev was born in New York City in 1936. He attended Hunter College, worked in the wire rooms of the Daily News and New York Times, and drove a taxi cab for 20 years (with a 6-year hiatus in which he ran messages for, and contributed poetry to, The Village Voice and operated the Home Planet Bookshop on the Lower East Side). His earliest poems appeared in print in 1958 and he started his first small press magazine, HYN Anthology, in 1969. He has published fourteen collections of poetry, including: Yesterday's News in 2002 by Red Hill Outloudbooks in Claryville, NY. His brief underground film-acting career pinnacled with his portrayal (he
wrote his own lines) of "The Poet" in Robert Downey Sr.'s 1969 classic Putney Swope.  Don has just released a new collection: The Darkness Above.

So come by Sunday, November 8th from 4pm - 6pm, with some poems of your own to read & support an amazing publication, now in its 30th year Home Planet News at the Bohemian Book Bin, Largest Used Bookstore in Ulster County.  Now located in Lake Katrine, .02 mi North of Adams, off 9W right behind G & G Leather Sign. 85 Carle Terrace, Lake Katrine, 845-336-6450  bohemianbookbin.com

Tribute to Poe at the Fuze Box THis Friday

This coming Friday is the “annual” Edgar Allan Poe tribute event and open mic R.M. Engelhardt’s monthly VoX series at the Fuze Box.  Local poets and musicians will be performing some of Poe’s work and there will be an open mic for poetry and spoken word. 

Here is the (slightly edited for formatting purposes) info from Rob.

ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30th, 2009 THE FUZE - BOX PRESENTS :

ALL HALLOW’S EVE, A RECKONING: 200 YEARS
A TRIBUTE TO EDGAR ALLEN POE
To Benefit THE ALBANY DAMIEN CENTER

WITH PERFORMANCES OF POE’S WORK BY:
- Murrow 
- Mary Panza 
- John Weiler 
- Terry Bat-Sonja
- AC Everson
- The Black Heart Contingency 
- R.M. Engelhardt

Many Others … Plus An Open Halloween Mic!

Come Celebrate HALLOWEEN ! Costumes Encouraged!!!

On FRIDAY, 8pm 
OCTOBER 30th 2009 
AT THE FUZE BOX
12 CENTRAL AVENUE, ALBANY, NY
(518) 432-8866

$8.00 Donation to the Damien Center

And Afterwards?
The Party Begins w/D.J. Strange & THE NECROMANCERS BALL!!!

10pm!

Come & join us for a glass of ABSINTHE!

R.M. ENGELHARDT
www.rmengelhardt.com

Nicole Peyrafitte Performing in The Capital District In November

Nicole Peyrafitte will be back in the area next month for two performances.  She will be at Caffe Lena’s Poetry Open Mic on Wednesday, November 4th and at Justin’s on Lark Street the next night.  Her performances are always a great time and not to be missed.

Here is all the info from Nicole herself.

Performance artist Nicole Peyrafitte returns to the Capital District for 2 performances.

Wednesday November 4th 7 PM
Caffè Lena
Featured reader at the Caffè Lena Monthly Poetry event
$3 at the door
http://www.caffelena.org/cal-2009-11.htm#04
Nicole will read & sing (all a capella) her recent work.

Thusday November 5th 9 PM
Justin’s
accompanied by:
Mike Bisio – Double Bass
Georges Muscatello – Electric Guitar

301 Lark Street Albany NY 12208
reservation preferred: (518) 436-7008
Cover: $3

Nicole worked for many years with both Bisio and Muscatello. With Mike Bisio they signed the CD “Whisk! Don’t Church” (Ta’wil production 2009). With Muscatello they co-wrote some of “The Bi-Continental Chowder” (Ta’wil production 2007) tunes and together toured the performance of the same name both in France and the USA.

Tonight their reunion will celebrates music, poetry and improvisation through selections of Peyrafitte’s originals texts, but also contemporary poetry by Pierre Joris, Henri Michaux, Frida Kahlo & Occitan songs.

Contact: Nicole Peyrafitte
Email: peirahitta@gmail.com
Telephone: 518.281.5407

BIO:
Pyrenean-born Nicole Peyrafitte is a performance artist who sings, paint, films, writes & cooks. She draws on her eclectic heritage to perform songs ranging from French cabaret to jazz standards and contemporary poetry. Her voice work is often integrated into multimedia stagings based on her visuals (paintings and/or videos) and writings. Her multimedia performances projects often involve the onstage preparation and cooking of a dish, shared with the audience. Her work addresses the experiences of negotiating her identity across two continents and four languages.

She performs domestically and in France. After her Capital district mini-tour she will be in Angoulême, France for a performance at the International Symposium : L'art, L'éducation & le politique. Her current projects involve the co-direction of a documentary on sculptor Augustus Saint Gaudens and she keeps a blog “Collectages: Recordings of Foods & A®titudes” (http://nicolepeyrafitte.com/blog/)

QUOTES :
"Nicole Peyrafitte is a brilliant and most original performer. Her vocalizations, her songs, her gestures are provocative: both stunningly beautiful and powerfully unnerving at times. She is the chthonic goddess come to tempt you, scare you, transform you. She is in the poetic lineage of Greek tragedy, Café Voltaire antics, of dada and surrealist play but with a post-modern, hip sensibility. I am transfixed when she's on stage." -- Poet/Performer Anne Waldman

Review of: "Whisk!Dont Churn!"
By: Greg Haymes
Music Editor at the Times Union
Parade of CDs - New music blossoms in the Capital Region
(First published: Thursday, March 12, 2009)
After hibernating through much of the long winter, Capital Region musicians are beginning to emerge from their dark recording-studio lairs with brand new CDs in their hot, little paws.
First out of the box this week is the dynamic twosome of vocalist Nicole Peyrafitte and bassist Michael Bisio, who will join forces on stage tonight at Justin's in Albany to celebrate the release of their debut live album, "Whisk! Don't Churn!" on the Ta'wil label.Both are fearlessly adventurous musicians, and the performance on this disc — recorded at Justin's in November — captures it all magnificently. Spoken-word and multilingual vocalizations engage in masterful swordplay with sonic bass explorations.
As CD producer Pierre Joris says, the two artist-musicians "have developed an ongoing and challenging conversation based on their unconditional dedication to their chosen modes of expression." Open your ears wide and if you listen close enough to the provocative sounds of Bisio and Peyrafitte, you'll hear the sound of a kitchen whisk played like a Stradivarius.

About her 2007 CD:

“…Performance artist Nicole Peyrafitte serves up some very interesting sound-scapes and emotional improvisations on her new CD entitled “La Garbure Transcontinentale / The Bi-Continental Chowder”. Alternating between French and English poetics, Peyrafitte attempts to help the listener make the connection that she has made through her heuristic research in America and in France... the Bi-Continental Chowder is a very tasty and imaginative work. With Peyrafitte’s vocal borrowings from Meredith Monk and Yoko Ono and a band that lends credence to her vocal explorations, this CD is definitely recommended for those listeners in need of an ear stretching. --Darryl Gregory - Indie-Music.com

more reviews and videos: http://www.nicolepeyrafitte.com

Third Thursday Poetry Night Featuring Bless

The Poetry Motel Foundation presents Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center (33 Central Ave., Albany, NY)

Thursday, October 15
7:00 sign up; 7:30 start

Featured Poet: Bless

-- with an open mic for community poets before & after the feature: $3.00 donation, suggested; more if you got it, less if you can’t.

Starting his career as one of the original slam poets of the Nyorican Poets Cafe in NYC, Bless has been performing at local poetry venues and was the host of Wize Words at Simply Fish & Jazz.

Your busy host: Dan Wilcox.

Margot Malia Lynch Featuring at Fuze Box, Sept 25

Singer/Songwriter/Poet/Artist Margot Malia Lynch (who will be also performing on the Hometown Stage at LARKfest on Saturday, September 19 with Daniel Nester and Murrow) is the featured poet this month at the Fuze Box for VoX, hosted by R.M. Engelhardt.

Here is all of the information for vOx from the host himself:

V Ω X ! @ The Fuze Box

FRIDAY, September 25th, 2009

Albany, NY's Open Mic For Poets
POETRY & THE WORD

*8pm Start time*

$4.00 Donation Requested

With this Month’s Featured Poet~
~Margot Malia Lynch~

Hosted by R.M.Engelhardt

Always Held On The Last Friday of Each Month.

Join “THE VERSUS PROJECT”
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56748704806

And Never Bury Poetry

++++++

FUZE BOX:
12 Central Avenue
Albany,NY
(518) 432-8866
INFO: www.rmengelhardt.com

Poetry at The UAG Begins Friday, September 11

That’s right, for our third year, Albany Poets is bringing poetry back to the UAG Gallery on the second Friday of the month.

ALBANY POETS PRESENTS SECOND FRIDAY OPEN MIC @ THE UAG GALLERY!

Albany Poets is proud to present a NO GIMMICKS OPEN MIC every second Friday at the UAG Gallery, 247 Lark Street in Albany.

You are the feature.  You set the tone.  Anything goes! 

The series dates are:
Friday September 11th
Friday October 9th
Friday November 13th
Friday December 11th
7pm sign-up, we will start around 7:45.
Hosted by Thom, Mary and Keith

Third Thursday Poetry Night With Georganna Millman

Dan Wilcox sent the announcement for this months Third Thursday Poetry Night on August 20 at the Social Justice Center.

Third Thursday Poetry Night
at the Social Justice Center
33 Central Ave., Albany, NY
Thursday, August 20
7:00 sign up; 7:30 start
Featured Poet: Georganna Millman

Georganna Millman’s poetry has been published widely in poetry journals and her poetry chapbook, “Formulary” was published this year by Astounding Beauty Ruffian Press (Stuart, VA).

-- with an open mic for community poets before & after the feature: $3.00 donation, suggested; more if you got it, less if you can’t.

Your not-yet-tan host: Dan Wilcox.

Poetry at the Bohemian Book Bin, July 9

From our friend Teresa Costa:

Poetry at the Bohemian Book Bin, July 9

Featured   poets:: Frank Boyer and Victoria Sullivan
Thursday   July 9th  7:00 PM
Open Reading/ Refreshments
$3.00- suggested donation
all at an incredibly really cool bookstore with host Teresa M. Costa at the Bohemian Book Bin,  85 Carle Terrace,  Lake  Katrine, NY ( just off route 9W, in back of G&G Leather).

Bring some poems/ bring  some friends
it's summer  & the  livin  is easy.....

Future Featured Poets:
August:  13th Cheryl A. Rice & David Kime
Sept: 10th:  - Barbara Adams & Laurence Carr

 

Tim Mason and Lisa LoBasso at Caffe Lena, July 1

This month the Caffe Lena Open Mic has two featured poets plus an open mic.  Here is the info from Carol Graser:

Timothy Mason has been actively performing poetry and promoting folk music since the 1980's. He honed is performance style in the early poetry slams and at the fabled Kerrville Folk Festival giving the songwriters a run for their money. His first book Gently, Like Water, Cracking Stone was released in April 1997. His most recent work, Feral Voices, published in February 2009, is a collection of poetry giving a non-human voice and sensibility to the 21st century experience on our shared planet. From Anchorage, Toronto and Ottawa to Boston, Austin and Oakland, festival and club appearances have solidified his place among contemporary New England artists and international audiences. "...beautiful imagery and solid structure mixed with an intense performance style...."  www.timothydmason.com

Refusing to characterize her poetic style as either academic or performance, LisaAnn LoBasso considers herself most at home among artists. With over 20 years experience, she has produced countless readings and collaborative arts events, such as the Up Close, Let Loose Traveling Poets’ Reading Series, and Operation Soapbox, while still racking  up her own credentials, including Poet Ambassador of Kern County in California, as well as appearances at venues and universities from West Coast to East. LisaAnn’s work has been lauded as both dynamic and boundary-breaking; dubbed a poetry minstrel by Las Vegas City Life Weekly, she has featured with diverse and noteworthy poets, such as Nicholas Roerich Prize winner Lee McCarthy, California Poet Laureate Al Young, and Paterson Award Winner Indran Amirthanayagam. Twice nominated for California Poet Laureate 2008, she has two poetry books in print: In the Swollen a poetry collection (2003), and Oleander Milkshake, (2008). In her spare time, LisaAnn develops creative writing programs, theatre scripts, arts-education programs, and public arts installations with artists as far as England. She travels worldwide and recently just returned from living in India for three months. LisaAnn has worked closely with Gluck Award winner Frances Mconnel, National Book Award finalist and critically acclaimed author Susan Straight, and Pulitzer Prize nominee Maurya Simon.

Poetry Open Mic
Wednesday July 1
doors open 7PM, readings start 7:30
Featured Poets: Tim Mason and Lisa LoBasso
$3
hosted by Carol Graser
Caffè Lena, 47 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs
www.caffelena.org     583-0022

Sunday Four Poetry With Frank Desiderio and Mimi Moriarty

Just wanted to pass this announcement along from the poets in Voorheesville and their monthly poetry series at the Old Songs Community Arts Center.

Old Songs Community Arts Center: Sunday Four Poetry--Frank Desiderio and Mimi Moriarty/ Voorheesville

Frank Desiderio and Mimi Moriarty with an open mike
Sunday Four Poetry Open Mike

Hosts: Dennis Sullivan, Edie Abrams, & Michael Burke

Old Songs Community Center
37 S. Main St., Voorheesville, NY
Every 4th Sunday

Third Thursday Poetry Night Featuring W.D. Clarke

This coming Thursday at the Social Justice Center on Central Ave.:

The Poetry Motel Foundation presents Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY on Thursday, June 18 (7:00 sign up; 7:30 start)

Featured Poet: W.D. Clarke

W.D. Clarke is the author of “Soldier Ballads and Other Tales” (Infinity Publishing). His poems are narrative rhymes done in a style of Robert Service and Rudyard Kipling. Many have a military setting, while others are based on Clarke’s wanderings and love of the Old West California’s “gold country.”

-- with an open mic for community poets before & after the feature: $3.00 donation, suggested; more if you got it, less if you can’t.

Your poetry host: Dan Wilcox.

Every Other Thursday Poets… and Artists

The Every Other Thursday Night Poets are artists as well! Or at least some of them are. They are hosting a reception on Thursday evening, June 18, from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Voorheesville Library (directions on Library web site). View art work by Tom Corrado, Barbara Vink, Mimi Moriarty, Philomena Moriarty, Alan Casline, Mark O'Brien, and others. Everything from acrylic to collage to photography and more! Everyone is invited to admire the art and its integration with the written word.

Mimi Moriarty and her brother, Frank Desiderio, will be the featured poets at the regular open mic held at the Old Songs Building, 37 S. Main Street, Voorheesville, on Sunday, June 28 at 3:00. (Old Songs is across the street from Stewart's.) They are a duet, reading companion poems, seeing the same topic through a different set of lenses. Reception will follow. Bring a poem to read, or just come and listen to the varied and talented group of poets that hang out in Voorheesville.

Judith Saunders and William Seaton at Woodstock Poetry Society and Festival, June 13

From our friend Phillip Levine, host of the Woodstock Poetry Society and the weekly poetry night at the Colony Cafe:

Poet Judith Saunders presenting her poetry and poet William Seaton presenting a talk (Winged Words: Notes on the Oral Performance of Poetry") will be the featured readers when the Woodstock Poetry Society & Festival meets at the Woodstock Town Hall, 76 Tinker Street, on Saturday, June 13 at 2pm.

The reading is usually hosted by Woodstock area poet Phillip Levine, however he will be more than capably replaced as host for this reading by Donald Lev. All meetings are free, open to the public, and include an open mike.

Judith Saunders, long-time resident of the Hudson Valley, is a professor of English at Marist College. Her poems, humor, and creative nonfiction have appeared in many literary journals and little magazines, regional and national, most recently in Home Planet News, Poet Lore, Chronogram, The Hudson River Valley Review, and The Journal of Irreproducible Results. Her chapbook collection, Check-Out Counter Suite, was a winner in the 1992 Panhandler Poetry Chapbook Competition, sponsored by the University of West Florida.

William Seaton is the author of Spoor of Desire: Selected Poems and Tourist Snapshots and the producer of the /Poetry on the Loose Reading/Performance Series/. Recipient of the Ada Louise Ballard Fellowship in the Humanities and the Helen Fairall Scholarship Award in Comparative Literature, he has published studies in learned publications such as the Iowa Journal of Literary Studies and Bruccoli Clark's Dictionary of Literary Biography series. During the last year, his reviews have appeared in Poetry Flash, Home Planet News, Chiron Review, and Chronogram. This summer he will teach a workshop series in a newly organized College of Poetry.

Winged Words: Notes on the Oral Performance of Poetry" is an investigation of orality in poetry. The essay explores the history of the oral performance of poetry from Sappho to rap as well as distinguishing the typical generic characteristics of oral and written texts. How is poetry different for a silent reader and a listener to a live performance? Is either experience better? Are today's coffee house readers the real poetic traditionalists? Part of this lecture was presented in an earlier form at the Woodstock Library in March of 2007.

This talk is made possible by The New York Council for the Humanities for support and funding of the /Speakers in the Schools /program.

Here's our upcoming 2009 schedule of featured readers:
Jul 11 - LisaAnn LoBasso, Marnie Andrews; Raphael Kosek
Aug 8 - Susan Lewis; India Radfar
Sep 12 – Gioia Timpanelli
Oct 10 – Patti Martin; Susan Hoover, Victoria Sullivan
Nov 14 – Angelo Verga; **George Wallace
Dec 12 – Open Mike & Annual Business & Planning Meeting

Also, why not become a 2009 Member of the Woodstock Poetry Society & Festival?  Membership is a nominal $15 a year. (To join, send your check to the Woodstock Poetry Society, P.O. Box 531, Woodstock, NY 12498. Include your email address as well as your mailing address and phone number.) Your membership helps pay for hall rental, post-office-box rental, the WPS website, and costs associated with publicizing the monthly events. One benefit of membership is the opportunity to have a brief biography and several of your poems appear on this website.

Upcoming Poetry Readings and Events

Busy week in poetry coming up.  Things kicked off yesterday with Dan Wilcox’s annual birthday tribute and reading of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”.  Here is some information on Tuesday’s Albany Poets Presents and Wednesday’s Caffe Lena Open Mic up in Saratoga. 

Albany Poets Presents, Tuesday, June 2

Albany Poets Presents, hosted by Thom Francis returns to Valentines on Tuesday, June 2 starting at 8:00PM.

Come over and join local poets and spoken word artists for an evening of conversation, cocktails, coffee, and, of course, poetry. The signup starts at 7:00PM for anyone who wants to take the stage and share their work.

Albany Poets Presents takes place at Valentines Music Hall (17 New Scotland Ave.) on the first Tuesday of each and every month.

Caffè Lena Poetry Open Mic,  Wednesday, June 3 featuring Bill Wunder

Caffè Lena Poetry Open Mic on Wednesday, June 3.  7pm sign up, 7:30 readings start with featured poet: Bill Wunder.  $3.  Hosted by Carol Graser at Caffe Lena, 47 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs.  For more information contact www.caffelena.org or call 583-0022.

This poetry month is sponsored by Joe and Carol Bruchac in memory of Kate O'Connell, a true lover and supporter of poetry.

Bill Wunder is the author of Pointing at the Moon (WordTech Editions, 2008) and a chapbook, A Season of Storms (Via Dolorosa Press, 2002). His poems have twice been nominated for The Pushcart Prize, and in 2004 he was named Poet Laureate of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Bill has been a finalist in The T. S. Eliot Prize two times, and the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards four times. He has read and lectured in local schools, colleges, on public television. His poems and short stories have been widely published, most recently in the Innisfree Poetry Journal, The Manhattan Review and The Paterson Literary Review. Bill serves as Poetry Editor of The Schuylkill Valley Journal, and lives with his two black labs in Bucks County.

Be sure to check the Poetry Calendar and if there are any events, readings, or open mics that we are missing, feel free to send us an email and we will add it to the calendar.

Upcoming Poetry Events and Open Mics

We have some annoucenments for poetry events and open mics that are coming up.  Be sure to check these out, there is a lot of poetry going on in the area. 

And just a reminder, in observance of Memorial Day on Monday, May 25, we will not be having the Poets Speak Loud poetry reading / open mic.  We will return on Monday, June 29 at the Lark Tavern.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, Thursday, May 21

The Poetry Motel Foundation presents Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center (33 Central Ave., Albany, NY).

Thursday, May 21.  7:00 sign up; 7:30 start.

Featured Poet: Rebecca Schumejda

Rebecca Schumejda’s newest collection of poems “Falling Forward” was published by sunnyoutside in February. Currently, she is working on a collection of poems exploring the pool hall subulture. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and daughter & works as a teacher at an alternative high school.

-- with open mic for community poets before & after the feature: $3.00 donation, suggested; more if you got it, less if you can’t.  Your busy host: Dan Wilcox.

Beat Poetry Night at Inquiring Minds, Sunday, May 24

BEAT POETRY NIGHT with Donald Lev, Teresa Marta Costa & Michael Platsky on Sunday, May 24 at 5 pm

Local Beat poets Teresa Marta Costa and Michael Platsky will join Donald Lev for a booksigning and reading to celebrate his recent collection, The Darkness Above. All three presenters are veteran poets who have been working in the Beat tradition for decades. Books, cds and chapbooks will be available at a discount, and refreshments will be served.

Inquiring Minds Bookstore, 6 Church Street, New Paltz, NY 12561 (845) 255-8300

Sunday Four Poetry Open Mic, Sunday, May 24

Sunday Four Poetry Open Mic (every 4th Sunday), May 24, 3PM at the Old Songs Community Arts Center, 37 S. Main Street, Voorheesville, NY

Hosts:  Dennis Sullivan, Edie Abrams, Michael Burke. 
Featured poet:  Dan Wilcox with Open Mic

For information contact: dsullivan6@nycap.rr.com

VOX, Friday, May 29

V Ω X ! @ The Fuze Box
Albany, NY's Open Mic For Poets, Poetry and the Word
8pm signup, 8:30PM Start time.  $4.00 Donation Requested.

With this Month’s Feature: MURROW (Thom Francis and Keith Spencer)

Hosted by R.M.Engelhardt w/Bruce Richardson & James Washburn- Dr.Sax

Last Friday of every month at the FUZE BOX, 12 Central Avenue, Albany,NY.  More info at www.myspace.com/theblackdooralbany

Reading for Will Christman, Monday, June 1

Rootdrinker Presents Reading for Will Christman on Monday June 1, 2009,  8 pm at Smith's Tavern, 112 Maple Ave., Voorheesville, N.Y.

With Poets from Near and Far : Dennis Sullivan, Therese Broderick, Michael Czarnacki, Tom Corrado, Alan Casline, John Roche, Mimi Moriarity, Susan Deer Cloud, Tim Lake, Paulette Swartzfager, Mike Burke, Walt Franklin & more

OPEN MIC FORMAT: All who want to read bring your poetry.  Reading in honor of famous local poet William Weaver Christman (1865– 1937)

One Week Until The 2009 Albany Word Fest

We are one week away from the 2009 Albany Word Fest! 

The first Albany Word Fest was held in September 2001 in Thatcher Park.  It featured poets from all over the upstate area sharing their words all day and into the evening in a beautiful outdoor setting.  Through all of the Word Fest since then, we have kept the same idea in mind; invite the poets and spoken word artists from all over the capital region and beyond to share their words and show that “poetry lives in Albany”.

This year is no different as we are having a 12-hour open mic for poetry on Friday night starting at 7:00PM at the UAG Gallery (247 Lark Street, Albany).  We already have more than 25 poets signed up for this all night event.  During the open mic we will be having some special featured poets perform including poets from Voorheesville, Albany area poetry workshop participants, and all three of this years “Best Poets” from the Metroland readers poll (Mary Panza, R.M. Engelhardt, and Dan Wilcox).  The open mic will end on Saturday morning with a very special performance by A.C. Everson and Friends.

Saturday night we come back to the UAG with music and poetry from the Rambling Jug Stompers, Margot Malia Lynch, Daniel Nester, Mother Judge, and Murrow. 

Since moving the Word Fest from September to April in 2005, The Albany Word Fest has become spring time tradition here in Albany celebrating not just National Poetry Month, but celebrating the Poets and Poetry of Upstate New York.  Like Dan Wilcox says, “In Albany, everyday is Poetry Month!”

For more information, go to www.albanywordfest.com.  See everyone at the Word Fest!

Albany Poets Presents at Valentines, Tomorrow Night

Just a quick reminder that our monthly open mic for poetry and spoken word, Albany Poets Presents, will return to VAlentines tomorrow night, April 7.  Sign up will begin at 7:00 with the open mic starting at 8:00.

This will also be your last chance to sign up in person for the 12-hour 2009 Albany Word Fest Open Mic taking place on Friday, April 17 starting at 7:00PM and going all night until 7:00AM at the UAG Gallery on Lark Street.  For more information on the Albany Word Fest and to sign up online for the open mic, go to www.albanywordfest.com.

ALBANY POETS PRESENTS is Albany Poets monthly open mic for poetry, spoken word, and music. This event is hosted by Thom Francis.

When we are not having special events, such as the annual Airing of Grievances or the Johnny Cash Tribute Night, this is a No Gimmick Open Mic series. This means no features, no special theme, no mysterious name for the show… just a stage, a microphone, a sign-up sheet, and an audience.

Be sure to come and share your work and see what we are working on to make the show a little more interesting

Sign up begins at 7:00PM, open mic starts at 8:00PM. There is a $3.00 suggested donation for this event.

ALBANY POETS PRESENTS takes place at Valentines Music Hall (17 New Scotland Ave.) on the first Tuesday of each and every month.

2009 Albany Word Fest

In celebration of National Poetry Month, Albany Poets is proud to present the 2009 Albany Word Fest featuring the poetry, spoken word, and music of upstate New York.  This year’s event will take place on Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18, 2009.

The 2009 Albany Word Fest will start off on Friday night with a cocktail party at Tess’ Lark Tavern (453 Madison Ave.) at 5:00PM.  This is a chance for all of the poets and performers to get together, network, and reconnect with each other before the event begins. This is open to all ages.  Must be 21 or older to drink. 

At 7:00PM, the poetry and spoken word begins at the Friday Night Open Mic at the UAG Gallery (247 Lark Street).  This years open mic will be a special 12-hour open mic.

Poets who wish to participate in the open mic can sign up online by going to the Albany Word Fest website, www.albanywordfest.com.  Performers will also have a limited opportunity to sign up at the event itself.  Each poet will have10 -15 minutes to share their work.  Featured at this open mic will be A.C. Everson, groups of poets from Woodstock, Voorheesville, and other parts of area, plus all three of this years Metrolands Best Poets (Mary Panza, Dan Wilcox, and R.M. Engelhradt) and more. The open mic is open to all poets and spoken word artists with no style or content restrictions.  Admission is based on donation.

On Saturday, day two of the 2009 Albany Word Fest brings the annual Psycho Cluster F*#k to the UAG Gallery featuring music and spoken word from The Rambling Jug Stompers, Ed RInaldi, Mother Judge, Margot Malia Lynch, Daniel Nester, Murrow, and much more. Admission for this event is $5.00.  This event is open to all ages. 

The 2009 Albany Word Fest is sponsored by Albany Poets, Tess’ Lark Tavern, UAG Gallery, and the very generous donations of supporters of the arts in upstate New York.

Be sure to check www.albanywordfest.com for more details on the 2009 ALBANY WORD FEST.

Live From The Living Room With Daniel Nester

Live From The Living Room, a featured reading series with an open mic afterwards is held on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center, 332 Hudson Avenue, Albany, NY.  The  next reading is March 11th with Dan Nester.

Dan Nester is a journalist, essayist, poet, editor, and teacher. His first two books, God Save My Queen (Soft Skull Press, 2003) and God Save My Queen II (2004), are both collections on his obsession with the rock band Queen. His third book, The History of My World Tonight (BlazeVOX, 2006), is a collection of poems.

His next book, How to Be Inappropriate, a collection of humorous nonfiction, will be published by Soft Skull Press in 2009.

As a journalist and essayist, his work has appeared in a variety of places, such as Poets & Writers, The Morning News, The Daily Beast, Time Out New York, The Bloomsbury Review, and Bookslut.

His work has been anthologized in such collections as The Best American Poetry 2003, The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 1, and Third Rail: The Poetry of Rock and Roll, Isn't It Romantic? 100 Love Poems by Younger American Poets, and Gamers: Writers, Artists, and Programmers on the Pleasure of the Pixels.

He is an assistant professor of English at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY.

Sign up is at 7pm with 7:30 start time with host Don Levy and $2.00  suggested donation.  For more info call (518) 462-6138.  This is a straight-friendly reading.

Third Thursday Poetry Night With Jay Rogoff, Feb 19

Head on over to the Social Justice Center on Thursday for the monthly poetry reading and open mic with host Dan Wilcox.  This month the featured poet is Jay Rogoff. 

Here is the information from Dan himself:

the Poetry Motel Foundation presents Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center (33 Central Ave., Albany, NY)

Thursday, February 19
7:00 sign up; 7:30 start
Featured Poet: Jay Rogoff

Jay Rogoff is a lecturer in English at Skidmore College; his most recent poetry collection is “The Long Fault” (Louisiana State University Press, 2008).

-- with open mic for community poets before & after the feature: $3.00 donation, suggested; more if you got it, less if you can’t. Your photographic host: Dan Wilcox.

See you there.

“Vox” At The Fuze Box, Feb 27

R.M. Engelhardt has just announced more details about the next Vox at the Fuze Box on Friday, February 27.

" Vo X " @ The FUZE BOX :
An Open Mic For Poets, Poetry & THE WORD!
ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27th AT 8PM !

V o X

An Open Mic For Poets, Poetry & Writers To Be Held Every *Last Friday of Each Month* At The Fuze Box, 12 Central Avenue, Albany, NY.  (518) 432-8866

***SPECIAL TIME THIS MONTH ***
Signup @ 8pm. START AT 8:30pm

Hosted By Poet R.M. Engelhardt  With The Return Of Dr. Sax (Bruce Richardson & James Washburn)
With This Month's Featured Poet : MARCUS KWAME ANDERSON

*$4.00 Donation*
See you There!

NEVER BURY POETRY.

In case you missed it, sign up starts at 8:00 with the open mic starting at 8:30.  Always great to hear Marcus at the mic.  This should be a good show especially with the return of Dr. Sax as well.

Live From The Living Room, Feb 11 with Jan Marin Tramontano

Live From The Living Room, a featured reading series with an open mic after words is held on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center, 332 Hudson Avenue, Albany, NY. The  next reading is February 11th with  Jan Marin Tramontano.

Jan Marin Tramontano is a poet and fiction writer living in Albany. Most recently, her poems and stories have appeared in: Poets Canvas, Women's Synergy, Byline, Knock, Chronogram, Willow Tree Poems, American Intercultural Magazine, New Verse News, and Mom's Literary Magazine.

She has published two poetry chapbooks, Floating Islands and Woman Sitting in a Cafe, her father's memoir, I am a Fortunate Man, and has just completed her first novel. She is also an occasional contributor to the Times Union's Book Section. She is a member of the International Women's Writing Guild, Poets House. and the Hudson Valley Writers Guild.

Sign up is at 7pm with 7:30 start time with host Don Levy and $2.00
suggested donation.  For more info call (518) 462-6138.  This is a
straight-friendly reading.

Recording From Albany Poets Presents Now Available

The audio recording from last nights Albany Poets Presents open mic at Valentines is now available for download.

Albany Poets Presents – February 3, 2009

Thom Francis hosts as Albany Poets returns to Valentines with poetry and spoken word from Dan Wilcox, Dominick, Ja3son Crane, R.M. Engelhardt, Miss Sally, Moses Kash, and Chris Brabham.

You can also stream these recordings by going to the Albany Poets Podcast page and using the player on the right of the page. 

Edward TIck at Caffe Lena, Feb 4

Poet Edward Tick will be the featured poet this month at the Caffe Lena Poetry Open Mic this coming Wednesday, February 4 in historic Saratoga Springs.  Carol Graser hosts this great open mic for poetry and spoken word.  

Edward Tick, Ph.D. is a holistic psychotherapist, writer, educator, journey guide, activist and veterans’ advocate. His poetry is featured in the publication THE GOLDEN TORTOISE: VIET NAM JOURNEYS (2005),   He has dedicated much of his life and work to veterans and survivors of war, violence and trauma since the late 1970s.  He specializes in using psycho-spiritual, cross-cultural, and international reconciliation practices to help veterans, communities and nations heal.  He is founder and Director of Soldier’s Heart: A Veterans’ Safe Return Program.  This program is of national and international scope with home offices in Troy, N.Y.  Dr. Tick is an adjunct professor in both Communication and Global Studies at the Sage Colleges.  He leads international educational, healing and reconciliation journeys to Greece, Viet Nam and other countries.  Dr. Tick has published 4 books (2 with Quest Books): SACRED MOUNTAIN, ENCOUNTERS WITH THE VIETNAM BEAST (1989), THE PRACTICE OF DREAM HEALING (2001), WAR AND THE SOUL, winner of ForeWord Magazine’s Best Psychology Book of 2005, and WILD BEASTS AND WANDERING SOULS (2007).  He is also a poet and is the author of almost 100 articles in psychology, holistic health, mythology and spirituality, literature, philosophy, culture and travel. Ed is a frequent guest lecturer at numerous institutions around the country and world, most recently including Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Sign up starts at 7:00PM, the reading starts at 7:30PM.  There is a $3.00 admission for this event.  More information at www.caffelena.org.

Albany Poets Presents, Tuesday, Feb 3

Albany Poets is returning to Valentines on Tuesday, February 3 for our monthly open mic for poetry and spoken word. This month, in addition to all of the great poetry, we will have information on the Albany Word Fest that is coming up in April.

ALBANY POETS PRESENTS is Albany Poets monthly open mic for poetry, spoken word, and music. This event is hosted by Thom Francis.

When we are not having special events, such as the annual Airing of Grievances or the Johnny Cash Tribute Night, this is a No Gimmick Open Mic series. This means no features, no special theme, no mysterious name for the show… just a stage, a microphone, a sign-up sheet, and an audience.

Sign up starts at 7:00PM, the reading starts at 8:00PM. Valentines is located at 17 New Scotland Ave., Albany (right between Washington Park and Albany Med).

Poetry Open Mic at Galway Public Library

On Tuesday, January 27, the night after Poets Speak Loud, the Galway Public Library will be hosting a poetry open mic.  Here is the information from the library:

You’re invited to a Poetry Open Mic at the Galway Public Library on Tuesday, January 27^th, at 7:00 pm. Poets are urged to come share a poem or two with a friendly audience. If you're not a poet, please come and be part of the friendly audience! Light refreshments will be served.

The library is located on Rte. 147 in Galway, 882- 6385 for more information.

Check it out if you live in Saratoga County or even just passing through.

Third Thursday Poetry Night Featuring Nicole Karas

The first Third Thursday of the new year and what a way to kick things off.  The phenomenal Nicole Karas is the feature poet this month.  Here are the details from Dan Wilcox.

the Poetry Motel Foundation presents Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center (33 Central Ave., Albany, NY)

Thursday, January 15, 2009.  7:00 sign up; 7:30 start

Featured Poet: Nicole Karas

Nicole Karas has written poetry since she first laid her hands on a salt and pepper composition notebook in elementary school.  She is excited about the Albany poetry scene and the people involved in it.

-- with open mic for community poets before & after the feature: $3.00 donation, suggested; more if you got it, less if you can’t. Your hopeful host: Dan Wilcox.

This is one of the best open mics / poetry nights in Albany, so if you have a little extra time on a Thursday night, you would benefit from heading over to Central Ave.

Inaugural Poetry Event in Northampton

Northampton Poet Laureate Lesléa Newman, The Florence Poets Society, and the Northampton Arts Council will host an open poetry reading on Tuesday, January 20th starting at 6:30 p.m.at the Yellow Sofa Café (24 Main Street, Northampton, MA) to celebrate the election of President Barack Obama.

Poets are asked to write an inauguration poem celebrating this momentous occasion and bring it to read.  Sign up will begin at 6:00 p.m.

"Barack Obama loves poetry; he is having poet Elizabeth Alexander read at his inauguration, he has been spotted with a book of Derek Walcott's tucked under his arm, he is going to be a fabulous president in terms of supporting the literary arts," said Poet Laureate Lesléa Newman, who will emcee the event. "I don't know who came up with the idea originally, but similar events will be happening coast to coast, and the goal is to make this the biggest simultaneous open reading of debut poetry that's ever happened in this country. I know the poets of the Northampton community are going to write amazing poems to read for, about, and in celebration of Barack Obama, and I can't wait to hear them.

"No previous writing experience is necessary in order to participate. Come one, come all, and read a poem for Obama!”

The Yellow Sofa is located at 24 Main Street in Northampton, and offers delicious Mediterranean food such as hummus and spinach and feta pie, as well as a wide assortment of coffee, tea, and locally baked goods.

For more information, about the event, contact: Lesléa Newman at
413-552-3865 or leslea@lesleakids.com.  For information about the Florence Poets Society, contact Carl Russo at fpoets@localnet.com.

Mary Cuffe Perez at Caffe Lena

The Caffe Lena Poetry Open Mic returns this Wednesday, January 7 with featured poet Mary Cuffe Perez.

Mary Cuffe Perez is a writer and amateur naturalist living in Galway, New York.  She has a poetry book, The Woman of Too Many Days, published with Calyx Press and most recently, a children’s novel  , Skylar (Philomel Books 2008). Her short fiction has appeared in New England Quarterly, Groundswell, 13^th Moon and Salvage magazines.  and her poetry has appeared in numerous literary magazines over the years, including the Washout Review, Blueline, Bitterroot, Yankee Magazine and the Seattle Review.

Caffè Lena Poetry Open Mic
Wednesday, January 7
7pm sign up, 7:30 readings start
Featured Poet: Mary Cuffe Perez
$3
Hosted by Carol Graser
Caffe Lena, 47 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs 518-583-0022

Poetry Reading at the Bohemian Book Bin

Poetry reading at the Bohemian Book Bin, 85 Carle Terrace, Lake Katrine, NY (right off route 9W, in back of G&G Leather, 1.3 miles north from Kings Mall) on Thursday, January 8, 2009 starting at 7:30PM

Featured: You!...Wide Open Reading
Theme: Winter/Change (either or both)
Time Limit: Usually five minutes, unless there’s 20 or more signed up

Host: Teresa M. Costa

Upcoming Featured Poets

February 12: Patricia Martin and D. Alex Bird
March 12: Susan Hoover and Allen C. Fischer 

For more information or bookings contact Teresa at 845-331-6713

Sana Shabazz to Read at Poetry on the Loose

Sana Shabazz will read her poetry at the next program in the Poetry on the Loose Reading/Performance Series.  The event will be held at Baby Grand Books at 7 West Street in Warwick at 4:00 p.m. on January 3.  Following the feature, others are welcome to read original work.  Admission is free.

Shabazz is a writer whose work delves into the “spirit of daily living.”  Her book Why Women Cry: A Compilation of Stories, Poems & Positive Responses for the Cleansing of the Eyes & the Soul appeared in 2006 and she is now in the process of writing her next book Why Men Cry: A Compilation of Stories Along With Poems, & Manly Responses for the Venting of the Heart & The Soul. She is working as well on her first children’s book and a book of stories and strategies for the Altzheimer’s caregiver.

Her spiritual and psychological focus is evident in her professional life as well as her writing.  She serves as a chaplain at the Beacon Correctional Facility and as Chairperson of the Board of Masjid Al Ikhlas in Newburgh.  In addition she co-founded P.O.P. Enterprises -- a company that aims to assist and enable women to enrich their lives through education and through spiritual, physical and intellectual edification.   While pursuing a degree in Criminal Justice, she is also a Job Coach for the Martin Luther King Cultural Center, the proud mother of two and grandmother of one.

The next reading, on February 7, will feature Alison Koffler and Dayl Koffler-Wise in a reading hosted by Robert Milby.

For further information, contact: William Seaton/ Poetry on the Loose, Inc. at (845) 294-8085 or seaton@frontiernet.net

Albany Poets Presents Featuring Vanessa Place and Matthew Klane, Tues Oct. 7 at Valentines

Albany Poets in association w/ Flim Forum + Les Figues Press is hosting a special edition of Albany Poets Presents at Valentines (17 New Scotland Ave., Albany) on Tuesday, October 7th featuring Vanessa Place and Matthew Klane. 

Vanessa Place is a writer and lawyer, and co-director of Les Figues Press. She is the author of Dies: A Sentence (Les Figues Press), a 50,000-word, one-sentence novella; the post-conceptual novel La Medusa (Fiction Collective 2), and the forthcoming Notes on Conceptualisms (Ugly Duckling Presse), in collaboration with appropriation poet Robert Fitterman, and a nonfiction book, The Guilt Project: Rape and Morality (Other Press). Other work has appeared in other publications, including Western Humanities Review, Northwest Review, Insert Fold Magazine, Greetings #10, 4th Street: A Poetry Bimonthly, Contemporary Literary Criticism, Bookforum, and theextraroom (Ger.). Her collaboration with artist/performer Lamya Regragui will debut at Cent Quatre in Paris/Los Angeles in 2009, and she is collaborating with conceptual artist Stephanie Taylor on the film “Murderous Square Dance at the Spiral Jetty.” Place is a co-founder of Les Figures Press, described by critic Terry Castle as “an elegant vessel for experimental American writing of an extraordinarily assured and ingenious sort.”

Matthew Klane is co-editor and founder of Flim Forum Press, publisher of the experimental poetry anthologies Oh One Arrow and A Sing Economy. His book, B____ Meditations, is forthcoming, this fall, from Stockport Flats Press. His recent chapbooks include Sorrow Songs, Friend Delighting the Eloquent, and The-Associated Press. Also: The Meister-Reich Experiments, an evolving hypertext, online at www.housepress.org. Other recent work can be found in The New Chief Tongue and online at Open Letters Monthly and Otoliths. He currently lives and writes in Albany, New York.

$3 suggested donation

ALBANY POETS PRESENTS is Albany Poets’ monthly open mic for poetry, spoken word, and music. See: www.albanypoets.com. 

FLIM FORUM PRESS, founded in 2005, is an independent press that provides SPACE to emerging poets working in a variety of experimental modes. See:
www.flimforum.blogspot.com.

Caffe Lena Poetry Open Mic Featuring Philip Memmer on Wednesday, Oct. 1

This month sponsored by the members of the Story Quilt Committee of the Galway Public Library

Philip Memmer is the author of two books of poems, most recently Threat of Pleasure, which was published in June 2008 by Word Press. Word Press also published his Sweetheart, Baby, Darling in 2004. He is also the author of three chapbooks of poems, including Greatest Hits (Pudding House Publications), The Apartment (piccadilly press) and For Resident (FootHills Publishing). His third collection of poems, Lucifer: A Hagiography, was selected for the Idaho Prize from Lost Horse Press, and will be published in February 2009.

Philip Memmer's poems have appeared widely in literary journals, including Poetry, Poetry Northwest, Southern Poetry Review, Mid-American Review, Epoch, Tar River Poetry, and many others. His work has also appeared in several anthologies, including 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day, edited by Billy Collins.
Memmer is the director of the Arts Branch of the YMCA of Greater Syracuse, where he founded the Downtown Writer's Center in 2001. He is the editor of Two Rivers Review, associate editor for Tiger Bark Press, and the current poetry editor of the journal Stone Canoe.

Caffè Lena Poetry Open Mic
Wednesday, October 1
7pm sign up, 7:30 readings start
Featured Poet: Philip Memmer
$3
Hosted by Carol Graser
Caffe Lena, 47 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs
www.caffelena.org     583-0022

Lei Isaacs and Georganna Millman Read in Athens, NY on Oct 18

Two highly esteemed Hudson Valley  poets, Lei Isaacs and Georganna Millman, will be featured when Poetry at the Hudson meets at the Athens Cultural Center, 24 Second Street, on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at 2 p.m.  An open mike will be part of the occasion. 

Lei was born in the famed Maverick Arts Colony in Woodstock to parents who were professional writers, and she was entirely home-schooled.  Her mother, Marguerite, was a noted Woodstock artist of the 1950's and 1960's.  Active in local journalism for fifty years, she has been published in such periodicals as The Ulster County Townsman, The Woodstock Press, The Woodstock Journal, the Woodstock Times, the Kingston Times, Home Planet News, and Chronogram. Lei is the founder of the women's poetry collective called 3 Free Women and has given numerous spoken-word performances as a member of that collective and as a solo performer.  Among these are readings at The Day Of The Poet, an event that was held annually in Stone Ridge for several years; at the Voices of the Valley poetry series; and at The Arts Society of Kingston.  She has written a number of novels, and a chapbook of her poetry will soon be published.  Outside her writing activities, Lei is an vigorous advocate for persons with disabilities and animal rights.

Georganna graduated from the Adult Creative Writing & Degree Program at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. She is completing her first full-length book of poetry, titled Formulary, focusing on the landscape and history of the Catskill Mountain region, where she lives with her husband and sons.  Her poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including Blueline, The Margie Review: American Journal of Poetry, Vanguard Voices of the Hudson Valley (sponsored by the Mohonk Mountain Stage Company), and The Literary Gazette.  It has appeared also on Voice-America internet radio for National Poetry Month, April 2008. Georganna has been a featured poet at The Woodstock Poetry Society and at Albany's Poets In The Park. Self-employed as the owner of an independent retail pharmacy, she volunteers as well as a grant-writer for the Woodstock Poetry Society and Festival.

The readings will be hosted by area poet Bob Wright.  There is a suggested donation of $3.  To reach the Cultural Center, proceed on NY 385 into the village of Athens and turn west onto Second Street; it is the second building on the right.  For additional information, call 518-444-4561.

Robert Milby's October Poetry Events

The busiest downstate poet and host Robert Milby has just sent in his October Poetry Events schedule. 

October's Poetry Events:

Thursday, October 2, 2008  7:00pm
Noble Coffee Roasters
3020 Rt. 207 Campbell Hall, NY
Featured:  Lawrence Soehnel plus open mic
$2 donation
845-294-1056

Wed. Oct. 15th,  7:30pm
Muddycup Coffeehouse, 129 Main, Beacon, NY
Featured:  Robert Dunn plus open mic
$2 donation

Fri. Oct. 17th
NO JOEY'S CAFE

Friday, Oct. 17th,  7:00pm
Poetry Cafe
Florida Library 4 Cohen Circle, Florida, NY
Featured:  Barbara Adams, Kenneth Pearson, Robert Milby plus open mic and refreshments
No cover
845-651-7659

Sat. Oct. 18th,  7:00pm
Mudd Poets Poetry Series
Mudd Puddle Cafe
10 Main St.(inside Water St. Market), New Paltz, NY
Featured:  Ken Van Rensselaer, William Seaton plus open mic
$2 donation
845-255-3436

Sat. Oct. 25th, 7:00pm
6th Annual Evening of Ghost Poetry with Theremin Music
The Theremin Ghosts:Carl Welden and Robert Milby hosted by Christopher Wheeling
Mudd Puddle Cafe
10 Main St. (inside Water St. Market), New Paltz, NY        
845- 255-3436
No open mic/$4 cover

Tuesday, Oct. 28th, 7:30pm
Ghost Poetry Night with Theremin Ghosts: Welden and Milby
Rosendale Theatre
408 Main St. Rosendale, NY
845-658-3016
No open mic/$8 cover

Wednesday, Oct. 29th  7:00pm
Ghost Poetry Night w/Theremin Ghosts
Rose Memorial Library
79 East Main St. , Stony Point, NY
No cover, refreshments
Open mic for seasonal poetry

Quite a month ahead!  See you there...
your host, Robert Milby

We will be adding these to the events calendar as well so you will be able to plan your month of poetry from one end of the state to the other.

Steven Huff at Caffe Lena, August 6

The next Caffe Lena Poetry Open Mic is on Wednesday, August 6 with featured poet Steven Huff. 

Steven Huff  is a poet and fiction writer, and the Director of Adult Education and Programming at Writers & Books. He teaches creative writing at RIT and the Eastman School of Music, and is the voice of “Fiction in Shorts” on WXXI-FM. Steve’s new book of poems, More Daring Escapes, is due out this fall from Red Hen Press, as is his new book of stories, A Pig in Paris from Lake Affect Publishers. His previous books include The Water We Came From, published in 2003 by FootHills, and Proof, which was named Editor’s Choice in the 2004 Two Rivers Review Chapbook Competition.

Sign up for the open mic begins at 7:00PM, open mic starts at 7:30PM.  There is a $3.00 suggested donation.  Your host, Carol Graser.  Caffe Lena is located at 47 Phila Street in beautiful downtown Saratoga Springs.

Live From The Living Room with Jim Masters

Live From The Living Room, a featured reading series with an open mic afterwards is held on the second Wednesday of every month at the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center, 332 Hudson Avenue, Albany, NY.  The next reading is  July 9th featuring local gay poet Jim Masters. 

Jim's bio:

I  was born in Kansas City, Missouri one year before the great stock
market crash of 1929. In the public schools of Kansas City I picked up the notion that poetry consisted of writing in correctly formed iambic
pentameter or some other such rhyme/rhythm scheme. A poem I submitted for a senior yearbook, and which I labored over to get the rhyme/rhythm scheme correct, was rejected; and it was politely suggested that I stick with prose, although it was hinted that that was not much better than my poetry.

The University of Kansas granted me A. B. and M. A. degrees, and the
University of Missouri at Kansas City granted me a Ph. D. I became a
Professor of Education at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana and taught not only in the Teacher Education program but also Integrated Liberal Studies, required of all freshmen, in which I attempted to help them improve in their prose (not poetical) writing. And one year I taught American History, in which I began at the present and moved backwards in time. I thought it interesting and I learned a lot; the students seemed to think it odd.

My wife labored with some success for more than 50 years to stir up my
interest in poetry, and during the last years of her life, when she was
blind, I read her favorite poems to her every day. They became my favorite poems, too, and I remain ever thankful that we had that experience together before her death. One poem by e. e. cummings I read at her funeral--"I thank you God for most this amazing day...."

Sign up is at 7pm with 7:30 start time with host Don Levy  and $2.00 suggested donation.  For more info call (518) 462-6138.  This is a straight-friendly reading.

Upcoming "Special Guests" at the Colony Café - Monday Night Open Mic for June 2008

Every Monday Night "Forever". All events include an open mic of poetry/prose/performance hosted by Phillip Levine (Chronogram Poetry Editor).
Doors Open at 7pm, start time is 7:30pm. Features read for approximately 20-25mins each, beginning around 8pm. Open mic before & after the featured readers.

Upcoming "Special Guests":

Monday, June 2nd, 2008:
Northeast Center for Special Care - Resident Poets, Artists and Musicians

Monday, June 9th, 2008:
Steven Cleaver (poetry, fiction) - Steven Cleaver is a poet and fiction writer. His first novel, Saving Erasmus, was named Best of 2007 by Publishers Weekly and he was called an Original Voice by Borders Books. His poetry has won awards and has been listed on Poets Against the War. He brings a quirky sense of humor and a wry outlook on life to his writings. He is working on a book of poetry, Dear God, Or Whatever Your Name is Now and a second novel, The Gaps Between the Platforms.

Brett Bevell (poet) - Brett Bevell is the author of the illustrated poetry books America Needs a Buddhist President (White Cloud Press 2004) and America Needs a Woman President (Monkfish 2007), as well as The Reiki Magic Guide To Self Attunement (Crossing Press 2007).

Brett won the 1995 Paul Laurance Dunbar Poetry Prize, and has published his work in progressive and literary magazines around the country such as Chronogram and Earth First Journal. He lives and works at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY

Monday, June 16th, 2008:
Teresa Costa (poet) - Teresa Costa can be reached at: manxcat12491@yahoo.com

Jan Castro (poet) - I moved from St. Louis to New York City and Ulster County about a year ago, on June 22nd, 2005. Here are some of my many poetry publications, performances!  Published Poetry includes: Wax-Winged, libretto and letterpress by Eclectic Press, 2005; The Last Frontier, 2002, and poems in Eyeball No. 5,” New Letters; Memories and Memoirs… by  Missouri Authors; Poem for Julius Hemphill on WSQ CD, Justin Time Records, disk 137-2, 2000; Exquisite Corpse, Contact II, Telephone, Greenfield Review, Roof I, Weid, Abraxas; and the portfolio Thirteen Poets from Nevertheless Press.

Poetry Readings include: New Music Circle and other Jam Sessions, River Styx at Duff's, Community College, E. St. Louis; Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis Poetry Center, Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, University of Kentucky at Lexington, Cornell U., U. of Wisconsin, Edinburgh and London Arts Festivals, Washington U., Webster U., Fiske Planetarium in Boulder, St. Louis U., Laumeier Sculpture Park, U. of Louisville, Missouri Botanical Garden, Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines Conference at the University of Iowa; New College in San Francisco, U. of Missouri-St. Louis; Small Press Book Fair at New York U.; Staten Island College, Lindenwood U., and radio programs in California, Missouri, and other states. 1996 -2000: Cassis, France; Co-Host, New Music Circle on HDHX, Sept. 17;  Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club on Oct. 5; Obie's Pub: Sept. and Oct. 11;   Left Bank Books on Nov. 2; Brandt's Spoken Word Sundays on Dec. 7 ’97; Poetry for University City Municipal Commission, March 21; poetry for River Styx at Duff’s, April 19;  Day of the Dead Beats reading, Blueberry Hill, Nov. 1; Meramec Writing Festival 2000, March 31; 3rd annual “Howl” reading, April 16: biography panelist and poet, MO Center for the Book: U. of MO, Columbia, 11 Nov. 2000.  2001 - 2006: two concerts at the Galaxy club; poetry performance with Gash-Voigt Dance Theater; exhibition & reading of The Last Frontier for Special Collections Washington University, St. Louis; Southern Illinois U., E. St. Louis; Lindenwood U., St. Charles MO; “Poem for a Poet” danced at Forest Park Community College by Gash-Voigt Dance Theater; Taproots Arts Fair; and YMCA Meet the Authors at Arthur’s Picnic in the Park, St. Louis.

Author: Sonia Delaunay: La Moderne, The Art & Life of Georgia O'Keeffe, The Last Frontier (poetry); co-editor, Seeking St. Louis, Voices from a River City, 1670-2000, Margaret Atwood: Vision and Forms; Contributing Editor, Sculpture Magazine, 1996 to present; freelance writer: The Nation, American Poetry Review, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Black Renaissance Noire, belles lettres.

Curator and memberships: Midwest Sculpture (06), Sonia Delaunay: La Moderne (02); Guest Art Advisor, Sculpture Key West (06); humanities professor, guest lecturer, arts consultant at universities; Founding Executive Director and award-winning Editor for Big River Association; member of Board of National Coalition of Independent Scholars; member, New York’s PEN American Center. See Jan Garden Castro at www.google.com and www.sculpture.org

Monday, June 23rd, 2008 - 7pm:
Thom Francis (poet) - Thom Francis, an upstate New York native, has been a writer and spoken word artist since he was old enough to understand, and therefore question the nature of the world in which we all exist. His skepticism, an attribute that seems to have been instilled in Thom since birth, has only been strengthened by the struggles in which he has encountered throughout the course of his thirty years of survival. These various struggles have made Thom an extremely strong and empathetic person, as well as the perfect candidate to pursue a calling in which he exposes the peculiarity exhibited by the human race. His work, based upon personal experience as well as general observations, always reveals an outlook commonly overlooked by the average observer.

Since Thom has been involved in the Albany area poetry scene he has been featured at such open mics and events as The School of Night (Valentines), Vox (Albany Center Galleries), Web of Consciousness (C@fe Web), Live from the Living Room (Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center), Open Spoken (Colony Café, Woodstock), Kill Your TV, Feed Your Ears (Lark Street Bookshop), Third Thursday Poetry Open Mic (Lark Street Bookshop), Poets in the Park (Washington Park), the Albany Word Fest 2001, 2002 (Thacher Park), 2003 (Valentines), 2006 (UAG Gallery), and 2007 (Tess' Lark Tavern), and LARKfest in 2006 and 2007.

Mary Panza (poet) - Mary Panza currently serves as the Vice President of Albany Poets.  She is the host of the monthly poetry and spoken word open mic, Poets Speak Loud, held at the Lark Tavern. She has been involved in the Albany poetry community for over a decade hosting events, performing her own work, producing a local poetry CD, and editing an anthology on the local Albany scene.

Monday, June 30th, 2008 - 7pm:
Craig Hancock & The Kinderhook Group (poetry) - Craig Hancock’s poems have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies, most recently Hudson River Art and Peer Glass.  For the past twenty years, he has taught writing at UAlbany, working mainly with Educational Opportunity Program students, who help keep him honest, paid, and real. Most recently, he has been looking deep and hard into the heart of language.  One result, Meaning-Centered Grammar (Equinox, Ltd) appeared in late 2005.  He is now working on a follow-up book, a more fully integrated grammar and rhetoric.  He is a founding member and past President of the Hudson Valley Writer’s guild, founder of the Kinderhook Writer’s Group.  Most of his recent poems have come out as songs.

Planned July Schedule:
7/7 - Billy Internicola (poet); Frank LaRonca (poet)
7/14 - Allen Murphy (poet); Judy Lechner (poet)
7/21 - Joanne Pagano Weber (writer/painter); Bruce Weber (poet/art historian)
7/28 - Donald Lev & Home Planet News Benefit

Colony Café, 22 Rock City Road, Woodstock, NY
(845)679-5342 - www.colonycafe.com

Veterans’ Reading From the Anthology “Post Traumatic Press 2007”

Where: 'Over The Rainbow', 35 Hudson Ave, Nyack, NY (corner of South Broadway)
When:  Monday May 12th, 7:00 – 9:00PM

Come join us. Open mic, before and after features.  Sign up for open mic before or during reading. We also want to hear your voices!

Post Traumatic Press 2007 is a …

      …searing raw-whisky anthology by military veterans from World War II to Iraq.  New recruits like Jim Murphy who “just got in-country.” And seasoned writers like Richard Boes, Larry Winters and Marc Levy make art from “things that won’t let go.”
     Chronogram - Arts . Culture . Spirit .

Through poetry, prose and song, this book tells the stories of veterans with direct experience of the military. For some, the intense experience of war can only be expressed in writing, while others are driven by the need to say something openly political. The book includes veterans from World War II, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, peace time and the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Reading their own work are Vietnam veterans  Walt Nygard and Jerry McCarthy, USMC; Jim Murphy, USAF; Thomas Brinson, Dan Wilcox and Dayl Wise, US Army; and WW II US Army veterans Jay Wenk and Sam Weinreb among others...

PTP 2007 - $10 - Book proceeds to Post Traumatic Press.  Published by Post Traumatic Press, Woodstock, NY. Editor: D. Wise, dswbike@aol.com. Visit web site at www.PostTraumaticPress.org.

‘Over The Rainbow’ is an organic restaurant and cafe that provides a unique and welcoming place to share resources and to build a responsive community voice to social issues.

Sally Rhodes Live From The Living Room

Live From The Living Room, a featured reading series with an open mic afterwards is held on the second Wednesday of every month at the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center, 332 Hudson Avenue, Albany, NY.  The next reading is April 9th with local poet/dancer Sally Rhodes   

Sally is a local poet who has, from time to time, incorporated dance into her public featured readings.

Sign up is at 7pm with 7:30 start time with host Don Levy  and $2.00 suggested donation.  For more info call (518) 462-6138.  This is a straight-friendly reading.

Caffe Lena Open Mic And Chapbook Release

Two Caffe Lena posts in one day...

The first Wednesday of every month Caffe Lena presents
CAFFE LENA POETRY OPEN MIC on Wednesday, April 2.  Doors open at 7:00PM, reading starts at 7:30. $3.00 admission. 

This months featured poets are contributors from Caffe Lena's first poetry publication, EVERY DROP OF WATER: VOICES FROM CAFFE LENA POETRY STAGE with short readings from A.C. Everson, Barbara Ungar, Francelise Dawkins, Rob Faivre, Therese Broderick, Bob Sharkey, Dan Wilcox, Barbara Garro, Sue Jefts, Kristen Day and Sarah Craig.

Please joins us to celebrate the official release of Every Drop of Water:Voices From Caffe Lena Poetry Stage. In the summer of 2003, Carol Graser stepped forward to revive Caffe Lena's long neglected poetry program. Since then Caffe Lena has enjoyed monthly poetry open mics, each highlighting a featured poet. This chapbook, the first ever released by the coffeehouse , contains poems written by features form the open mic's first two years. some authors will be present to read their work throughout the evening and the chapbook will be available for sale for the first time.

This month is sponsored by: Saratoga Poetry Festival, Dedicated to Poetry in Public.

Powell to Read at Poetry on the Loose

Shirley Powell (who was one of our features at the 2006 Albany Word Fest) will read her work at the next program in the Poetry on the Loose Reading/Performance Series.  The event will be held at the Baby Grand Bookshop at 7 West Street in Warwick at 4:00 p.m. on April 5.  Following the featured poet, others are welcome to read original work on any theme.  Admission is free.

A volume of Powell's selected works, Other Rooms (Poet's Press), was published in 1998.  Her poetry is also available in The Adventures of Margaret, Villages and Towns, Rooms, Rooms Two, Parachutes, and Alternate Lives.  Womansong (Poets Press), an anthology she edited, was one of the first literary products of the Women's Movement in the 1970s.  Her novel, Running Wild, was published in 1981 by Avon Books.  In addition, she has worked as a journalist for such newspapers as The Kingston Freeman and The Times Herald-Record.

With Alan Silverman, she started the Stone Ridge Poetry Society readings at the Stone Ridge Library and remained a leader in the organization, editing its magazine, Oxalis, throughout its twenty-three issues over six years of publication.  She has taught writing workshops and literature at Marist College in Poughkeepsie and for Poets in the Schools, now called Poets in Public Places.  She is a past-President of the Dutchess-Ulster Chapter of the National League of American Pen Women.

Robert Waugh will be featured on May 3.

For further information, contact: William Seaton and Poetry on the Loose, Inc. by phone at 845-294-8085 or email seaton@frontiernet.net

Poets Speak Loud Featuring John Raymond

The next Poets Speak Loud will be on Monday, March 31 at Tess' Lark Tavern with featured poet John Raymond followed by an open mic for poetry and spoken word.

John Raymond is a local rapscallion who is coming out of seclusion to take part in Albany's open mic poetry scene.  He enjoys music, backpacking, and smoked meats.

We will also have the sign up sheet for the 2008 Albany Word Fest Friday Night Open Mic for all of those poets and spoken word artists that have not had a chance to sign up for upstate New York's largest open mic

Poets Speak Loud is a monthly open mic for poetry and spoken word with a featured poet. This mic is hosted by Mary Panza and held at the Lark Tavern (453 Madison Ave., Albany) on the last Monday of each month. Sign-up for the open mic is 7:00pm, start time is 7:30pm.

Chris Brabham Live From The Living Room

Live From The Living Room, a featured reading series with an open mic afterwards is held on the second Wednesday of every month at the Capital District Gay and Lesbian Community Center, 332 Hudson Avenue, Albany, NY.  The next reading is March 12th with Chris Brabham.

Chris has read in many venues in the region including The Lark Tavern, The Night Sky Cafe, Washington Park and 2007 Larkfest.  He is also the winner of Albany Poet's first ever bad lyric reading competition with his rendition of the classic "Fishheads".

Sign up for the open mic is at 7:00pm with 7:30pm start time with host Don Levy.  There is a $2.00 suggested donation for this reading.  For more info call (518) 462-6138.  This is a straight-friendly reading.

Caffe Lena Open Mic Featuring Jan Marin Tramontano

The first Wednesday of every month Caffe Lena presents Caffe Lena Poetry Open Mic on Wednesday March 5. Doors open at 7:00PM, reading starts at 7:30PM. This months featured poet is Jan Marin Tramontano. This reading is hosted by Carol Graser and there is a $3.00 admission.  This month has been sponsored by Coral Crosman

Caffe Lena is located at 47 Phila St. Saratoga Springs. For more information contact 518-583-0022 or go to their website, www.caffelena.org

Jan Marin Tramontano’s poems and stories have appeared most recently in: Poets Canvas, Women’s Synergy, Byline, Knock, Chronogram, American Intercultural Magazine, New Verse News, Mom’s Literary Magazine, Ophelia’s Mom, and Surviving Ophelia. She has also written a poetry chapbook, Floating Islands, her father’s memoir, I am a Fortunate Man, and she is a contributor to the Times Union’s Book Section. She is on the advisory board of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild.

Urban Renewal

I was downtown looking at an apartment
in a building once elegant, now shabby.
The brown stones marred, exposed
to the harsh air, weathered like the face of
an aging starlet.

There was a crack in the glass door
and a can rolled down the stairs
bouncing down each step
its rhythm even and steady.

I stopped it with my foot,
picked it up and started slowly
up the wide, creaky stairs
ready to see if charm was enough.

I pushed hard on the door
swelled in a frame that opened reluctantly
into a room filled with pitiless light
and a tattered, familiar couch.

I ran my hand over the scarlet fabric
now worn and stained and sat down,
feeling at home in a place
once grand, now merely dependable.

Woodstock Poetry Society

Woodstock Poetry Society & Festival as part of the Woodstock Arts Consortium is sponsoring the following poetry event as part of the Woodstock "Second Saturdays" Art Events. For a full listing of "Second Saturday" events, go to their website at:  www.woodstockartsconsortium.org.

Poets Barbara Louise Ungar, Sparrow, and Sylvia Mae Gorelick will be the featured readers when the Woodstock Poetry Society & Festival meets at the Woodstock Town Hall, 76 Tinker Street, on Saturday, March 8th at 2pm. Note: WPS&F meetings are held the 2nd Saturday of every month.

The readings will be hosted by Woodstock area poet Phillip Levine. All meetings are free, open to the public, and include an open mike.

Barbara Louise Ungar - Barbara Louise Ungar won the 2006 Gival Press Poetry Award for her collection entitled The Origin of the Milky Way, which appeared from Gival Press in December of 2007. She is also the author of Thrift, and the chapbooks Sequel and Neoclassical Barbra, as well as the essay Haiku In English, forthcoming in Simply Haiku. An associate professor of English at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, she lives in Saratoga Springs with her son Izaak.

Sparrow - Sparrow divides his time between studying French, doing Sudoku, and running for President of the United States.  (Look for his campaign literature on http://www.groundreport.com/sparrow.)  Sparrow plays ocarina and mop handle in the band Foamola.  (See them on YouTube.)  He owns one (pink) watch, which he bought at a 99¢ store, and which is 2 hours and 36 minutes slow.

Sylvia Mae Gorelick - Sylvia Mae Gorelick is sixteen years old. She began writing poems in September and has put together one book of poems called (bank of america) (in parentheses). She does not go to school and lives in Phoenicia with reluctance.

Also, why not become a 2008 Member of the Woodstock Poetry Society & Festival?
Membership is a nominal $15 a year. (To join, send your check to the Woodstock Poetry Society, P.O. Box 531, Woodstock, NY 12498. Include your email address as well as your mailing address and phone number.)  Your membership helps pay for hall rental, post-office-box rental, the WPS website, and costs associated with publicizing the monthly events. One benefit of membership is the opportunity to have a brief biography and several of your poems appear on this website.

For more information contact Phillip Levine at pprod@mindspring.com

Poetry in Athens

Upcoming Featured Poets at Poetry at the Hudson at the Athens Cultural Center (24 Second St., Athens, NY) every 3rd Saturday at 2 p.m. in the even-numbered months (except June this year, when it meets on the 2d Saturday).

April 19, 2008 - Bill Seaton and Susan Sindall
June 14, 2008 - Eddie Bell and Carol Graser
August 16, 2008 - T.G. Vanini and Susan Hoover
Ocotber 18, 2008 - Lei Isaacs and Phillip Levine
December 20, 2008 - Thom Francis and Bob Sharkey

For more information on this poetry and spoken word series at the Athens Cultural Center, email host Bob Wright at hudsonvalleybob@yahoo.com

Upcoming Special Guests at the Colony Cafe

Upcoming "Special Guests" at the Colony Café - Monday Night Open Mic - Poetry/Prose/Performance - Every Monday Night "Forever"

All events include an open mic of poetry/prose/performance hosted by Phillip Levine (Chronogram Poetry Editor). Doors Open at 7pm, start time is 7:30pm. Features read for approximately 20-25mins each, beginning around 8pm. Open mic before & after the featured readers.

Monday, February 25th, 2008 7pm:
Phillip hosts Phillip & Friends on his near birthday featuring: Gnomon Shadow Puppet Theatre (Sharon Penz & Zzoe), Elijah Wapner ("Mr. Inevitable"-stand up comedy) & Wide Open Mike

Gnomon Shadow Puppet Theatre (Sharon Penz & Zzoe) - Presents shadow puppet theatre in the Western European tradition, performed live, with live music & narraion, in performances of edifying plays and stories from many cultures.  Gnomon Puppet Theatre is available for parties, festivals, and performances at Libraries, schools, homes and other venues, as well as for tutorial workshops. Contact: (845)247-2843 or email: gnomonshadowtheatre@yahoo.com or Gnomon Shadow Theatre, 122 West Bridge Street, Saugerties, NY 12477-1418. Website: http://web.mac.com/taimasmith/Gnomon/Home.html

Elijah Wapner (Mr. Inevitable-stand-up) - Elijah Wapner is an 11th grader at the Hudson Valley Sudbury School and studies acting, movement and voice in the teen conservatory at Stella Adler Studio in Manhattan. He performs standup comedy as a regular at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City and travels the country raising awareness about autism. His TV debut was on MTV's True Life, and he has been featured in the New York Times, Redbook Magazine, and on Japanese Television (NHK). Check out his calendar of events at www.MrInevitable.com

Monday, March 3rd, 2008 - 7pm:
Tara Johannessen (poet and filmmaker w/short film: The Holy Longing by Goethe) and Gretchen Primack (poet, with her new book The Slow Creaking of Planets)

Tara Johannessen (poet and filmmaker w/short film: The Holy Longing by Goethe) - publication includes Sleep: bedtime reading by Roger Gorman and Robert Peacock (Rizzoli) and Wildflowers. Currently working for the severly disabled and the elderly as a nurse's assistant.

Gretchen Primack (poet, with her new book The Slow Creaking of Planets) - Gretchen Primack’s publication credits include The Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, FIELD, New Orleans Review, Rhino, Best New Poets 2006, and others. Her chapbook The Slow Creaking of Planets is freshly minted from Finishing Line Press.  She teaches at Bard College and at two maximum-security prisons through the Bard Prison Initiative. More information and poems can be found at www.gretchenprimack.com.

Monday, March 10th, 2008 - 7pm:
A. C. Everson (A pinata bashing poet) and Frank Boyer (writer, performance/installation artist)

A. C. Everson (A pinata bashing poet) - A. C. Everson is a home grown poet, sculptor and performance artist who has performed and shown in the Albany area and abroad since 1994.  In 1995, A. C. started Breaking My Art where her poetry and piñatas are combined in what has been described as “awesome” performances. She has four self published chap books of poetry and two self produced cds of her poetry backed up by some of the Albany areas best musicians. You can hear some at www.myspace.com/aceverson .

Frank Boyer (writer, performance/installation artist) - Frank Boyer was born and raised in the Middle West. Throughout the 1980's, he was based in New York City, where he was active in the performance art scene and also wrote and performed poetry.  He has lived upstate since 1992, and is the single parent of a teen-age son. He is glad to read and to hear poetry whenever he can.

Monday, March 17th, 2008 - 7pm:
Tom Molinaro (meditation instructor, teacher, writer) and Laura Lonshein Ludwig (poet)

Tom Molinaro (meditation instructor, teacher, writer) - I am a writer, poet, interested in freedom, heaven on earth, for you, for me, for everyone who wants it, and for changes upon the planet from these intolerable conditions.  What are the intolerable conditions?  The lack of interest in things that matter, of waking up and celebrating life, the lack of culture, the death of the good things we've found in the past, the thrusting upon of technology without our proper balance of spiritual development, the lack of creative living, new ideas and the lack of the impending bonfire of our vanities and the trivial grossness to which we, as a group, have become attached and infected. www.tommspace.com

Laura Lonshein Ludwig (poet) - Laura Lonshein Ludwig's work is listed in Who's Who in the World in 2004 and 2005.  Recipient of 4 New York State Council of the Arts grants, and author of 3 books, Robo Sapiens, Sounds Like a Plot, and Reflections for the Renaissance. Reviewed by legends in TV, radio and scholars. see: www.barnesandnoble.com.

Monday, March 24th, 2008 - 7pm:
TBA and Richard Boes (prose, 1st chapter of his new book Last Train Out)

Richard Boes (prose, 1st chapter of his new book Last Train Out) - Richard Boes has written a ripped-from-the-heart memoir (The Last Dead Soldier Left Alive) of the years of struggle, substance abuse, and failed relationships that followed his combat experience. It’s painful, yet richly rewarding. Imagine sitting down in a pub next to a slightly scary-looking fellow who buys you a round and then begins to talk, his words spilling out in a heated rush, things bottled up within him all flooding to the surface. And although some of what he is saying is hard to hear, it’s made compelling by his wry, ironic perspective and stream-of-consciousness style, which is akin to that of Henry Miller or Jack Kerouac. At closing time, you’d be inviting him home for a nightcap to hear the rest—even if it disturbed your sleep for weeks to come. - Anne Pyburn (Chronogram, June 2007)

Monday, March 31st, 2008 - 7pm:
Donald Lev (poet) and R. Dionysius Whiteurs (Peptic Poet of the Pepperoni Persuasion)

Donald Lev (poet) - Donald Lev was born in New York City in 1936. He attended Hunter College, worked in the wire rooms of the Daily News and New York Times, and then drove a taxi cab for 20 years (with a 6-year hiatus in which he ran messages for, and contributed poetry to, The Village Voice and operated the Home Planet Bookshop on the Lower East Side). His earliest poems appeared in print in 1958 and he started his first small press magazine, HYN Anthology, in 1969. The most recent of the fourteen collections of his poetry is Grief, a chapbook published in 2006 by Bard Press/Ten Penny Players in Staten Island. A volume of his Selected Poems will be brought out soon by Red Hill Outloudbooks in Claryville, NY. His brief underground film-acting career pinnacled with his portrayal (he wrote his own lines) of "The Poet" in Robert Downey Sr.'s 1969 classic Putney Swope. He and his reclusive cat Kit Smart live in High Falls, NY, where he spends most of his time publishing the literary tabloid Home Planet News, which he and his late wife Enid Dame founded in 1979.

R. Dionysius Whiteurs (Peptic Poet of the Pepperoni Persuasion) - Born in the Bronx, brought up in the hills of Mahwah NJ, Ron (R. Dionysius) Whiteurs has lived in the New Paltz-Rosendale region since 1966. With an MA from SUNY New Paltz, he taught English at that institution in 1970-71 and went on to a long career as unofficial "Poet Laureate" of IBM Publishing in Poughkeepsie. From these scintillating heights his fortunes took a flip/flop/flip like some half-dead fish out of water in the following manner:

Performed regularly at the Rosendale Creative Space Co-Op from 1989 to 1992; Performed annually at the Cave Readings at the Widow Jane Quarry in Rosendale from 1991 to 1997; Starred in the Igneous It performance Ox Necks in Tweed on April 3, 1992; Performed at Fountain House, NYC and slammed at the Nuyorican, NYC during these years; Performed at the Woodstock Guild's Byrdcliffe Barn as part of Summerjazz (FM Artists Coalition) in 1992; Performed as main featured poet at the Outloud Festival in Claryville in 1994; Formed the amateur-amateur-amateur rock n' roll band "Glory-Hole Bishops of the Holy See" in which he starred as lead NON-singer and song writer; Recorded four poems in 1993 for the Steve Charney Show ("Knock-On-Wood") on WAMC Albany Public Radio; Featured in the brief biographic film Trapped in Amber by Bart Thrall of Big Time Records; and somehow got himself published in the Rondout Review, The Poets Gallery (Woodstock), Chronogram, Hunger Magazine, and Wuzz Buzzin (Switzerland).

Presently, Ronald, a noted toy collector and craftsman of fine costumes and objects, reads, rants, and raves regularly at the Bohemian Book Bin in Kingston, at the Colony Cafe in Woodstock, and at the Woodstock Town Hall. He is a member of the Woodstock Poetry Society.

Poetry/Prose/Performance:
Colony Café, 22 Rock City Road, Woodstock, NY
(845)679-5342 - www.colonycafe.com
The Colony Cafe has full bar and cafe menu.
For further information about the Monday Night Open Mic or possible bookings contact: Phillip Levine pprod@mindspring.com. For information about the Colony Café contact: Jeff Harrigfeld osmrecords@hotmail.com

Kane to Read at Poetry on the Loose at the Baby Grand

Paul Kane will read his work at the next program in the Poetry on the Loose Reading/Performance Series.  The event will be held at the Baby Grand Bookshop at 7 West Street in Warwick at 4:00 p.m. on March 1.  Following the featured poet, others are welcome to read original work on any theme.  Admission is free.

Paul Kane, who lives in Warwick (New York), has published four collections of poems: The Farther Shore, Drowned Lands, Work Life and, recently, A Slant of Light.  Kane’s work has frequently been compared to Robert Frost’s, as “a dark echo” (Joseph Brodsky) or like Frost “at his best” (Harold Bloom).  Poet and critic Rosanna Warren writes that his poems “bespeak a wholeness of life and language, a fitting of elegy, diatribe, natural description, meditation and blessing into the same large work of mind and heart.”  His other publications include scholarly editions, critical studies, anthologies and collaborations. 

Kane has taught at Yale University and Monash University (Australia) and is presently a professor of English at Vassar College.  He is the recipient of a Fulbright award and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Guggenheim Foundation, as well as a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 

Shirley Powell will be featured on April 5.

For further information, contact: William Seaton/ Poetry on the Loose, Inc. at       (845) 294-8085 or email seaton@frontiernet.net

Poets Speak Loud Featuring Nicole Karas and Janice McNeal Tonight at the Lark Tavern

That's correct! We are once again at Tess' Lark Tavern (453 Madison Ave, Albany) for our Feb edition of PSL.

We are happy to have the double bill of Nicole Karas and Janice McNeal. Oh yeah, it is ladies night.

We are hoping the writers strike is over for you as well! Come on out and talk about politics, sex, religion, the oscars, the weather, your landlord, or your feet. You know all the things your mother told you not to talk about in mixed company.

$3 requested donation. 7pm sign-up and we start between 7:30 and 8pm.

Michael Bostick at the Third Thursday Poetry Night

The Poetry Motel Foundation presents Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY on Thursday, February 21, 2008 (7:00 sign up; 7:30 start ) with featured poet Michael Bostick.  

Open mic for poets before and after the feature.  $3.00 donation -- suggested, more if you got it, less if you can’t.   This night of poetry is hosted by Dan Wilcox.

Michael Bostick is the author of “Mou-si: Life Lessons and Thoughts Set to Poetry”, published by RoseDog Books in May, and was the subject of a profile about his writing in the Albany Times-Union in October. His poetry explores such varied subjects as social ills, spirituality, alcoholism, love, race and responsibility.

Poets Speak Loud, January 28

The annual Poets Speak Loud Tom Nattell Memorial Open Mic and Beret Toss will take place on Monday, January 28 (the Last Monday of the month) at Tess' Lark Tavern, Madison Ave., Albany, NY starting at 7:30PM.  The guest host will be Dan Wilcox, the host of the monthly Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center.  The event includes an open mic for community poets and a post-reading parade to the Robert Burns statue in Washington Park to place a beret on the head of Robert Burns in honor of poet and environmental activist Tom Nattell who left us in January 2005 to join that Great Open Mic in the Sky.  The reading is free, but donations to support the Tom Nattell Peace Poetry Prize are appreciated.

Albany Poets sponsors "Poets Speak Loud", a poetry reading and open mic, on the last Monday of every month at the Lark Tavern at 7:30PM.  Tom Nattell was the host and organizer of the annual Readings Against the End of the World, Poets in the Park, and the open mic at the QE2 held on the last Monday of the month, among many achievements.  He had been scheduled to read at the first Poets Speak Loud! in January 2005, but died that morning.

Poetry Readings This Week

Here is some information on a couple of the fine poetry readings that are happening here in the Capital Region.

Zounds! at the Night Sky Cafe on Wednesday, December 19

Poetry open mic Wednesday December 19th 7:30pm
Night Sky Cafe
402 Union St, Schenectady, NY
with an open mic before and after the feature: J'Dalaba
hosted by Shaun Baxter

Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center on Thursday, December 20

The Poetry Motel Foundation presents Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY

Thursday, December 20, 2007.  7:00 sign up; 7:30 start
Featured Poet: Daniel Nester with open mic for poets before & after the feature & a special holiday visit from Sanity Clause.
$3.00 donation.
Your constant host: Dan Wilcox.

Daniel Nester is the author of “The History of My World Tonight” (BlazeVox, 2006), “God Save My Queen” (Soft Skull Press, 2003) and “God Save My Queen II” (2004). His work has appeared in “The Best Creative Nonfiction,” “The Best American Poetry 2003,” “Poets & Writers,” and “Time Out New York.” He edits the online journal Unpleasant Event Schedule. He is an Assistant Professor of English at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY. Find him at www.danielnester.com. 

John Raymond Reads Live From The Living Room

John Raymond is the featured poet this month at the Live From The Living Room reading and open mic at the Capital District Gay and Lesbian Community Center.  Host Don Levy sent the following announcement along:

Live From The Living Room, a featured reading series with an open mic afterwards is held on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center, 332 Hudson Avenue, Albany, NY.  The next reading is November 14th with John Raymond.  

John Raymond is a local rapscallion who is coming out of seclusion to take part in Albany's open mic poetry scene.  He enjoys music, backpacking, and smoked meats.

Sign up is at 7pm with 7:30 start time with host Don Levy  and $2.00 suggested donation.  For more info call (518) 462-6138.  This is a straight-friendly reading.

The Dan Wilcox Open Mic Commentary Round-Up

There were two open mic commentaries and one post about the difference between print poetry and performance poetry this week over at Dan Wilcox's blog.   There are some very good points about print vs. performance in the comments section from Therese Broderick and Mary Kathryn Jablonski so be sure to check those out, too.

Poets Speak Loud, October 29

So I, Dan Wilcox, ended up being #1 on The List again & read a couple new poems inspired by conversations with other poets, "Consumerism," & "Poetry Prompts." I was followed by Scott Casale, who hasn't been around for a while. Both his poems seemed based on random phrases & images, "Stop Writing a Piccolo's Refund," & "Amarillo Bleu," where the second stanza is a re-arrangement of the first stanza.

Print poems v. Perf' po

Buried in the tsunami of comments on my Blog of October 26 were some musings by Therese Broderick about performing poetry at an open mic. Therese is a thoughtful poet who likes to ponder the many & various issues of modern poetry both in & out of our community. Her comments reflect some of the issues that I have confronted over the years in practice & thought (this is not meant as a point-by-point response to Therese's comments, I'm just bouncing off them randomly).

Albany Poets Presents, November 6

As advertised, this was the challenge laid down by Mary Panza to perform the best dramatic reading of the worst song lyrics and you win a featured reading at the Poets Speak Loud open mic at the Lark Tavern in the future, even if you have already featured. So the hardcore showed up, with the best of tunes & worst of tunes.

Go to Dan's blog to read his complete commentaries and speak or mind in the comments section of the posts.

Word Thursdays Last Reading of 2007 Featuring Robert Milby and Christopher Zegers

Bright Hill has sent us this announcement for their last Word Thursdays reading for the year with featured poets Robert Milby (the busiest poetry host in upstate New York) and Christopher Zegers (from New York, NY). 

On Thursday, November 8, Word Thursdays, for its last regular reading of 2007, will present Florida, NY poet Robert Milby and NYC poet Christopher Zegers.  They will read from their poetry in Bright Hill's Word & Image Gallery, now showing "What I Saw: Photographs and Commentary by Ernest M. Fishman." The evening begins with an open reading at 7 p.m., during which all those present are invited to read their own work or that of another writer for up to five minutes, followed by the features. Bright Hill Center is located at 94 Church Street, one block north of Barlow's General Store. Admission is $3 for Adults and free to those 18 and under. Refreshments are served at the intermission.

Robert Milby has been reading his poetry throughout the Hudson Valley, and beyond, since early 1995. He is the author of four poetry chapbooks, and his individual poems have been published in Home Planet News, Hunger Magazine, Will Work for Peace, Hart, Fertile Ground, Chronogram, and the Hudson Valley Literary Magazine. Currently, he hosts poetry series at Joey’s Café in Washingtonville, Mudd Puddle Café in New Paltz, and Noble Coffee Roasters in Campbell Hall.  He was the invited poet at SUNY Oneonta, in March 2003. Robert is a listed poet with Poets and Writers, Inc. His spoken word cd is entitled: Revenant Echo(Sonotrope Recordings, 2004). Milby's first full-length book of poetry, Ophelia's Offspring was published in June, 2007 by Foothills Publishing. He is a freelance thinker.

Christopher Zegers was born, raised, and educated in Chicago. He was a VISTA volunteer, living and working in central Harlem in the sixties, attended Union Theological Seminary, and applied for and received Conscientious Objector status in 1969; his political direction came through working in a summer project of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the summer of 1966, hearing Martin Luther King give his anti-Vietnamese war speech in that same year, and as a CO.  He spent two years working on Worldview Magazine, a publication of the Council on Religion and International Affairs. Working as an editorial assistant revived his interest in writing, as did a long series of part-time jobs, during which his real work was becoming a poet. During that time he helped found and run a leftist community center in Brooklyn, was a member of a poetry collective, and began to publish. He has published two full-length volumes and five chapbooks. In the early eighties he trained in Secondary Education at Hunger College, and he has been teaching at Hunter High School for 22 years.

Word Thursdays regular bi-monthly readings will resume in April, with special readings for Black History Month in February. Bright Hill Press's 2007 programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, the A. Lindsay and Olive B. O'Connor Foundation, the Walter Rich Charitable Foundation, the Otis A. ThompsonFoundation, the Dewar Foundation, the A. C. Molinari Foundation, the Delaware National Bank of Delhi, Stewart's Shops, area businesses, and its members and friends.

For further information and for information about Bright Hill Press and its programs, contact Bright Hill Center at 607-829-5055 or email wordthur@stny.rr.com.

Caffe Lena Poetry Open Mic Featuring Tim Verhaegen

The Caffe Lena Poetry Open Mic returns on the Wednesday, November 7 (sign-up at 7:00, reading starts at 7:30PM) with featured poet Tim Verhaegen.

Tim Verhaegen has been living in the Capital District for almost thirty years and is a regular at this and many other local poetry events. His work has been published in the anthology Poetry Don't Pump Gas. Tim’s poetry often targets the intimate stories of his own life and the stories of the people closest to him. He's a collector of toy cars, toy animals and other figurines and has been accused of being a "people collector". 

The Caffe Lena Open Mic takes place on the first Wednesday of each month hosted by Carol Graser. Admission is $2.00 . Caffe Lena is located at 47 Phila St. Saratoga Springs. For more information call 518-583-0022 or go to www.caffelena.org

The Dan Wilcox Open Mic Commentary Round-Up

What a busy week it has been on the Dan Wilcox blog.  He posted a blog last week about a recent HVWG event with a small audience and the comments section exploded.  Here is what happened on Dan's blog this week.

Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center, October 18

So then the strangest thing happened -- Dennis Sullivan, our night's feature had left a couple of free broadsides up on the counter by the sign-up sheet & our first poet up, Daniel Scott, who was unfamiliar to what we were doing, picked up one of Dennis' broadsides & read it. What a cool introduction to the night's feature -- how perfect. (Perhaps Daniel will return with one of his own poems soon.)

What If They Gave A Reading & No One Showed Up?, October 20

Even though "Community of Writers" was sponsored by the Hudson Valley Writers Guild there were but 10 of us in the large (then seeming larger) auditorium of the Albany Public Library to hear Russell Dunn, Lyn Miller-Lachmann & Pierre Joris read from their work.

As always, be sure to check out Dan's blog for more on the poetry scene here in the Albany area. 

The State of the Art...Your Comments

It looks like the most recent post on Dan Wilcox's blog (about low attendance at the latest "Community of Writers" event sponsored by the Hudson Valley Writers Guild) has touched off a big discussion on the state of poetry and spoken word in the area.  There are a lot of different ideas and thoughts on the local poetry scene and open mics as a whole.  As of this writing, there are 25 comments on the issue. 

Click here to read the post and the comments and feel free to add your own to the mix.

After reading the comments and even adding some of my own, it got me thinking about a greater issue that I have been dealing with for a few months now since I started working on a project for OTHER:.  The issue is, what is poetry to you?  So, I am going to open it up to you, the poets, to let me know what poetry is to you.  Go to the comments and speak your mind.

November 2007 "Special Guests" at the Colony Café Monday Night Open Mic

The featured readers for the November open mics have been announced.  Below is information on all of the upcoming readings.  The Monday Night Open Mic at the Colony Café (Colony Café, 22 Rock City Road, Woodstock) takes place every Monday night starting at 7:00PM with and open mic before and after the featured readers. All events include an open mic of poetry/prose/performance hosted by Phillip Levine.

Monday, November 5th, 2007: Resident Poets, Musicians, and Artists from Northeast Center for Special Care
A select group of poets, musicians and artists from Northeast Center for Special Care will be performing original music and poetry, and exhibiting original paintings, prints and drawings at the Colony Cafe on Monday night,  November 5th.

The Northeast Center for Special Care is an innovative long-term care, rehabilitation, recovery and community reentry program for individuals recovering from multiple disabilities acquired from complex injuries, mainly traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries.

Monday, November 12th, 2007: Efrayim Levenson and Deborah Emin
Efrayim Levenson's poems have been published in Above Water, ArtVoice, Bflo Journal, Blatherskite, The Buffalo News Poetry Page, Earth's Daughters, Foist, The Grin, Medicinal Purposes Literary Review, Pure Light, Swift Kick, and Tempus Fugit.  His new chapbook, Dances With Tears, published in March 2007 by Poets Wear Prada, was a featured selection in Poets House's 2007 Showcase.

More information can be found at http://efrayimlevenson.blogspot.com, http://timessquareshoutout.blogspot.com, and www.chabadrego.org/poetry

Deborah Emin is the author of the novel, Scags at 7. Set in the 1950s suburban world outside of Chicago, the story is told by the seven-year-old Scags about her summer vacation. Believing she is about to embark on a lazy, fun-filled couple of months, it is anything but that as her beloved Pops falls apart and with him the world as she knew it.

Sample pages of the novel are available on the publisher's website: www.kedziepress.com. More than you may want to know about Deborah's other work is on her website: www.deborahemin.com.

Monday, November 19th, 2007: Tim Verhaegen, Patricia Martin and Gus Mancini
Tim Verhaegen was raised on Long Island.  He has been living in the Capital District since 1980.  He is a member of the Every Other Thursday Poetry group in Voorheesville and the Armchair Poets in Troy. His poetry appears in Many Waters and Poetry Don't Pump Gas, an anthology created by the Voorheesville poets.  His poetry is inspired by his Long Island childhood, his gay identity, his insatiable curiosity about the workings of people, and the stories of the people that surround him.  Wordsmiths Joni Mitchell, Rickie Lee Jones, David Gray and Melanie Safka are his lyrical heroes. He has featured at nearly every poetry open mic in the capital district.  He will be featuring at Caffe Lena in Saratoga November 7th. He loves the spoken word, he chooses his most personal, intimate poetry for the spoken word experience.  http://www.thursdaypoets.blogspot.com/

Join the irrepressible duo Mancini and Martin to experience some live IN the Moment sharing-- a rich aura/aural tapestry of original music and evocative words, selected from their upcoming same-titled cd.

Monday, November 26th, 2007: Cate McNider and Cheryl A. Rice
Cate McNider is an artist in her own residence in West Hurley four days out of the week. Originally from North Carolina, she migrated to NYC after a two year stint studying acting and modern dance in London. While auditioning and acting, the writing became more satisfying and creatively expedient. She has read her work at St. Marks Church, NYC, The Knitting Factory and various Brooklyn café’s.

Cate’s work has been published in several journals, The Westmoreland News, VA, and at www.thelisteningbody.com. In 1990, ”Guardian’s Trust” was made into a song by the late Michael Hedges on his Road to Return album. Cate continues to write lyrics, collaborating with the musician/lyricist & Oscar nominee Ramsey McLean of New Orleans.  Their song ‘Straydog Mountain’ is a hit.  A collection of her poems is on the way.

Born on Long Island in 1962, Cheryl A. Rice has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember. She has had both poems and prose published in Chronogram, The Country and Abroad, The Florida Review, The Gathering of the Tribes, Home Planet News, Mangrove, Other:, The Temple/El Templo, Ulster Magazine, and The Woodstock Times, and online at www.albanypoets.com, www.poetrypoetry.com, and www.thehiddencity.com. She has lived in New York's Hudson Valley for over 25 years.

For further information about the Monday Night Open Mic or possible bookings contact Phillip Levine at pprod@mindspring.com. For information about the Colony Café contact Mariann Harrigfeld at mariann@colonycafe.com or call 845-679-5342.

The Dan Wilcox Open Mic Commentary Round-Up

Welcome back to the Dan Wilcox Open Mic Commentary Round-Up.  This week we have Dan's comments on Shaun Baxter's open mic at the Night Sky Cafe and a special report from Miss Mona about the Allen Fisher reading at the UAG.

Allen Fisher Reading at UAG Gallery, October 12

I asked my old friend, Miss Mona, to cover this event for me while I was in Philadelphia. Miss Mona used to comment on the gossip scene in Albany years back & has just been growing old since.

Zounds!, October 17

The monthly open mic at the NightSky Cafe on Union St. in Schenectady, with our host Shaun Baxter. I note that Shaun seems to have responded to fact that he is not the shortest open mic host by producing the smallest open mic flyer, just over 3x4 inches. He started us off with Raymond Carver's "Where Water Comes Together with Other Water", then challenged us to parody William Carlos Williams' "This is just to say...", you know, the plums-in-the-fridg poem.

Be sure to check out Dan's blog for more on the poetry scene here in Albany.  Dan also has a post about a recent visit from Charlie Rossiter (of the Three Guys from Albany).

Albany Poets Presents The Worst Song Lyrics In The World

The next Albany Poets Presents (Tuesday, November 6, starting at 8:00PM) at Valentines will be an open mic with a bit of a twist. 

Last month Mary Panza laid down the challenge...perform the best dramatic reading of the worst song lyrics and you win a featured reading at the Poets Speak Loud open mic at the Lark Tavern in the future, even if you have already featured. 

I then gave an example of what we are looking for by reading the lyrics to the extremely famous song, Escape by Rupert Holmes:

I was tired of my lady, we'd been together too long.
Like a worn-out recording, of a favorite song.
So while she lay there sleeping, I read the paper in bed.
And in the personals column, there was this letter I read:

"If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
If you're not into yoga, if you have half-a-brain.
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.
I'm the lady you've looked for, write to me, and escape."

If you do not have any bad lyrics with you on Novemeber 6, don't worry, you can still read your own poetry through out the evening at the open mic.

Remember that the December edition of Albany Poets Presents is the Second Annual Airing of Grievances and Feats of Strength.  Stay tuned for more details on the "most innovative, interesting, and irrelevant annual event at a poetry and spoken word open mic in upstate New York".

Dan Wilcox Poetry Open Mic Round-Up

Welcome back to the Dan Wilcox Open Mic Commentary Round-Up. This is the third edition of the round-up that brings all of Dan’s commentaries from his blog together in one place. This time around we have two open mics and the first Frequency North of the new season.

Albany Poets Presents, October 2

One often wonders whether this open mic really happens or just exists in the fantasy of alcohol & memory. Once some years ago I read a poem here & a lady I had invited told me later that's when she fell in love with me. On some nights the-nameless-we just sat around & told outrageous stories & bought each other beers. On the Road is filled with such lies & similar fabrications. "October in the railroad earth..."

Caffe Len, October 3

I've realized that "October is the Columbus-day month breeding racism & death in the continent..." so I have started including Tom Nattell's "Columbus Fantasies" in my readings. These were poems written in 1992 to commemorate the Indians discovering an Italian mercenary for Spain landing on their shore. After doing a new poem of my own, "Starting the Wine," I did #23.

Frequency North, October 4

This is the third year of this reading series at St. Rose, run by new poppa Daniel Nester. This year the readings have been moved from St. Joseph's Hall auditorium, with the big stage & curtains, to the Library. Same number of people showed up, just looked more crowded. I mean if the same 40 people showed up at the Knickerbocker Arena -- I mean Pepsi Arena -- whoops, no, Times-Union Center -- folks would say, "there was nobody there." Like skinny girls in tight pants.

As always, be sure to check out Dan’s blog often for these commentaries and poetry from Dan and other area poets.

Poetry and Spoken Word in The Valley

Here is a great resource for poets and spoken word artists in the Western Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut areas.  The site is updated every week by Lori Desrosiers with a complete (and I mean complete) listing of the poetry open mics, readings, and events throughout New England. 

Be sure to check it out if you are heading east and want to go out to a reading or two. 

Miriam Axel-Lute Live From The Living Room

Live From The Living Room, a featured reading series with an open mic afterwards is held on the second Wednesday of every month at the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center, 332 Hudson Avenue, Albany, NY.  The next reading is October 10, 2007 featuring poet and Metroland scribe Miriam Axel-Lute.

Miriam is a performance-oriented poet from Albany, NY.  Her poetry has appeared in many journals and anthologies.  She has written 2 chapbooks, Souls Like Mockingbirds and Packing To Stay.  Miriam lives with her wife, her husband and her daughter.

Sign up is at 7:00PM with a 7:30 start time with host Don Levy. There is a $2.00 suggested donation.  For more info call 518-462-6138.  This is a straight-friendly reading.

Poetry at Caffe Lena with Michael Czarnecki

Tomorrow night, the first Wednesday of the month, Caffe Lena presents its Poetry Open Mic night with featured poet Michael Czarnecki.

This open mic is hosted by Carol Graser. There is a $2.00 admission. Sign up at 7:00PM, the reading starts at 7:30PM. Caffe Lena is located at 47 Phila St, Saratoga Springs.

Michael Czarnecki is the founder of Foothills Publishing, which he began in 1986 for the purpose of getting into print the words of poets whose only outlets were readings or in the occasional magazine. Since then, Foothills Publishing has released more than 250 chapbooks or books. As a poet, Michael has given over 200 featured readings across the country in venues as varied as wine festivals, colleges and coffeehouses.  As a prolific poet, publisher, oral memoirist and encourager, Michael lives simply with his family in the hills of central New York.

The Echo Of What Has Passed

T'ao Ch'ien would understand.
I sit drinking wine
chanting poems
dreaming of mountains.
Bills pile high at the door.
White hairs infiltrate my beard.
Daughter approaches womanhood.
Young son no longer crawls.
Late Autumn, already snow
has covered the ground.
Sipping, wine, I shiver
as a chill breeze
caresses me from behind.

October Poetry Readings in Kingston

Teresa Costa sent us information on the open mics that she is hosting this month in Kingston. If you are in the area, be sure to check out these great events.

Wednesday, October 3 at 7:30PM at the Muddy Cup, 516 Broadway in Kingston with featured poets Barbara Boncek and Donald Lev.

This reading is hosted by Teresa and Shirley Powell

Thursday, October 11 at 7:00PM at the Bohemian Book Bin, Kings Mall, Rt 9W in Kingston with featured poets Gloria Bernstein and Roberta Gould.

This event is also hosted by Teresa Costa.  The open mic portion of the night is limited to five minutes. There is a $3.00 suggested donation.  Refreshments will be available.

For more information on these poetry readings, email teresacosta101@msn.com

The School of Night...On Hiatus

THIS JUST IN, The newly re-started School of Night is on hiatus.  The scheduled poetry and spoken word open mic for this coming Thursday night at Ballingers has been cancelled until further notice. 

Host R.M. Engelhardt says that the long time open mic will indeed start up again, so stay tuned to albanypoets.com for more information as it is released. 

While you are waiting for "School" to start again, you can head over to the Poetry Calendar and check out the other poetry open mics, readings, and events that are going on in the area. 

The Dan Wilcox Open Mic Commentary Round-Up

Welcome back to our second edition of the Dan Wilcox Open Mic Commentary Round-Up, where we list the most recent poetry open mic and reading commentaries from Dan's blog.

Third Thursday Poetry Night, September 20

Another third Thursday at the Social Justice Center, with your fantastic (objectively speaking) host, Dan Wilcox -- hey, that's me. And the muse was the late Grace Paley -- "It is the responsibility of society to let the poet be a poet..." ("Responsibility").

Poets Speak Loud, September 24

Twice in one week the featured poet doesn't make it to his/her reading -- global warming or the war in Iraq -- or just the Full Moon? Robert Milby had car trouble last Wednesday & Barbara Vink had pneumonia tonight. I'm guessing that both will be rescheduled eventually. So the host, Mary Panza read Barb's poem "The tavern keeper" from her new chapbook Heat Wave (Benevolent Bird Press, PO Box 522, Delmar, NY 12054 -- handsewn, individual wood block print covers, edition of 100 copies, from Alan Casline).

Be sure to check out Dan's blog often for more commentary on the upstate New York poetry scene.

Albany Poets Presents Tonight at Valentines

We hope you had a great weekend and were able to rest up because October is promising to be another great month of poetry.

Tonight is Albany Poets Presents at Valentines, 17 New Scotland Avenue, Albany NY. 7:30 sign-up, 8:00PM start. Hosted by our own Fancy Leader, Thom Francis.

Wednesday is Cafe Lena in Saratoga.

Thursday is vOLUME at Prof Java in Colonie.

Wednesday October 10th is Live From The Living Room at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Albany. *This is a straight friendly reading.*

Friday, October 12th, 7:00PM, UAG Gallery on Lark Street in Albany, we are proud to present Allen Fisher. For more info on the event go to www.albanypoets.com

Yikes, that is just the first two weeks of October.  Remember to pace yourselves through poetry.

The Dan Wilcox Open Mic Commentary Round-Up

Since Dan began his blog where he features his thoughts on the open mics and poetry readings that he goes out to, many people have mentioned his "reviews" while on stage.  With that in mind, we thought we would start a new feature here on the Albany Poets Blog where we would round-up the previous weeks commentaries on Dan's blog.

LarkFEST 2007, Saturday, September 15

I'm not a big fan of these festivals, especially for poetry -- over-priced vendors, the same hot dogs & pizza & lemonade everywhere (I did find some decent clam chowder, overpriced, of course), crowds, wobbly port-a-johns, sanitized bands, cute honeys (oh, wait, that's a good thing). But Albany Poets did the best it could under the circumstances, & I think having poets do short, zingy sets between bands was a good idea.

Poetry and Performance, September 15

This was a reading/performance, organized by Denie Whalen of New York Expressive Arts & co-sponsored by the Hudson Valley Writers Guild. The performers were Elizabeth Gordon McKim & Steve Clorfeine. They had conducted a workshop for New York Expressive Arts earlier in the day & their performance was in the Nia-Yoga space on the main floor of 4 Central Ave. It was perfect venue for these performers, an open space with the city through floor-length windows on one side, mirrors on the other, & a bank of plants & ceramics behind them.

Colony Cafe, September 17

I was proud to be a participant in this reading bringing together writer-veterans who are included in Post Traumatic Press 2007: poems by veterans. I have a great deal of affection for Dayl Wise, the editor, & his co-conspirator/copy-editor/wife Alison Koffler (both read at Poets in the Park this year), & for the other veterans/activists/writers included in the anthology.

Zounds!, September 19

At the NightSky Cafe in Schenectady, with our host, Shaun Baxter (substituting for the substitute host, Liz King, who had been scheduled to host for Shaun Baxter -- or something to that effect). And the scheduled featured poet, the whirling dervish of mid-Hudson Valley (& beyond) poetry, Robert Milby was stuck somewhere else with car trouble.

Be sure to check out Dan's blog often for more commentary on the poetry scene and also for his own poems that he frequently posts, which are always a great treat.

Two Hudson Valley Poets to Perform in Athens

Two Hudson Valley poets with their own distinctive voices, Ken Holland and Mary Panza, will be the featured readers when Poetry at the Hudson meets at the Athens Cultural Center, 24 Second Street, on Saturday, October 20, 2007 at 2 p.m.  An open mike will be part of the event.

Ken, who lives in East Fishkill, has had fiction and poetry published in a dozen-plus literary journals, including the Portland Review, the Laurel Review, Poem, American Poets & Poetry, and Lullwater Review.  He has poetry forthcoming in Blue Unicorn.  The story published in the Laurel Review was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  Ken placed second in this year's Vanguard Voices Poetry Competition, judged by Eamon Grennan, and he is the recipient of a New York State Arts Council writing fellowship based on a fiction competition in which he placed first.  He works for one of the major publishing houses in New York City and has been making that long commute for the last twenty-five years.

Mary, a mainstay of Albany poetry since 1988, is the vice president of Albany Poets, a non-for-profit dedicated to bringing poetry and spoken word to the Capital Region and beyond.  She originated and hosted the poetry open mike at Border's; is the host of the Albany Poets' monthly poetry open mike, "Poets Speak  Loud," at the Lark Tavern; has been the host of the singer/songwriter stage at the annual LarkFEST street fair since 2004; and is the poetry editor for Chronogram: Capital Region Edition.  Mary has been published in countless underground zines over the last nineteen years.

The readings will be hosted by area poet Bob Wright.  There is a suggested donation of $3.  To reach the Cultural Center, proceed on NY 385 into the village of Athens and turn west onto Second Street; it is the second building on the right.  For additional information, call 518-444-4561.

Third Thursday Poetry Night Featuring Miriam Herrera

The Poetry Motel Foundation presents Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY on Thursday, September 20, 2007 (7:00 sign up; 7:30 start). This month’s featured poet is Miriam Herrera with open mic for poets before and after the feature. There is a $3.00 suggested donation. Your “persistent” host is Dan Wilcox.

KIVA AT CHACO CANYON

The kiva meditates on herself
On the roundness of the soul
On the eagle's circular vision.

Lie on your back, little girl—
Notice the sky! It's contained
In its own infinite funnel.

I know this kiva. We are old friends—
The mother we never had.
I recognize her! It's she
Who forces one toward the middle.

In the kiva there is only middle.

Looking out through her bald blue eye
It's me:
Looking in, looking out.

Her poetry has been published in New Millenium Writings, ArtLife, Blue Mesa Review, New Zoo Poetry Review, Nimrod: International Journal of Prose and Poetry, Black Maria, ECOS, and other journals.  She is an active member of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers in Lake Tahoe, CA; a member of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild, the Academy of American Poets, the Poetry Society of America, and the National Council of La Raza.

For more on Miriam, check out her blog:  http://miriamherrerapoems.googlepages.com/

Pierre Joris Live From The Living Room

Live From The Living Room, a featured reading series with an open mic afterwards is held on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center, 332 Hudson Avenue, Albany, NY.  The next reading is September 12th with Pierre Joris.

Pierre's most recent books are Aljibar and Meditations on the Stations of Mansur Al-Hallaj.  Amoung his publications are Permanent Dispora and The Rothenberg Varations and Poasis: Selected poems 1986-1999.  He also has a CD called Routes from Ta'wil Productions.

Sign up is at 7pm with 7:30 start time with host Don Levy  and $2.00 suggested donation.  For more info call (518) 462-6138.  This is a straight-friendly reading.

The School of Night Returns...Again

THIS JUST IN, The School of Night, "Albany, NY's Most Innovative Poetry Open Mic", is returning, but this time to a new building.  Ballingers will be the latest venue to host the "long running" open mic series hosted by R.M. Engelhardt with the band "Love is the D3vil".  The School of Night has previously been held at Valentines, Fuze Box, and most recently at Red Square. 

This "New" School of Night will be held on the first Thursday of the month, starting this coming Thursday night, September 6. 

According to the news released by Engelhardt, the event will be followed by Ballingers weekly "Ladie's Night" dance party, ABSINTHE, featuring "Alt-Indie rock, 80's Old School Goth, Metal and New Wave". 

Professor Engelhardt will be ringing the sign up bell at 7:30pm, start time at 8:00pm.  There is a $4.00 tuition donation requested.   Ballingers is located at 42 Howard Street, Albany. 

For more information, go to www.ballingers.com or www.schoolofnight.com.

Rhodora Penaranda to Read at Poetry on the Loose

Rhodora Penaranda will read her original work at the next Poetry on the Loose event.  The program will begin at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 1 at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 6 Orchard Street (at Main) in Middletown.  Her presentation will be followed by an open reading during which anyone may participate.   

Penaranda has written short stories as well, but finds what she calls the “pithy intensity of poetry” more suitable to her nature.  Her work has been collected in the volumes Touchstone and Unmasking Medusa.   

Originally from the Philippines, Penaranda was at first under the impression, as she says, that she wanted to be “a woman of the material world.”  She worked in retail, then in journalism and public relations before deciding she had to “commit to art, or perish.” 

Of her writing, Penaranda says, “Coming home to poetry and finding the art and language of others are a way of coming home to myself and making something of my past,  maybe even transforming it.  I’ve come close to closing the book on myself; art is my way of opening it again, to be daring, inventive; to find that love again as a self-expressing creature in this world we live in.” 

The October 6 Poetry on the Loose reading will feature Sally Rhoades.

The Poetry on the Loose Reading/Performance series is supported this year with funding from Orange Arts/Orange County Tourism and the County of Orange.

September’s Special Guest at the Colony Café Monday Night Open Mic in Woodstock

Phillip Levine (Chronogram Poetry Editor) has sent in the lineup of featured poets and performers for September 2007 at the Colony Café Monday Night Open Mic in Woodstock. There is an open mic for poetry, prose, and performance in addition to the “special guests”. Start time of the Monday Night Open Mic is 7:00PM. Features read for approximately 20 - 25mins each, beginning around 8:00PM.

Monday, September 3rd, 2007 - Max Schwartz (poet, photographer)

Monday, September 10th, 2007 - Donald Lev (poet) and Richard Boes (from The Last Dead Soldier Left Alive)

Donald Lev was born in New York City in 1936. He attended Hunter College, worked in the wire rooms of the Daily News and New York Times, and then drove a taxi cab for 20 years (with a 6-year hiatus in which he ran messages for, and contributed poetry to, The Village Voice and operated the Home Planet Bookshop on the Lower East Side). His earliest poems appeared in print in 1958 and he started his first small press magazine, HYN Anthology, in 1969. The most recent of the fourteen collections of his poetry is Grief, a chapbook published in 2006 by Bard Press/Ten Penny Players in Staten Island. A volume of his Selected Poems will be brought out soon by Red Hill Outloudbooks in Claryville, NY. His brief underground film-acting career pinnacled with his portrayal (he wrote his own lines) of "The Poet" in Robert Downey Sr.'s 1969 classic Putney Swope. He and his reclusive cat Kit Smart live in High Falls, NY, where he spends most of his time publishing the literary tabloid Home Planet News, which he and his late wife Enid Dame founded in 1979.

"Richard Boes has written a ripped-from-the-heart memoir of the years of struggle, substance abuse, and failed relationships that followed his combat experience. It’s painful, yet richly rewarding. Imagine sitting down in a pub next to a slightly scary-looking fellow who buys you a round and then begins to talk, his words spilling out in a heated rush, things bottled up within him all flooding to the surface. And although some of what he is saying is hard to hear, it’s made compelling by his wry, ironic perspective and stream-of-consciousness style, which is akin to that of Henry Miller or Jack Kerouac. At closing time, you’d be inviting him home for a nightcap to hear the rest—even if it disturbed your sleep for weeks to come." - Anne Pyburn (Chronogram, June 2007)

Monday, September 17th, 2007 - Post Traumatic Press 2007 (profits to Veterans for Peace) with Dayl Wise (editor) War Vets Poetry Anthology followed by Leslie Halpert, Singer/Songwriter, at 10:00PM

Readings from the new book, Post Traumatic Press 2007. This book tells the stories of veterans with direct experience of the military. For some, the intense experience of war can only be expressed in poetry, while others are driven by the need to say something openly political. The book includes veterans from World War II, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, peace time and the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Contributors: Camillo “Mac” Bica, Richard Boes, Thomas Brinson, Michael Embrich, Michael Gillen, Marc Levy, Bob Lusk, Gerald McCarthy, Jim Murphy, Fred Nagel, Ron Thompson, Robert “Tack” Trostle, Jose Vasquez, Jay Wenk, Dan Wilcox, Sam Weinreb and Larry Winters. Some of these US veterans are seasoned writers, who have been published before.  For others, this is their first time writing, their first time out crossing that line in public.

Reading their own work are Richard Boes, Thomas Brinson, Marc Levy, Bob Lusk, Jim Murphy, Jay Wenk, Dan Wilcox, Larry Winters and Dayl Wise.

Monday, September 24th, 2007 - Steve Cleaver (poet) and Brett Bevell (poet, from his new book My America Needs A Woman President, Monkfish Publishing)

The Colony Café is located at 22 Rock City Road in Woodstock, NY and has full bar and cafe menu. Admission for the open mic is $4.00.

For further information about the Monday Night Open Mic or possible bookings contact Phillip Levine at pprod@mindspring.com.

Poetry Happenings in Kingston

On Saturday, August 25 at 8:00PM Poetry at UUCC, 320 Sawkill Road, Kingston. Wordsworth Poetry Coffeehouse features Leslie Gerber and Judith Saunders plus an open reading and refreshments. General Admission: $5, $2.50 for open readers. Hosted by Shirley Powell.

And on Wednesday, September 5 at the Muddy Cup, on Broadway, Kingston, Shirley Powell and Teresa Costa will be hosting a poetry reading with featured poet Phil Sullivan. Admission is based on donation. This poetry reading begins at 7:30PM.

For more Hudson Valley poetry readings and events.

POETS SPEAK LOUD Featuring K.J. Spencer

Albany Poets returns to the Lark Tavern for our monthly open mic for poetry and spoken word, Poets Speak Loud, with featured poet K.J. Spencer on Monday, August 27.

K.J. Spencer has been a part of the poetry and music community for many years.  He one of the founders of Think3, a journal from Troy.  He is currently the host of the vOLUME:Music and Poetry series at Professor Java's in Colonie.

POETS SPEAK LOUD takes place at Tess' Lark Tavern (453 Madison Ave., Albany) on the last Monday of each month and is hosted by Mary Panza.  Sign up begins at 7:00PM, the featured poet goes on stage goes on stage at 7:30PM with the open mic following. 

For more poetry open mics and events in and around the Albany area, go to www.albanypoets.com/events. 

Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center

The Poetry Motel Foundation presents the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice (Center 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY) on Thursday, July 19, 2007, 7:00 sign up; 7:30 start.

This month’s featured poet is Tim Verhaegen with open mic for poets before and after. There is a $3.00 suggested donation for this event. The Third Thursday Poetry Night is hosted (since 1997) by Dan Wilcox.

About Tim Verhaegen:
Tim Verhaegen has been living in the Capital District for almost thirty years. He writes business letters as an insurance regulator by day.  He's a poetry and prose writer at night. His poems have been published in "Poetry Don't Pump Gas" and "Many Waters".  His poetry often targets the intimate stories of his own life and the stories of the people closest to him.   He's a collector of toy cars, toy animals and other figurines.  He's been accused all his life of being a "people collector".  His two mottos are "I'm on this earth to learn, I'm on this earth to love." 

Roberta Gould and Donald Lev to Read at the Athens Cultural Center

Two noted and prolific poets who live in the Hudson Valley, Roberta Gould and Donald Lev, will be the featured readers when Poetry at the Hudson meets at the Athens Cultural Center, 24 Second Street, on Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 2 p.m.  An open mike follows the featured readings, and pianist Don Yacullo will play selections at three points in the event.

Gould is the author of eight  books of poems.   Her most recent books are In Houses With Ladders, published by Waterside Press, and Pacing the Wind, issued by Shivistan Publishing.   Her recent poems have appeared in Confrontation, Home Planet News, and Chronogram, as well as in several anthologies  and online zines, including Void and Poetz.   She has read widely in the Hudson Valley, where she lives,  and in the Metropolitan area, and she has edited several poetry journals, including Light:  A Poetry Review.   Esta Naranja, one of her books, was published in Spanish in Mexico, where she lived for some time.  While there, she organized an educational campaign for international tourists on fairly tipping hotel personnel and waiters.   She has a master's in Spanish, studied geology at SUNY Ulster, and is an amateur pianist.  Poems and other information about her work can be found at  www.robertagould.nett.

Lev, who was born in New York City in 1936, attended Hunter College, worked in the wire rooms of the Daily News and the New York Times, and then drove a taxi cab for 20 years (with a six-year hiatus in which he ran messages for, and contributed poetry to, The Village Voice and operated the Home Planet Bookshop on the Lower East Side).  His earliest poems appeared in print in 1958, and he started his first small press magazine, HYN Anthology, in 1969.   The most recent of the 13 collections of his poetry, Yesterday's News, was published in 2002 by Red Hill Outloudbooks, in Claryville.   A chapbook, Grief, will be published by Bard Press/Ten Penny Players, in Staten Island, in the fall and should be available at the end of October.   His brief underground film-acting career pinnacled with his portrayal (he wrote his own lines) of "The Poet" in Robert Downey Sr.'s 1969 classic Putney Swope.  He and his reclusive cat Kit Smart live in High Falls, where he spends most of his time publishing the literary tabloid Home Planet News, which he and his late wife Enid Dame founded in 1979.

Yacullo has played the piano and composed music since the age of five. He has been a classical accompanist, church organist, laborer, and special educator. He has performed and recorded music with classical and original rock and jazz ensembles (SeLah, Joe Montini, and Joe Lentine) and currently performs all over the United States with Potential Unlimited, a troupe of exceptionally talented musicians who have developmental disabilities.  Yacullo also performs with The Princes of Serendip, a musical threesome based in Woodstock, and has since 1995.

The readings will be hosted by area poet Bob Wright.   There is a suggested donation of $3.  To reach the Cultural Center, proceed on NY 385 into the village of Athens and turn west onto Second Street; it is the second building on the right.   For additional information, call 518-444-4561.

Poets Speak Loud and a New Mic at the Moon and River

Poetry and spoken word continue next week with a many open mics and events going on through out the area.  Here are a couple of open mics of note.  For a complete listing of the poetry open mics and events in the area, go to www.albanypoets.com/events.

Albany Poets returns to the Lark Tavern for our monthly open mic for poetry and spoken word, Poets Speak Loud, with featured poet Carol Graser Monday, June 25.

Carol Graser hosts the first Wednesday of the month poetry series at historic Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs. She’s read her poetry at various events and venues around New York State and her work has been published in many literary journals.

POETS SPEAK LOUD takes place at Tess' Lark Tavern (453 Madison Ave., Albany) on the last Monday of each month and is hosted by Mary Panza.  Sign up begins at 7:00PM, the featured poet goes on stage goes on stage at 7:30PM with the open mic following. 

On the very next night (Tuesday, June 26) a brand new poetry open mic series starts in the Electric City with host Marty Mulenex (the featured poet in July at PSL at the Lark) at the Moon and River Café at 115 South Ferry Street, Schenectady beginning at 7:00PM.

 

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Word Thursdays To Feature NYC Poet and Writer on June 7

On Thursday, June 7, Word Thursdays will feature two New York City writers: poet Patricia Brody and fiction writer Andrew Weinstein.

They will read in Bright Hill's Word & Image Gallery, now showing Gail Bunting's "Walking the Woods: Paintings and Giclee Prints. The reading begins with an open mike at 7 p.m., followed by the featured poets; all those present are invited to participate. Bright Hill Center is located at 94 Church Street, one block north of Barlow's General Store. Admission is $3 for adults and free to those 18 and under. Refreshments are served at intermission.

Patricia Brody’s poetry appears in Poet Lore, Room of One’s Own (Vancouver), Barrow Street, The Paris Review, and on Poetry Daily. Her work also appears in Psychoanalytic Perspectives and Junctures (New Zealand) and in the anthology Chance of a Ghost. She is editing Survival of the Soul: Artists Living with Illness, an anthology of contemporary poems, prose and art. Awards include two Pushcart Prize nominations and two Academy of American Poets prizes. She has a family therapy practice in NYC and teaches English Comp and American Literature at Boricua College in Harlem.

Andrew Weinstein’s fiction has appeared in journals, including the High Plains Literary Review and Boulevard, where he is currently a contributing editor. Nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize and cited for a Pushcart Special Mention, Weinstein has been awarded a residency at the MacDowell Colony to work on a novel, currently in progress. His essays and reviews have appeared in American Book Review, Bloomsbury Review, OnTheBus, Philadelphia Inquirer, Studies in Short Fiction, zingmagazine, and other publications. A graduate of Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, Weinstein teaches art history at the Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY, and the Cooper Union in New York City, where he lives with his wife and two children.

Word Thursdays Bright Hill Press's 2007 programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, the A. Lindsay and Olive B. O'Connor Foundation, the Walter Rich Charitable

Foundation, the Otis A. Thompson Foundation, the Dewar Foundation, the A. C. Molinari Foundation, the Delaware National Bank of Delhi, Stewart's Shops, area businesses, and its members and friends.

For further information and for information about Bright Hill Press and its programs, contact Bright Hill Center at 607-829-5055 or email the Center at wordthur@stny.rr.com.

Caffe Lena Open Mic Featuring Diane Lockward

Caffe Lena presents its monthly poetry open mic on Wednesday, June 6 (7pm sign up, 7:30 start) with featured poet Diane Lockward.  This open mic is hosted by local poet Carol Graser.  There is a $2.00 admission for this event.

Diane Lockward is the author of What Feeds Us (Wind Publications, 2006). The collection received the Quentin R. Howard Poetry Prize. Diane is also the author of two previous collections, Eve’s Red Dress (Wind Publications, 2003) and a chapbook, Against Perfection (Poets Forum Press, 1998). Her poems have been published in several anthologies, including Poetry Daily: 366 Poems from the World’s Most Popular Poetry Website and Garrison Keillor's Good Poems for Hard Times. Her poems have also appeared in such journals as The Beloit Poetry Journal, Spoon River Poetry Review, Poetry International, Poet Lore, and Prairie Schooner.

Diane is the recipient of a 2003 Poetry Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and has received awards from North American Review, Louisiana Literature, the Newburyport Art Association, and the St. Louis Poetry Center. Her work has been nominated for five Pushcart Prizes, featured on Poetry Daily and Verse Daily, and read by Garrison Keillor on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac.

Diane conducts writing workshops for young and old poets, inexperienced and experienced poets. She also conducts workshops for teachers on how to teach poetry. She was a featured poet at the 2005 Frost Place Conference on Poetry and Teaching and a workshop presenter at the New Jersey State Council of Teachers of English Conference in both 2003 and 2006.

Diane has also been a featured poet at a number of festivals, such as the Warren County Poetry Festival, the Inkberry Festival, the Long Branch Poetry Festival, the Walt Whitman Poetry Festival, and the 2006 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival.

A former high school English teacher, Diane now works as a poet-in-the-schools for both the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.

Caffe Lena, 47 Phila St, Saratoga Springs

www.caffelena.org 583-0022

This program is funded in part by the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, Administered by the Saratoga County Arts Council.

Poetry Reading in Athens, NY

Two highly respected poets who live in the Hudson Valley, Therese Broderick and Dan Wilcox, will be the featured readers when Poetry at the Hudson meets at the Athens Cultural Center, 24 Second Street, on Saturday, June 16, 2007 at 2 p.m. An open mike follows the featured readings.

Broderick , who has a master's in fine arts, is a freelance writer and teacher residing in Albany, New York, with her husband and daughter. She has served as an officer of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild, as a workshop leader for Knowledge Network and for WomanWords, as a book reviewer for The River Reporter, and as a volunteer poet at The Roarke Center social services agency. Her poems have won local and national awards and been published in such periodicals as Spoon River Poetry Review, Puerto del Sol, Barnwood, 2River View, and Other Seven. She has been a featured poet at Caffe Lena (Saratoga Springs), Third Thursday (Albany), the Woodstock Poetry Society, and the Saratoga Poetry Zone (Saratoga Springs) and actively maintains a blog at poetry.blog-city.com.

Wilcox, the host of an open mike at the Social Justice Center in Albany, New York, on the third Thursday of each month, is a member of the poetry performance group "3 Guys from Albany." He has been a featured reader at most of the poetry venues in the Capital District and throughout the Hudson Valley, publishes poetry under the imprint A.P.D. (Albany's poetic device, another pleasant day, etc.), and has himself been published in Out of the Catskills, The Second Word Thursday Anthology, We Speak for Peace, Chronogram, and numerous small press journals and anthologies. His work has also appeared on the internet and in self-published chapbooks. An avid photographer, he claims to have the world's largest photo collection of unknown poets. He is an active member of Veterans for Peace and maintains a blog at dwlcx.blogspot.com .

The readings will be hosted by area poet Bob Wright. There is a suggested donation of $3. To reach the Cultural Center, proceed on NY 385 into the village of Athens and turn west onto Second Street; it is the second building on the right.

For additional information, call 518-444-4561.

Bernadette Mayer at Caffe Lena

Poetry Open Mic on Wednesday, May 2 at Caffe Lena (47 Phila St, Saratoga Springs) with featured poet Bernadette Mayer.  Sign up at 7pm, reading starts 7:30.  Admission for this event is $2.00.  This open mic is hosted by local poet Carol Graser.

Bernadette Mayer’s poetry has been praised by John Ashbery as “magnificent.” Michael Lally called her, “One of the most original writers of her generation.” Throughout the 1980s, she was the Director of the Poetry Project in New York City and she has taught there and at the New School. She is the author of numerous books including, The Bernadette Mayer Reader, New Directions Books. Last year, Tuumba Press published her interviews with Bill Berkson, What’s Your Idea of a Good Time?  And recently the journal 0 to 9 she edited with Conceptual artist Vito Acconci in the late 60s was made available in one collected volume by Ugly Duckling Press.

Mayer's position at The Poetry Project made her a central figure in the community of artists and writers gathered at that time in New York City's Lower East Side, and many of her students from this period -- Lee Ann Brown and Lisa Jarnot among them -- have gone on to become writers themselves.
As a writer, Mayer is most often associated with the New York School, a rubric which refers to composers, painters, visual artists, conceptual artists, and choreographers in addition to writers. Mayer's use of compositional methods such as chance-operation, collage, and cut-up identify her as an artist pursuing concerns similar to those of John Cage, Jackson Mac Low or Frank O'Hara -- central figures in the New York School -- as well as more contemporary figures associated with L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E writing. But Mayer's work is also significantly influenced by modernist figures such as James Joyce and Gertrude Stein, as well as by her background in classical studies, evident in her syllabi, reading lists and in her informal translations of Catallus.

This program is funded in part by the Decentralization Program, a regrant programof the New York State Council on the Arts, administered by the Saratoga County Arts Council.

For more information contact Caffe Lena at www.caffelena.org  or 518-583-0022