On Friday, May 24, poetry and spoken word returns to the Pine Hollow Arboretum in Slingerlands with the second open mic and featured reading of the season. This month the featured poet is Stephen Ellis.
Stephen Ellis, born 21 December 1948, in As Safirya, Syria, and in the interim, transmitted to the east coast of America, died many a Sufi death along the under-carriage of his Daddy’s mutant green Chevrolet. It’s been a spunk-hole life, and a wet one. In an age of mechanical reproduction, it is not a negative thing, to bleed as a result. Westward Ho, ever yes, and/or often no: It is always best to move against the natural movement of the sun, to the end of some semblance of completion and exhaustion. And corruption. If the key no longer fits the hole, you’re basically doin’ the right thing.
Series organizer and host Alan Casline once mentioned, “Give Ellis a word and ask him to comment on the word. Come back two hours later and he’ll have a book on the subject and it is a good book!. And Kenneth Warren said that, “Ellis is an idea poet in whom experimental, elemental ingredients are never missing from the lawful creation of poetry. He brings together committed inquiry into the political economy of the age with insight into magic, science, and symbolism”.
This a great poetry reading and open mic series that brings in some very talented writers and performers every year. The readings take place at the Pine Hollow Arboretum (16 Maple Ave., Slingerlands, NY) and start at 6:30pm. Poets and writers who wish to participate in the open mic can read three short poems, two longer poems, or two pages of prose. This event is made possible by the Hudson Valley Writers Guild, Rootdrinker Institute, and Delmar Writers Group. For more information contact Alan Casline at acasline@aol.com.
Here is the schedule for the rest of the 2013 series:
June 14 — Bernadette Mayer
July 12 — Stephen Lewandowski
August 9 — Fifth Annual POETS AT THE ARBORETUM
September 13 — A.C. Everson: World Premiere Performance Poetry In the Garden of Ma (a work in four seasons)
October 11 — Carol Graser
November 8 – Mimi Moriarty, Marion Menna
