Contributors

one day i will turn around

I walked in the rain to Valentine’s. After a sentence like that, there should be no question whom I was going to see. The poets, of course! Only the poets go out in the rain and end up at a dive called Valentine’s. There was some amazing poetry. I love this shot of Shannon and […]

John Burroughs Woodchuck Lodge

John Burroughs: The Anti-Santa Naturalist

By 1912, John Burroughs, a celebrated and opinionated author on the sublime importance of nature for one’s personal character, had noticed the birth of the automobile. And he didn’t like it.

Judith Prest

Caffè Lena Open Mic, December 7

After a miserable drive up on the Northway (heavy rain & traffic), at least there was a nice dinner with “the ladies” at Ravenous, then on to the open mic, for a respectable crowd in spite of the weather.

Nitty Gritty Slam #7

Nitty Gritty Slam, December 6

Judge & Score Keepers Adding it UpAs the most documented reading in Albany (or elsewhere) my comments are a bit superfluous, but then no one else has my opinions (or cares about them for that matter). Plus I got there late.Poetyc Vyzonz was just c…

Walt Whitman

Why Poets Love Walt Whitman

Will Nixon has a new, in-depth article up discussing the question of “Why Poets Love Walt Whitman” going into the history and life of one of America’s best poets.

R.M. Engelhardt

Albany and Lark St. Poems and Haikus

Local poet and personality R.M. Engelhardt recently went ahead and gathered some of his many Albany and Lark Street poems on his blog…

Jason Crane

POEM: expenses

Listen to this poem using the player above. / / / expenses $1.00 for the three congueros           on the D train           black men with beautiful braids           down their backs           too meticulous to be dreadlocks $5.00 for queso made from yeast           bought from a friendly former hippie           in a Bushwick bar           where a bomb would have […]

UAG Gallery

It’s Time That We Saved & Encouraged The Things That…

R.M. Engelhardt posted the recent Times Union article discussing the possible closure of the beloved UAG Gallery on Lark Street, a gallery that has been home to many poetry events and open mics, including the Albany Word Fest, since they opened the doors over five years ago.

New page — “Recorded Readings”

I’ve done quite a few poetry readings over the past year, several of which have been recorded. I finally got around to putting them all together on one page — Recorded Readings. You can also access this page from the navigation menu on the…

Will Nixon

“What a Concept” by Michael Perkins

Recently, I attended two professional meetings at which leading national critics, artists and other creative folk discussed the future of what, for lack of a more “cutting edge” term everyone could agree on, they called art. (Although the real purpose … Continue reading

Therese Broderick

Month 5:27 “Ceiling Lamp, Kitchen”

CEILING LAMP, KITCHEN ~kelly green Beneath a flaring rim   (its inner cape pearl-white, one bulb glowing edgeless as the moon I saw last night partially hazed, haze magnifying circumference, moonlight leaking past boundaries)   I sit, eat red Cortlands, right-click, split open mail with a silver blade on a table off-center, just northeast of […]

Jason Crane

POEM: cotton candy

Listen to this poem using the player above. / / / cotton candy God was on the G train today disguised as an Ecuadorian man in his 40s He was selling cotton candy dozens of bags of it like palm leaves stapled to the top of a long stick it’s a thankless job, being God […]