In the late 1990s & into the early part of this century I created and ran a spoken word poetry open mic called THE SCHOOL OF NIGHT at Valentine’s as well as at a few other locations afterwards in Albany, NY. The open mic was always extremely crowded and popular and we did alot of themed nights also such as Beat Generation Night, Poe Halloween Benefits Bukowski Night and some other cool evenings before alot of these ideas took hold in other places. But as all good things my SON had a predecessor. The original group of poets in the time of Marlowe, Raleigh & Shakespeare.
Who knows?
Whenever history needs inspiration it might just return again .
Just received the great news that I will be reading/performing some of the poems from my new book ” We Rise Like Smoke Poems Psalms Incantations” and opening for the band ” THE DUST BOWL FAIRIES” On THURSDAY, AUGUST 19TH 8PM AT THE LINDA WAMC
*Tickets can be purchased thru Eventbrite*
I’m looking forward to seeing all of you there and I hope that you can make it.
DUST BOWL FAERIES is a dark-carnival band from the New York Hudson Valley. Their eclectic repertoire of songs draw inspiration from circus, post-punk and Eastern European folk music. Accordion, singing saw, ukulele, lap-steel, acoustic guitar and percussion combine to create the Dust Bowl Faeries otherworldly sound. The band was founded by Ryder Cooley (faerie queen) and her taxidermy spirit animal Hazel the Ram. Ryder and Hazel are joined by Jon B. Woodin (rocket faerie), Rubi LaRue (feisty faerie), Liz LoGiudice (river faerie) & Andrew Stein (time faerie). Dust Bowl Faeries released a new album, The Plague Garden, in 2020. Previously, they released two EP’s, Beloved Monster and The Dark Ride Mixes, as well as their self titled debut album, produced by music critic Seth Rogovoy, featuring Tommy Stinson (Replacements) & Melora Creager (Rasputina).
R.M. ENGELHARDT is an American poet, writer & author who over the last 25 years has published several books of poetry including “Where There Is No Vision, Coffee Ass Blues & Other Poems”, “The Last Cigarette: The Collected Poems of R.M. Engelhardt”, “The Resurrection Waltz”, “Dark Lands” and others. Through his ideas and visions he has helped to create a large amount of the Upstate/Albany, NY spoken word~poetry scene and is the former host of the long running “School of Night” An Open Forum-Mic For All Poets. Co-founder of the group Albany Poets and the creator of the annual poetry event The Albany WordFest. He currently lives in Albany, NY.
We Rise Like Smoke Poems Psalms Incantations by R.M. Engelhardt
*His new book of poetry is entitled “We Rise Like Smoke” Poems, Psalms & Incantations 2021 now available on Amazon.com through DeadMansPressInk.
Had a great interview last night with friend Jim Gilbert & Nippertown last night about the history of the Albany, NY Poetry Scene, Writing & My New Book if Poems “We Rise Like Smoke : Poems Psalms Incantations” 2021/Published by DEADMANSPRESSINK. Now Available On Amazon.
Life, poetry in general is about experience and language. How you present this rare magic is key. The writer or poet is not an expert. It’s how you present it. In other words? Each God is a God and each man is a man or for that matter woman. A line is a line and beauty is beauty. Tragedy is tragedy and you own both. There are no workshops or religions that can ever teach you to be you or how to live or write. You must find these words by yourself and then put them down on paper or find your own way, your own path in the dark.
