[Quincy Lehr]

Since, due to a series of bizarre events, I seem to be the announcer for a large proportion of New York City events despite not living there, here's another. The Saturn Series is one of the longest-running and more metrical-friendly open readings in New York City.

If I were in town, it would be a real toss-up between this and Nemo's "Active Ingredients" reading on the same night. I'd probably have to flip a coin.

At any rate, the announcement:

Terese Coe will read at the Saturn Series at The Nightingale, 213 Second Avenue (at the corner of E. 13 St.) on Monday, October 23 at 7 pm. The hosts are David Elsasser and Su Polo, and there is a two-drink minimum and a $3 contribution. Open reading for both free verse and metrical poems.

Terese's poems, translations, and book reviews have appeared (or will soon appear) in Poetry, Threepenny Review, Orbis (UK), Nimrod, 32 Poems, Smartish Pace, Agenda (UK), Poetry Nottingham (UK), Measure, Blue Unicorn, The Evansville Review,The Formalist, The Interlude Poetry Anthology (UK), Candelabrum (UK), and Leviathan Quarterly (UK), among others, and her first collection of poems, The Everyday Uncommon, won a Word Press publication prize and was published in February 2005. A forthcoming anthology of centos edited by Theresa Welford will include two of her centos, one of lines by Shakespeare and one of lines by William Butler Yeats.

Terese was awarded a 2006 residence at Vermont Studio Center and was a finalist in the 2004 Willis Barnstone Translation Prize, a semifinalist in the 2004-5 Nimrod/Hardman Prize, a finalist in a 2005 Orbis Readers' Poll, and has received two Pushcart nominations and two grants from Giorno Poetry Systems.

[Janet Kenny]

Quincy,
Thank you for reminding us of Terese's dedication and persistence in the difficult world of poetry.
Janet

[Quincy Lehr]

Yes, Terese is one of those people who actually helps promote what is potentially a real culture of poetry in New York City, which is sustained not only through journals and web sites like this one, but environments where one can go and hear, perform, and discuss poetry with actual live human beings.

Quincy

[Rhina P. Espaillat]

Terese read for us this summer here in Newburyport. The Saturn Series is in for a treat!

[Meredith Bergmann]

Terese's was the first reading I heard at Modern Metrics, and it was delightful. If you've only read her posts or her poems, you know her vitality, humor and sensitivity. But hearing her actual voice is a special treat.

I'll be there if I can.

And thank, Quincy, for lingering as our loyal host/local ghost in the machine.

[Quincy Lehr]

Bumping up tonight's NYC events.

[Janet Kenny]

Did anyone hear Terese read? If she's reading this I want her to know that I'm sure it was great success and I'm looking forward to her version when she's let out of the cellar.

Janet

[Quincy Lehr]

To echo Janet, how did it go, Terese?

[Terese Coe]

Janet and Quincy, thanks for asking.

The Nightingale is an elegant venue: a large room with a square step-up stage in the middle, subdued lighting with a spot that the poet can use as he or she likes by moving the pages into it, a long bar facing the little stage, and couches and other seating to the sides of the stage. Excellent sound system.

A regular group shows up most weeks, and Oct. 23 was no different; we had a good responsive crowd including a number of friends as well. The hosts alternate: David Elsasser and Sue Polo, who have been doing the Saturn Series at this venue for 12 years! That's a long time by poetry reading standards, and their kind personalities give you the reason.

Here's my reading list for the night:

Nicaea (adaptation from Posidippus)
Seeing Matisse
Machu Picchu
Jaguar Hunter
Café Noir
Saint John’s Bread
The Bodhi Tree
Zhang Zhung
The Princess of Torn in Taxis Redux
Not Venting but Bitching
Circular Retreat
Film Noir
Why You Can’t Go Home Again
Pet Resume
Lullaby (translation from Rilke)
Mackie Messer (adaptation from Brecht)

The audience laughed in all the right places--which is the best kind of audience!

Wendy Sloan, Chris Potter, and Ray Pospisil read in the Open, and each of them impressed the crowd considerably I think (Ray is a regular there as well). In fact Chris Potter (head mod at the Gazebo) is going to have her own reading there in February. Her first collection, Zero Degrees at First Light is just out from David Robert Books (Kevin Walzer and Lori Jareo)—take a look, it's well worth it!

Wendy, Chris and her husband Ken, and I sat together and rolled with laughter at Douglas Collura's comical prose-poems (except for Ken—maybe it was a girl thing). For a while we could have been three teenage girls hanging out at the corner candy store.

Other news: Wendy Sloan will read for Modern Metrics in January, Kate Light in February, and Len Krisak of Powow in March!

Terese


[This message has been edited by Terese Coe (edited November 10, 2006).]