By David S. Lewis

VOORHEESVILLE – “Poetry makes nothing happen.  It survives in the valley of its saying,” according to the English poet W. H. Auden.

Perhaps that is true, but several Voorheesville writers are making poetry happen, and they have arranged a “valley for its saying” on South Main Street.

The first Sunday Four Poetry Open Mic will be hosted at the Old Songs on South Main Street in Voorheesville, and one of its chief coordinators, Dennis Sullivan, is expecting a turnout from across Albany County.

“I am sure we are going to draw people from the cities of Albany and Schenectady, and I believe there are many poets hiding in the Hilltowns,” said Sullivan, a local historian and poet who also edits an academic journal on restorative justice.  “I think there are many poets up in the hills, in Berne, Knox, and Westerlo…Not necessarily hiding out, but looking for a venue in which to share their work with others.”

Sullivan, a connoisseur of poetic performance, said he has been to many open mics and found more than a few wanting.

“There is an open mic at the Log Cabin, for example, and poets read while there is an active bar in the other room,” explained Sullivan.  “It becomes difficult to attain the kind of quiet and attentiveness that is required for poetry at that venue.”

Sullivan said that he hopes the attitude at the Sunday Four gathering, which will take place on the fourth Sunday of every month, will allow poets a respectful audience.

“It is interesting to note that most of the open mic venues, in my opinion, are personality-driven, in the sense that the host exudes a major presence on the evening,” said Sullivan.  “We hope to have less of that, for we have three co-hosts.”

Local poets Michael Burke and Edie Abrams will share with Sullivan the duties of introducing the poets.  Each open mic session will include a featured area poet, who will read their poetry for 15 to 20 minutes; thereafter the microphone will be turned over to the audience, whose members will read his or her own poetry. 

Sullivan hopes to draw on the talents of the local Voorheesville poetry circle, a group of which meets Thursdays at the Voorheesville Public Library for a writer’s workshop; there the poets apply a critical eye to the work of everyone in the group.  Sullivan said the levels of criticism are left up to the reader.

“You do have a choice about what level of criticism you hear.  Some people ask for the straight-ahead criticism, as it were; the five-dollar job,” said Sullivan.  “Others say they would like ‘gentle nods’ as to whether the group found something interesting in the poem.  Ninety percent of the people are looking for the five-dollar job.

The group has not been hesitant to offer the full five dollars worth, I might add,” he concluded.

Sullivan said that efforts had been made to reach out to newcomers, and not just voices already familiar in the local scene.  He has contacted several area high schools and encouraged young, aspiring poets to lend their ears and efforts to the group as well.

Although the Sunday Four sessions “welcomes all poets, those striving to be poets, and lovers of language,” Sullivan said that there are some principles to which the group shall adhere.

“We expect to have a sophisticated core…so, if your idea of poetry is the sowing of oats in chaos, you might not feel well among us,” he said. 

“We do hope to follow, to the degree we can, the Dutch principle of ‘gezelligheig,’” said Sullivan, referring to the Dutch word for “sense of community.”

“We envision and hope to achieve a venue, where people dedicated to poetry feel at home,” he said, “a place to experiment, and perhaps fail, with their new work.”

The first featured poet will be Voorheesville librarian Barbara Vink, who is also one of the founders of the poetry group that meets at the library.

“I’ve been writing an Alzheimer’s book for my parents, who both have it, and I have a series of poems on the same subject,” said Vink on her plans for the performance.  “I am going to read from the book, and then some of the poems, alternate them a bit.

“So I guess the theme is crazy people.”

Vink said that performing poetry has certain advantages over simply reading it.

“You reach a wider audience; people are not reading poetry, and particularly when you can get a topic that is timely, I think it may draw some people who have an interest in that,” she said.  “Dennis’s idea of having this at Old Songs is innovative and will draw a different crowd.”

The first Sunday Four will be at 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 25, at the Old Songs center, 37 South Main St., Voorheesville.  Admission is free and open to the poetry-loving public.