A Monday Night with Mindy
I don’t remember if I first found the Saturn Series poetry
readings when my mother passed, but it seems to touch that spot for me. I know it is largely Su Polo (and past
co-hosts) that makes everyone feel so welcome at her weekly reading series (in
its 19th year!). I feel able
to be somewhat emotionally naked there.
I feel understood. And I tend to
share my tumultuous inner world. I was
very happy to have been asked to feature, and to top it off, she had asked me
who I’d like to feature with. I picked
Mindy Levokove who agreed, and I called it the night of two Mindys. Su began calling it Mindy Squared.
Before leaving home, my dog had an unexpected need for another
walk, so I was late. Su begins with
open-mic readers, so it was fine. I was
given such a welcome when I arrived that I almost felt like a movie star. 
I was particularly disorganized in gathering material to read
this time. It reflects my paper clutter
at home. I had to remind myself that the
audience does not know any of that and just knows what I present. It was a strange combination of older poems
and rough drafts of new stuff. I was
still revising drafts on the train ride from the Bronx to Union Square. So when I arrived, I still didn’t have things
in the order I wanted to read them. I
felt bad to be organizing my papers while people were sharing their work. Then when we had to work out who goes first,
Mindy Levokove was fine with going first which gave me the time I needed. She sang her work and played a shruti box for
some of it. I never heard that
before. Mindy Levokove is full of
surprises, and this night was no exception.
the poem
I have in there, “Brown Leaf in February.” Some of the people there know me to
be amusing, so I had to read something deserving of that reputation. I read, “Divorce, Poor American Style.” It amused.
I got to meet a Facebook friend in person, Gabriel Levicky. It means so much to me that Jay Chollick was
there. I wasn’t too late to hear him and
Evie Ivy and Pete Dolack and others I enjoy.
Bernard Block dedicated his open mic contribution to me. My playwright friend and co-worker, Richard
Ploetz, attended the reading. Some
people I thought would be there were not there.
By the end of my set, I read a rough draft about where
schizophrenia grows in a poem called, “When One Is the Filler for the Other’s
Fractures.”
I was back in my neighborhood at about 11:30pm. The humidity was high. Under a tree at one end of my block, four
people were playing dominoes. Down the
block and across the street, there were many police vehicles and traffic was
blocked. I thought there must’ve been a
traffic accident. I think that corner
merits an episode on “Survivor.” Later,
when I went to the all-night store, I learned from someone who lives in that
corner building that a man who was sitting at home was shot dead. 
Wow Mindy. What a powerful story.
No day is promised.
Thanks for reading. I have since gotten the impression the murdered person was sitting in front of the building across the street. I am out there often -- store, Laundromat, walking my dog, etc., etc. I know anything can happen anywhere and does, but this feels terribly close.
A pleasure to attend the "Evening of the 2 Mindies". It's tough to get one's butt out sometimes - but so often worth the effort - this was one of those times. So thanks!
Good luck with Luigi - and keep a low profile getting home late at night!
ricardo