Woodstock Poetry Society
Featured Reading and Open Mike
Saturday, November 13th, 2021 at 2pm

via Zoom

Elizabeth Cohen
Mary Leonard

Poets Elizabeth Cohen and Mary Leonard will be the featured readers, followed by an open mike when the Woodstock Poetry Society meets virtually via Zoom on Saturday, November 13th, 2021 at 2pm.

WPS meetings are held the 2nd Saturday (2pm) of every month.

Due to the ongoing pandemic - for now, all meetings will be held virtually via Zoom
The Zoom app can be downloaded here: Zoom Download Center

To attend: contact phillip@woodstockpoetry.com to receive Zoom info
If attending, please indicate if you would like to be on the open mike. Thank you.

The reading will be hosted by poet Phillip X Levine. All meetings are free, open to the public, and include an open mike.

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Features:

Elizabeth Cohen - Elizabeth Cohen is associate professor of creative writing/English at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. She is co-editor of Saranac Review and author of The Family on Beartown Road, a memoir; The Hypothetical Girl, a book of short stories, and six books of poetry, including most recently, The Patron Saint of Cauliflower.



if rabbits had hands

 the children of aleppo
are eating grass

handfuls of grass
which they pry from the ground

with little hands
their eyes dart as they feed

like small meticulous rabbits
if rabbits had hands

they have learned how to pretend
they do not hear the distant booming

of barrel bombs
and have trained themselves

to hear the sound of sunshine
on broken glass

the brave sound of raindrops
on asphalt

the sound of trucks moving around
in the night

which is the sound of maybe
the dream of bread

the children of aleppo
still play

you can see them in photographs
on their Big Wheels

and scooters and holding their dolls
and stuffed lions and dogs

one doll had bandages
on its arm

another was missing a leg

-Elizabeth Cohen

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Mary Leonard - Mare Leonard lives and works in the Hudson Valley where she is an Associate of the Institute for Writing and Thinking and the MAT programs at Bard College. She has published five chapbooks of poetry, the latest at Finishing Line Press in 2018. Recently she has published poems at Ariel Chart, Terror House and Rat’s Ass Review, and in a worldwide anthology of poems re Covid-19. Finally she was nominated for a pushcart by The Pickled Body and in addition a full length poetry book will be published this year at Terror House Press.



Sh-Boom

Do the three blondes sipping Ombre Pink Drinks
believe they're on break from coding at Fitbit
or know they flew the coop, birds with lonely wings.

I hanker to solve the mystery of their designer bags,
pull out a magnifying glass from my backpack,
slip by to identify brown leather, logo in script.

Google says, Gucci:  1000 new, 600 used.
Blonde envy jumps out of a bottle,
at thirteen I bleached my black frizz.

Blondes have more fun.
In '61, I idolized Bob and Justine
sliding the Stroll on American Bandstand.

Life could be a dream   Boom ba doh da
At the country club, I perched at the edge
of the cool blue pool, tapped on my knees.

I peeked through binoculars,
scouted five blonde moms, ten gin and tonics,
piles of discards, stacks of failed tricks,

pastel Bermuda bags clustered on their chairs,
one initialed BABS.  My secrets hid
         inside a paper sack.

  At Starbucks The blondes laugh,
 He complains about cooking for the kids.
Guccis pulled to their chests, they exit in their Mercedes

Every Fall, I ran door to door, watched moms
float toward me, thrilled to see a Girl Scout.
 I'll take five boxes of thin mints, love them love...

They tripped back with two twenties, said,
 keep the change   Sweetheart.

-Mary Leonard

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Developing WPS 2021 Schedule - all readings held via Zoom
All of 2021 Events: Events

Due to the ongoing pandemic - for now, all meetings will be held virtually via Zoom
The Zoom app can be downloaded here: Zoom Download Center

To attend: contact phillip@woodstockpoetry.com to receive Zoom info
If attending, please indicate if you would like to be on the open mike following the featured readers. Thank you.

01/January 9th - Canceled
02/February 13th - Canceled
03/March 13th - Guy Reed; Victoria Sullivan via Zoom
04/April 10th - Judith Kerman; Leslie Gerber via Zoom
05/May 8th - Judith Saunders; Raphael Kosek via Zoom
06/June 12th - Elizabethanne Spiotta; William Seaton via Zoom
07/July 10th - Barbara Ungar; Lucia Cherciu via Zoom
08/August 14th - Irene Sipos; Perry S. Nicholas via Zoom
09/September 11th - Nine-Eleven 20 years later via Zoom
                             To present during this event - email: phillip@woodstockpoetry.com
10/October 9th - Jacqueline Ahl; Philip Pardi via Zoom
11/November 13th - Elizabeth Cohen; Mary Leonard via Zoom
12/December 11th - Amy Ouzoonian; Anique Taylor and Annual Business Meeting via Zoom

Also, why not become a 2021 Member or donate to the Woodstock Poetry Society?

Membership is $20 a year. (To join or donate, send your check to the Woodstock Poetry Society, P.O. Box 531, Woodstock, NY 12498. Include your email address as well as your mailing address and phone number. Or join online at: www.woodstockpoetry.com/become.html). Your membership helps pay for our upgraded Zoom account, post-office-box rental, the WPS website, and costs associated with publicizing the monthly events. One benefit of membership is the opportunity to have a brief biography and several of your poems appear on this website.

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