When I am at a loss for words…

"Props" from featured author/poet, Karen Faris' presentation of "Mannequin, My Mannequin" at "Word, Revisited" Cayuga Museum, Auburn, NY, October 11, 2018.  (Photo credit:  bill berry, jr.)

Every so often, there are rare moments where I become so engrossed in an artistic performance that I find it difficult to capture the event in words that equate what I witnessed. In those infrequent situations, I feel my aftershock, event analysis, and resulting descriptive words are inadequate. Words, sentences, paragraphs collide and unintentionally shatter into shards, and configure as spores meandering every which way even as my thoughts, my words intended to glisten, captivate and create rapture, easily escape and scatter into the crevices of the ether. 

You had to be there.

 

Carriage House Theater

 

This past Thursday

 

A “word, revisited” event.

 

Karen Faris, the featured reader.

 

bill berry, jr., CEO/Publisher aaduna Inc, "Mannequin," and Karen Faris, featured poet/author/performance artist (Photo credit: Lisa Brennan)

Rochester, NY based poet, writer, and mixed media artist, Ms. Faris premiered her poetry-driven performance titled “Mannequin, My Mannequin” from a larger piece “Aliens Like Us” and transformed a cabaret style venue into a distinguishable world manifested by earth’s destruction, alien introspection, unknown poet explanations and ongoing poetic dialogue with a mannequin that was a central character with changing hairstyles and loss of limbs that were essential components of its centrality. 

(Photo credit: bill berry, jr.)

{At the start of the performance piece, Stephen Cross, founder and director of Building Company Theater based in Syracuse, NY assisted Karen with subtle wit and male embarrassment – and with approval applause from the audience - in “dressing” the Mannequin.}

Stephen Cross, founder/director, Building Company Theater assists Karen Faris, featured poet, author, "Word, Revisited," Carriage House Theater, Auburn, NY, October  11, 2018  (Photo credit:  Lisa Brennan)

Word, Revisited M.C., Ron Van Nostrand welcomes Karen Faris to the stage (Photo credit:  bill berry, jr.)

With a measured and eloquent introduction by Ron Van Nostrand, the evening’s “word, revisited” emcee, Faris, playing multiple roles, exhibited her poetic “chops” as she explored the complexities of Earth’s apocalyptic oblivion, post destruction alien conversations, and pertinent poet observations of a huMANkind that had been caught up in misplaced and erroneous stances of male authority and unnecessary female acquiescence.  

 

Karen’s words were effervescent and exploratory as each nuanced statement, reflection, and themed story line dripped with and was enmeshed in poetic imagery that gently prompted contemporary meaning of gender roles without being “in your face.”   

 Video clip: "Strings of Motherhood"  by Karen Faris

The Karen Faris performance was a rousing testament to the unbridled power of words and how a creative person can shift, and mold, and construct words to bring forth a better understanding of the intricacies of our lives.

And then there was intermission, a time to mingle with the artist and share comradery with new and old friends.

(Left to Right) Karen Faris, Jeff Delbel (author), David Connelly (author), Jack Hardy, Board Member/Cayuga Museum  (Photo credit:  bill berry, jr.)

Doug Curry, Karen Faris, Glenda Neff and Ron Van Nostrand

(Photo credit: bill berry, jr.)

Jeff Delbel & bill berry, jr.

And then there was the open mic session.

(Front Row: left to right) Debra Rose Brillati (open mic), Jennifer Maloney (open mic), Gracen Lynch (open mic), Ron VanNostrand, M.C. "Word, Revisited"/Publisher, Olive Trees (co-sponsor), Doug Curry (open mic), Rachael Ikins (open mic), Laura Williams French (open mic), Crystal Pierce (open mic)

(Back Row: left to right) Kirsten Wise, Curator/Cayuga Museum (co-sponsor), bill berry, jr., CEO/Publisher aaduna (co-sponsor), Robin Flanigan (open mic), Karen Faris, featured poet/author, "Word, Revisited," Raymond Remu (open mic) and Theresa Motz (open mic)

 

An ongoing aspect of “word, revisited,” last Thursday’s session offered a diversity of open mic poets and their work. Some poems were grounded in thematic colorings related to the fall season. All works were consistently stepped in and resonated by passion, eloquence and thematic bridges that enabled the audience to drift into different and relevant experiences where poets spoke their truths and delivered universal messages. 

 

Kicked off by Ron Van Nostrand, he was followed by Crystal Pierce, Laura Williams French, Rachael Ikins, Glenda Neff, Debra Rose Brillati, Teresa Motz, Robin Flanagan, Jennifer Maloney, Gracen Lynch, Raymond Remu, and Doug Curry.  Their collective works explored poetic territory and created new landscapes of sensitivity and understanding.      

Ron Van Nostrand

Crystal Pierce

Laura Williams French

  

Poems traversed, dipped, glided and articulated tunnels of choice, winter landscapes marked a birch tree and new fallen snow, and the disposition of hair and the resulting sense of freedom.  Growing up in a different time and space, invisibility of body structure and the twilight of presence in thought, hearing and consciousness were complemented by harvest images, a brothel coming to town, the dizziness of expectation and audacity of desire, river walks and the after effects of farm life on human consumption. A recited poem penned in the 1920s from a Rochester published children’s book found listening space with “Dad’s Last Christmas” and its dynamics of aging, abandonment, and always being found.  

Rachael Ikins

Glenda Neff

Debra Rose Brillati

“Bars and Stars’ heralded the “civility” of violent conflict coupled with the plausibility and duality of hope and its two edged sword of optimism and anguish, and there was “Lady Liberty.” “Haunted” weaved a poignant tale of romantic love found, lost and remembered. Love’s crashes and stagnation and resolution.  “On Telling #Why I Didn’t Report” was a cautionary tale that drained emotions and set the stage for smoking a cigarette as a defining passage of life marked by sensitivities, seasonal clouds and aspects of gentle elegance. 

Teresa Motz

Robin Flanigan

Jennifer Maloney

Then there was the craziness of sharp blades and transformation, the poignancies of the number 7 and haunting sleep of a better world. 

Gracen  Lynch

Raymond Remu

A poet who re-found his voice and penned “My World is Fading” and the beauty of flowers, weeds and lost seeds of childhood; the countdown from 10 to 1 of relationship levels and its resulting dissolution and intransigence. 

Doug Curry

And then there was “No Show Today” a bittersweet reflection of a performance, of a life on stage supplemented by the winter’s natural beauty in an urban landscape marked by inherent differences not experienced in a rural winter setting.

 

My analysis, my meager words cannot fully indicate the strength and emotional directions that open mic poets took the audience on.

  

 

You had to be there.

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“word, revisited” is a literary series exclusively sponsored by the Cayuga Museum of History and Art, the far-reaching, always literary pertinent, three-decades young print publication Olive Trees, and the online literary and visual arts journal aaduna, a global presence since 2011.   

 

And plan to be in the Carriage House Theater, behind the Museum, on October 25^th at 6 PM for featured speaker, internationally and nationally applauded poet, Howard Nelson.

“word, revisited”…$3/person admittance…open mic sign up starts at 5:30 PM…wine, beer, soft drinks, and snacks are available for purchase…all proceeds go the Museum to support their ongoing work.     

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I mentioned Stephen Cross earlier. Visit http://www.syrbuildingcompany.com for further information on the theater company and what they do to strengthen communities.

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(Photo credits: Lisa A. Brennan unless otherwise indicated.)

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