Woodstock Poetry Society
Featured Reading and Open Mike
Saturday, August 10th, 2024 at 2pm
Woodstock Library

HYBRID: in-person and virtually via Zoom

Craig Hancock
Marnie Andrews

Poets Craig Hancock and Marnie Andrews will be the featured readers, along with an open mike when the Woodstock Poetry Society when the Woodstock Poetry Society meets in person and streamed via Zoom on Saturday, Saturday, August 10th, 2024 at 2pm(eastern).

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

Woodstock Library
5 Library Lane, Woodstock, NY 12498
(845)679-2213
www.woodstock.org

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:

Craig Hancock - Craig Hancock retired in 2020 after fifty years of teaching, the last thirty-five at UAlbany, where he was Director of Writing and Reading for the Educational Opportunities Program, teaching courses in English and Linguistics. He has been a passionate advocate for more knowledge about language within the mainstream English curriculum. He has been a writer and musician all his adult life and for the last dozen or so years has been merging these interests as a songwriter. His first CD is projected for release prior to this reading. He is currently President of the Board of Directors for the Valatie Community Theatre, which will, with other programming, be hosting the world premier of Sam’s Point, a play written by Sybil Rosen and directed by Marnie Andrews, who will be appearing with him in the August program. He will be performing poems and songs and give a practitioner’s view of poetry and song, the challenges and rewards of merging the two worlds.


photo by Ralph Garner

High Sky
(song built from a poem)

Capo 2 (actual chords D, A, Bm, G)
C     G     Am     F     C    G      C
  C                G

High sky.    Late fall.
Am            F

Leaves flutter down
C              G

Like wingless birds.
C

Some find the water,
G

Some ride the current,
Am

Rootless now,
F                        C      G     C

Regret and longing left behind.
F                            C

And the kingfishers are back.
G                                 C

The air seemed empty without them
F                   C

And an egret now
G               C

As white as the coming snow.
Instrumental verse Repeat chorus (changed line—“the trees seemed quiet…”
Opening instrumental to fade

-Craig Hancock (words and music; October 2022)

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Marnie Andrews - Marnie is delighted to perform with the talented Craig Hancock. Together, they will present the world premiere of Sam’s Point at the Valatie Community Theatre November 7-10, 2024.

Marnie’s career is in the performing arts. She worked as an actress in LA and NYC in theatre, TV, and film and in theatre as a director. Having worked in all genres of plays, from classical to experimental theatre, her heart has always focused on the development of new work. She started directing in her thirties to have a stronger collaboration with the playwrights’ words. She taught at the U. of Southern CA., NYU, and U of Albany, and was a guest artist in acting and directing at other universities.

During all those jobs, she wrote. In the last few years, writing has become her main pursuit. She was awarded the Berrilla Kerr Playwriting Award after submitting a one woman show Singer in the 1990s. She has collaborated with her photographer/husband Jeff Jacobson with magazine articles and with composers as a lyricist. She is currently in the process of developing a body of work combining written word with storytelling.

Marnie is also a Master Gardener, volunteering with others in Ulster County and with the Clinton Community Garden in NYC.



Day 25. Light time

Everyone is up tonight,
all the lights are on
in the vista from my
bedroom window
over 42nd Street.

All the rooms are
different colors,
the decorations of
months ago are
finally down.

We’ve had time
to settle down,
back to work,
it’s Monday
after all.

Where did the
fall go? Holidays
blurred and with
Easter coming fast,
light lasts longer.

Do they feel time
rush by their
windows? Are they
just grateful to
lay heads on

down pillows
at the end of a
long day? Will
that time come
when I can rest,

not feel it go
so fast, not worry
for the day to come,
be content with the view
of others at their windows?

Remember the day when all
light went out, when we
climbed the heavy stairs and
wondered when Time Square
stopped ticking?

Is it better to know our fate,
Or take comfort in the
idea that we control
the date with the
flick of the light switch?

What will dreams tell us
in the dark? Can words
give the spark of showing
where we are, how far must
we go to know ourselves

in all this commotion
of perceived time.

-Marnie Andrews

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Developing WPS 2024 Schedule - now in-person at the Woodstock Library and via Zoom (and streamed live on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WoodstockPoetry)
All WPS Events: Events

01/January 13th - Patrick Hammer, Jr.; Robert Langdon
02/February 10th - Lissa Kiernan; Mary K O'Melveny
03/March 9th - Ethan Sirotko; Janet Kaplan
04/April 13th - Poetry Month Special Event ("Unbroken Circle")
05/May 11th - Roger Mitchell; Steve Clorfeine
06/June 8th - Barry Wallenstein; Richard Levine
07/July 13th - Karen Schoemer; Martin Steingesser
08/August 10th - Craig Hancock; Marnie Andrews
09/September 14th - Christopher Heffernan; Jerrice J. Baptiste
10/October 12th - Joann Deiudicibus; Thomas Festa
11/November 9th - Judy Lechner; Teresa Costa
12/December 14th - TBA and Annual Business Meeting

Also, why not become a 2024 Member of the Woodstock Poetry Society?

Membership is $20 a year. (To join, 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 meeting space rental, 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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