THE WARMTH OF ZOOM

Before hurtling through and beyond Thanksgiving, I’d like to give thanks to Matthew Hupert for providing me with a chance to read my poems last Thursday, November 20, via the NeuroNautic Institute, the superb online venue he has continued to run in the face of the pandemic. To those who grumble about and understandably mourn the absence of in-the-flesh poetry readings, Matthew’s work as an emcee and impressario provides a stern corrective. On the night I read, warmth and conviviality bubbled among the writers in their Hollywood Squares, even in the absence of a bar.

Keeping the action moving briskly and with considerable wit, Matthew offered an evening of spicy variety in terms of the performers. I found the New York City feeling that I hope my own recent work embodies flowing in tune with that of the other featured readers, almost as if we were each soloists at a jam session. Leading off the proceedings was Mario J. Pagán Morales, whose pungent street-pictures of Crotona Park and elsewhere were peppered with Spanish phrases and, cruelly for those who had not yet eaten dinner, evocative references to arroz con pollo and similar delicacies. I followed with my paeans to Manhattan.

Next came Yukio Otomo , whose short, meditative lyrics popped with such stunning phrases as “Death is riddled with anonymity.” (Contemplate that one.) Especially mesmerizing was Laura Davis-Chanin’s rendition from the pages of her recent memoir, The Girl in the Back: A Female Drummer's Life with Bowie, Blondie, and the '70s Rock Scene . Amazon’s blurb for the book conveys a touch of the feeling Davis-Chanin’s prose conveys: “Nineteen seventy-seven. New York City. Dark. Dangerous. Thrilling. Punk Rock. Blondie. David Bowie. Drinking. Drugs. Happening at the speed of light.”

There will come a time, one hopes, when the NeuroNautic readings return to their original live home, the memorable Red Room of the KGB Bar on New York’s Lower East Side. (The bar is having a hard time surviving the pandemic, and the owners could use contributions to stay afloat.) Yet it’s important to remember that Matthew and his partner, the talented poet Meghan Grupposo, as well as many others like them, have been resilient enough to provide a new form of creative warmth on Zoom.