Reads Poems

Family

I grew up in the midst of 50 or so first cousins dristributed between the families of my mother (Conlin) and father. Two of my mother's seven sisters became nuns the others married men named: Conlin women married men named Bennett, Crawford, Heintz, McCabe, and Walsh; my father's two sisters married men named Hall and Barry!

Oswego Porchfest 7, Sept. 18, 2022

Quick trip home to participate in Oswego Porchfest 7, where I performed Oswego Suite and a few other poems in the living room of the august Culkin home, whose stately porch had to be abandoned – on account of rain!

Oswego Porchfest 7, Sept. 18, 2022; Dave Read photo.
The poet surveys his audience!

I had requested a 5pm slot so that I would have time to prowl my old stamping grounds and enjoy the performances in front of houses that used to be targets for the porch-seeking missles we paperboys rolled the Syracuse Post-Standard into during the Kennedy administration! The rain that began falling around 4 may have shrunk the audience, but not the enjoyment. I had a blast and my auditors were as generous as any scribbler ever assembled! (click 1st image to enlarge/slideshow)

On the drive home to the Berkshires, during a daylong downpour, I began to compose a poem for Oswego Porchfest 8 – see ya there!