Beth Sholom’s open-mic night features poets, musicians

PAWTUCKET – Music and poetry filled Wildflour Vegan Bakery and Cafe on Feb. 11, as dozens of people gathered for Congregation Beth Sholom’s Community Open-Mic Night.

Beth Sholom’s Rabbi Barry Dolinger introduced the evening, which, despite being billed as an “open-mic night,” showcased a pre-arranged schedule of readers and musical acts.

The first performer introduced by Master of Ceremonies Emily Goldberg Winer was Natalie Lyalin, who read several of her poems. She said that when she’s asked what inspires her to write, she replies, “Everyday-life things. I write about kids, mom and dad, God.” Her poem “Momfight” ends with the line, “And she knew God / but I had only just met him.”

Lyalin, who is the chief experience officer at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, was followed by singer/songwriter and substitute teacher Avi, who played a couple of original songs, including “Naked.”

Rabbi Mark Elber, from Temple Beth El, in Fall River, Massachusetts, read next, from his poetry collection “Headstone,” which won the Henry Morgenthau III Poetry Prize, for a first book of poems by a writer age 70 or older, from Passager Books. His poems explore his youth in Sunnyside, Queens, in New York City; his parents, who were Holocaust survivors, and his family history and legacy.

In his poem “My Father’s Hands,” Elber writes of his father’s decision not to accept reparations from Germany: “refusing reparations / for the snuffed-out generations.” Another poem, about his then-baby son, called “Small Hands,” explores the everyday beauty of raising a child and ends with the line, “with nothing up your sleeve / but the softest skin.”

Steve and Naomi Stein sang next, harmonizing on “River,” by Bill Staines, a song they used to sing to their children. “One more verse,” Steve said midway through the song, adding, “I’ll try not to cry, it always gets me.” They also sang “Won’t You Come and Sing for Me,” by Chris Thile, while a baby in the audience joined in.

Talia read a selection of Mary Oliver poems, including “When Death Comes” and “Wild Geese,” and then public-school teacher Shai read three poems about teaching, two about being a student and one about being the instructor.

Marin, a poet and singer/songwriter, read “Ninja Goblins,” a poem about mental health, and sang a song, written for a friend who died from cancer, with the refrain “it’s a little like.”

Next, Rabbi Preston Neimeiser, from Temple Beth-El, in Providence, led a singalong of a nigun, a song or prayer without words. He then played on the guitar “Don’t Let Us Get Sick,” by Warren Zevon.

Moon, a singer/songwriter new to the area, followed with two original songs, “Wonderland” and “Needed a Friend.”

The musical portion of the night finished with Alex, who played a song he wrote after his mother died, which made at least one person in the audience cry, and included the lyric, “we’re only human, but we think that we’re more.”

The night ended with Evie reading poems and Jullian accompanying softly on guitar as the staff at Wildflour closed up for the night.

The program was made possible through a microgrant from the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

SARAH GREENLEAF (sgreenleaf@jewishallianceri.org) is the digital marketing specialist for the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and writes for Jewish Rhode Island.