Next Up to The Mic: Nancy Klepsch at The Olde English Pub

This week on Next Up to the Mic, we’re reaching back into the archives to August 12, 2019, when local poets gathered at the Olde English Pub in Albany for “The Past in Poetry,” a special evening presented in collaboration with Historic Cherry Hill.

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Historic Cherry Hill preserves more than two centuries of Albany history through the stories of the generations who called Cherry Hill home. In 2019, the organization joined with local poets for “The Past in Poetry,” an evening that explored some of those same themes—family, memory, place, and our relationship with the past.

This week we’ll hear from Capital Region poet Nancy Klepsch.

Nancy Klepsch is a local poet and educator. Her poems have been published in Oberon, 13th Moon, Poetry magazine, Salvage, 200 Proof and Chronogram among others. god must be a boogie man was her first book of poetry. She has been reading at featured readings or open mics in the Albany area for over 25 years. Klepsch is the co-host, with Dan Wilcox, of the Second Sunday @ 2 open mic for poetry and prose in Troy, NY.

Nancy shared a handful of poems that approach the past from different directions, including the poignant “Home from the War” and “Call Me Ishmael,” a poem invoking the spirit of Herman Melville.