Sullivan County Poet Laureate Kevin Graham will be the featured performer at Open Mic First Fridays at the Western Sullivan Public Library’s Delaware Free Branch (45 Lower Main St., Callicoon) on Friday, September 5, 6–8 p.m.
Sign-ups begin at 5:45 p.m.; the open mic runs 6–7 p.m. with Graham’s featured set 7–8 p.m.
Graham, a poet, musician, and visual artist, plans an improvised performance that blends live looping guitar with spoken poetry—a hybrid he describes as part score, part reading. “I’ll improvise the music and fit the poem around it,” he explained in a studio demo ahead of the event. “The loop sets the mood and the pacing; the poem adapts to the sound.”
The laureate says the approach helps audiences hear poetry more clearly. By stretching the cadence to the contours of the loop, he reads slower, with more breath and space—“almost lyrical,” he said—so listeners can sit inside the words rather than chase them. During the demo, he layered a gentle guitar motif beneath lines like: “I try to think my thinking into a plum and throw it into the thornbush, but it always reappears in my throat full of ants.”
A “creativity support group,” not just a workshop
Beyond performing, Graham has channeled much of his laureate tenure into regular poetry workshops on Zoom (announced via Sullivan County Poet Laureate on Instagram/Facebook). Participants share work and talk frankly about process, roadblocks, and productivity. The tone is intentionally encouraging.
“We focus on what’s working,” he said. “When several people point to the same line or image, it builds confidence—and that’s fuel to keep creating.”
He also publishes short essays on creativity and productivity on his Substack, reflecting a belief that art-making is a life skill, not a niche pursuit. “Tools like AI can be useful,” Graham noted, “but the lasting satisfaction comes from struggling through the making itself.”
From film scores to open mics
Musically, Graham’s palette draws on jazz, classical, and film music. Think ambient, cinematic textures with the spontaneity of improvisation. He likens the guitar-and-loop bed to a film score for poems, a way to “open a door for the poetry to get in.” Friday’s set will be fully improvised musically, with poems selected from work he’s written in recent years.
Expect variety: some pieces are existential and melancholy; others are abstract and playful. And expect atmosphere. Graham hopes to dim the lights and “set a vibe,” underscoring the performance’s intimate, exploratory feel.
Libraries as portals of discovery
Graham also highlighted a new Library Passport offered through the Ramapo Catskill Library System—stampable at branches across the region—as a nudge back toward serendipitous, in-person discovery. “There’s a different kind of power in finding something you weren’t looking for,” he said. “Libraries still make that possible.”