Two Poets Laureate Headline Caffe Lena Reading

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Schenectady Poet Laureate Adonis Richards and his Saratoga Springs counterpart, Jay Rogoff, will headline a special Saturday matinee of Caffe Lena’s Open Poetry Mic on April 25, at 2 p.m.

Both will read from their work, and the traditional open mic will follow, hosted by poet Carol Graser. The event is co-sponsored by Caffe Lena Poetry and Rogoff’s Laureate Poetry Series. It is open to the public, with a $5 suggested donation.

Richards, a Union College program coordinator in the Office of Intercultural Affairs, was appointed Schenectady’s first poet laureate in September 2025. “Being a poet laureate,” he said in a news release, “is important and integral to a city with such a rich history. I want to establish a connection with the city and be able to build space for folks to write, to create, to express themselves in healthy and restorative ways.” His events for city residents range from workshop to hip-hop, several of them blending poetry with musical performance.

Rogoff, Saratoga Springs’ poet laureate since January, launched the Laureate Poetry Series, featuring readings by nationally known poets, themed group readings with area published poets, and workshops for adults, teens, and children. Most recently, he convened a dozen local poets for an April Fool’s Night funny-poem reading at Saratoga’s Whitman Brewery, and a dozen more for Poets in the Museum, premiering original poems inspired by works at Skidmore College’s Tang Museum.

Rogoff said that the most important aspects of the laureateship are “bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds to create and listen to poetry,” but also to be “a responsible, engaging poetic voice for the city and the area, finding the intersection of the personal and the public and celebrating Saratoga while also putting our contemporary world under a microscope.”