Jazz + Poetry Reading, April 10

at the Opalka Gallery at Russell Sage College, Albany, NY, in conjunction with National Poetry Month & Jazz Appreciation Month (&, I also note, that April 10 this year is “Poem in Your Pocket Day”), with the back drop of the current exhibit, Osi Audu: The Self in African Art.

The evening began with an hour of jazz by vocalist Jeanne O’Connor & Azzaam Hameed on the keyboard, to an enthusiastic, appreciative audience. I like jazz & I like poetry so it was a perfect evening for me.

Local poet Carol Durant was the emcee for the poetry reading, organized in 2 sets, with 5 poets, plus an add-on student in the first set. 

Suzanne Rancourt read first & in her first set read a poem each from her books Songs of Archilochus (Unsolicited Press, 2023) & Old Stones, New Roads (Main Street Rag Press, 2021), & a new piece about AI, “Long Haul.” In the second set she read a brutal, upsetting poem from Songs of Archilochus, then another (not from the book) titled “Tunneling with My Friend Mole.”

It was obvious from the start that Shana Gourdine is a motivational speaker as she read from her book The Mask Behind the Mask a poem in the form of a lecture, “You Matter,” as was the next piece titled with the repeating refrain “Power, Position, Positively.” She continued in the same vein in the second set with 2 pieces about continuing to struggle against hurdles including medical issues, one piece even titled “Overcomer 2.3.”

Josh Herter was introduced as being on the faculty here at Russell Sage College & he read just one short poem in each set, the first titled “The Scent” about the way Autumn smells.

Reading only in the first set was Emma, who is a student at the College. She read a piece about self-image titled “Pretty, Ugly” that cleverly flipped the language in the first part of the piece from negative to positive in the second half, that the audience seemed to like.

Lani Larson began each of the pieces she read with quotes from her own writing; in the first set she read only one piece, “Tortured Poets.” In the second set she read a new version of the well-known “Irish Blessing,” then a meditation on why she writes.

In her first set Carol Durant read from her phone, the first piece a reflection on creativity & community at Eden Cafe coffee shop & performance space, the next was a defiant rant, “In My Hair.” In her second set she read 3 poems from her 2020 collection Cold Pressed and Just Brewed Poetry & had the audience call out random numbers to correspond to the pages of the poems on the book, the audience creating her set list.

Check out the current exhibit at the Opalka Gallery, 140 New Scotland Ave., Albany, NY & check their website for other activities & events there.