Carol Durant is the 2018 Book Excellence Award winner for Whole Phat and Gluten Free Poetry and she is the host of the Outliers Poetry Brunch at Eden Cafe Loudonville (Albany) NY. She was one of the featured poets at the Spencertown Academy Arts Center 13th Annual Festival of Books and was a local artist participant in the Inaugural Albany Book Festival at University at Albany sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute. Carol is a proud member of the Greene County Council of the Arts. She is an UAlbany Alumna with a Masters degree in Africana Studies.
In January 2017,Carol decided to become a published author and Whole Phat and Gluten Free Poetry; her first book of poetry hit the shelves in September. Carol also decided to become an actress in 2017. Carol performed in an encore presentation of Harriet Tubman visits The Therapist, directed by Jean-Remy Monnay at Schenectady Civic Theater. She has appeared as Phoebe in As You Like It at Sand Lake Center for the Arts directed by Barbara Leavell Smith, The Help in An Inspector Calls, directed by Patrick White and The Therapist in Harriet Tubman visits The Therapist directed by Jean-Remy Monnay of Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY f/k/a Soul Rebel Performance Troupe. Carol works at a local cemetery and is the Board Secretary for Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar.
From Whole Phat and Gluten Free Poetry
LEXICON BOND
I dream about writing and then I stop.
I dream about writing then I pause.
I dream about writing then I sigh.
I dream about writing and then I awake and
don’t write. Is it because it takes passion and
solace or malice and tears;
Angst and frustration and assuaged fears
What does it take to filet you soul for others
to feast?
And find the destination that you have
selected, Full blown cues or discreet
molecular views.
But they journey with care and the unknown.
Trusting that you, my captain, will always
keep the North Star dear and
Never fear the tip of the iceberg or the teeth
of Cerberus.
Commence to click, pen, write.
BE WOKE
It’s a joke that I just became woke, so that
I can see
The injustice that swirls around me
It’s a joke that I just became woke so that
I can feel
The tears that flow down my face because
reality is too real
I didn’t imagine another killing with blood
spilling on the road and more disdain and pain
Without justice for our gain
It’s a joke that I just became woke so that
I can see
You can grab my soul and beat your pole in
front of me and no one dared to tell or dispel
The look of all the joy that evaporated
from me
It’s a joke that I just became woke so that
I can see
I needed me, to anchor my thoughts, toss my
THOTs and get myself clean
To make me focus on the struggle that is
in me
It’s a joke that I just became woke, so that
I can see
I need to put the oxygen on me to save us
from the enslaved us
And soldier on, while the war waits for the
rage to catch on.
It’s a joke that I just became woke, so that
I can see
You can prove that-one, can show a direction
to take or pathway to create
While victory imminent or years away, is a
goal with work and dismay
It’s a joke that I just became woke, so that
I can see
I need shades to see through the light; that
sometimes blinds me
From seeing the truth that will keep me free
RE-FUSED
I thought of you today and remembered that u
had taken me off your social media
It was not because I was rude or eschewed
your rep or gave up some muse
I have no clue what made you askew
I have tried to figure out what I did. I said
something loud or wrong or smiled too long
I usually have better etiquette, but I took
a wrong turn, I suspect.
I spent days and nights with paranoid sheep,
consternation preventing the sleep
Gone are the days that I adored, that we
laughed and poured all the beer,
both cheap and craft, passed out and woke up
to order 40 wings and knots too.
Not a care to think that work was near and the
fun on hold until the next weekend appeared.
Time has passed and it still irks me, but
I hit a point that did alert me:
What if the issue is not mine?
What I did does not exist.
A choice was made that without a sound;
was placed and delivered without failing
a test
or issuing a warning or beating down
So, I now sleep soundly and go forth renewed.
Later, old acquaintance, finally reviewed.