Tonight’s National Poetry Month edition of the West Medford Community Center’s Words and Music program is titled “At the River’s Edge.” In the first hour of the program, hosted by Terry E. Carter, guests from the Mystic River Watershed Association will discuss opportunities to get involved with the watershed this spring, especially the Mystic Shoreline Initiative. They will share how this project brings together community members and stakeholders to identify accessibility and ecological improvements for the eastern shoreline of the Mystic Lakes, as well as the Mystic River landscape in West Medford.

The second hour will feature The Ally Project, a unique quartet that combines great poetry and outstanding music at the intersection of jazz and social justice. Bookends of The Ally Project are its founder, the pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader Jonathan Fagan, and Carter, the City of Medford’s Poet Laureate Emeritus. They will be joined by bassist Greg Toro and drummer Gordon Engelgau for a scintillating set of dynamic rhymes, rhythms and reality . . . all based on Carter’s original poetry.

The program also will be carried live by Medford Community Media on the city’s cable access stations (Comcast Channel 9 and Verizon Channel 47) and live-streamed on the WMCC Facebook page.

The West Medford Community Center launched Words and Music in 2017. The program starts off with a discussion on a valuable aspect of the community, followed by a performance by a local musician or musicians. For more information on this or other WMCC programs, visit the center’s website or call 781-483-3042.