Poetry Readings During Town Council Meetings

The Town of Carrboro established the position of Poet Laureate in 2002. The poet laureate coordinates the opening of every Carrboro Town Council meeting with the reading of a poem.

Poetry enhances and enriches the lives of all Americans and as an essential part of the arts and humanities, affects every aspect of life in America today, including education, the economy, and community pride and development. Poetry has produced some of the nation's leading creative artists and has inspired other artists in fields such as music, theatre, film, dance, and the visual arts.

2023 Poetry Readings

September 19, 2023 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Liza Wolff-Francis read one of her own poems “Powdered Sugar on Strawberries”
June 27, 2023 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Liza Wolff-Francis read “Famous” by Naomi Shihab Nye, of St. Louis
June 20, 2023 - Guest Poet Khalisa Rae read two of their own poems entitled “Epilogue for Banned Books” and “Buzzwords and Banned Books”
June 6, 2023 - Guest Poet Chad Knuth read one of his own poems entitled “Skating at the Rink”
May 23, 2023 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Liza Wolff-Francis read one of her poems entitled “A Grieving of a Tree”
May 16, 2023 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Liza Wolff-Francis read a poem by Ross Gay entitled “Throwing Children"
May 2, 2023 - Guest Poet Joan Barasovska read one of her poems entitled “Mother Elm”
April 25, 2023 - Guest Poet Maura High read one of her poems entitled “The Millstone”
April 18, 2023 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Liza Wolff-Francis read one of her poems entitled “Earth Stories"
April 4, 2023 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Liza Wolff-Francis read one of her poems entitled “Question: What Are Your Many Callings?”
March 28, 2023 - Guest Poet Gary Phillips read one of his poems entitled “January Grace"
March 21, 2023 - Guest Poet Susan Spalt read two of her poems entitled “Felix” and “Naked Ladies Bloom in Autumn”
March 7, 2023 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Liza Wolff-Francis read one of her poems entitled “The Poetry of Women”
February 28, 2023 - Guest Poet Ebonee’ Roberson read “Homage to My Hips” by Lucille Clifton
February 21, 2023 - Guest Poet Djina Alicante-Stuesse read “Won’t You Celebrate With Me?” by Lucille Clifton and Guest Poet Sanze Alicante-Stuesse read one of his own poems entitled “What Does it Mean to Be Great?”
February 7, 2023 - Chapel Hill Poet Laureate Cortland Gilliam read his own poem entitled “A Letter to Allies: New and Old.”
January 17, 2023 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Liza Wolff-Francis read “Martin Luther King mourns Trayvon Martin" by Lauren K. Alleyne
January 10, 2023 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Liza Wolff-Francis read her own poem entitled “Carrboro"

2022 Poetry Readings

June 21, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “Stillness” by Marilyn Freeman
June 14, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “The Binding Unity” by Howard Thurman
May 24, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “Still Life with Bullets” by Paulette Beete / “Equinox” by Tamiko Beyer
May 10, 2022 - Carrboro Fred Joiner read “Currency” by Fred Joiner
May 3, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “Naked in the Macy’s Changing Room Trying to Think of Anything Other Than the Election” by Barbara Costas-Biggs
April 19, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "This is Not a Small Voice” by Sonia Sanchez
April 12, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “Praise for my Father’s Hands” by Quentin Collins
April 5, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "Like You" by Roque Dalton
March 15, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "How Many Silent Centuries Sleep in my Sultry Veins" by Margaret Walker
March 8, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “Ego Trippin’” by Nikki Giovanni
March 1, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “Deaf Republic” by Ilya Kaminsky
Feb 22, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "A Visit to my Mother’s Grave” by George Moses Horton
Feb. 8, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "The Empty of the Bottlenecks" by Ed Roberson
Feb. 1, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "What Color?" by Nicholas Guillen
Jan. 18, 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "birth-day" by Lucille Clifton
Jan. 4. 2022 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “When Dividing the Unbelievable by the Undeniable” by Leslie McGrath

2021 Poetry Readings

Dec 7, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read his poems “To the Builders” and “Solidarity” from an anthology called “Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry.”
Nov 16, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read a poem by Abigail Browning called, “Looking for One Thing Led Me to See Others.”
Nov 9, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read a poem by Amiri Baraka titled “Ka’ba” from a 1961-2013 collection of poetry called “S.O.S.
Oct 19, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read a poem called, “Between Us and the World” by Gerald W. Barrax
Oct. 12, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “Walking” from “The Illuminated Space: A Personal Theory & Contemplative Practice of Media Art” by Marilyn Freeman
Oct. 5, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "Flight" by Shawn Ballard
Sept. 28, 2021 - Guest poet Naomi Sky Joiner read "Why Some People Be Mad At Me Sometimes" by Lucille Clifton
Sept. 21, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "Here Where Coltrane Is" by Michael S. Harper
Sept. 14, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “Lineage” by Margaret Walker
June 22, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “Born Black” by Venus Thrash
June 8, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “Black Girl, Call Home” by Jasmine Mans
June 1, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "The Slice of Life" by Taylor Johnson
May 25, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "God's Work" by Tyree Day Cardinal
May 18, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “Mimesis" by Fady Joudah
May 11, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "Gender Reveal" by Amanda Johnston
May 4, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "My Grandfather" by MOSAB ABU TOHA
April 27, 2021 - Guest poet Susan Spalt read a poem of her own titled “One Morning in October.”
April 20, 2021 - Guest poet Paul Jones read a poem of his own titled “Ode to a Certain Feeling of Optimism.”
April 13, 2021 - Guest poet Abigail Browning read a community poet written during the 2020 WestEnd Poetry Festival titled “Home Song.”
April 6, 2021 - Guest poet Jay Bryan read a poem of his own called “Standing in the Shallows.”
March 16, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "Layered" by Lucille Clifton
March 9, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “Family Portrait" by torrin a. greathouse
March 2, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "Phillis Wheatley is Baptized at Old Church" by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Feb. 23, 2021 - Guest poet LaToya Hankins read a poem of her own called “Finding the Finer.”
Feb. 16, 2021 - Guest poet Deon Temne read“ A Small and Equal Fact” by Ross Gay. Guest poet Soteria Shepperson read a poem of her own titled “My Town."
Feb. 9, 2021 - Guest oet Diana Robertson read “Mr. Roosevelt Regrets (Detroit Riots, 1943)” by Pauli Murray. Guest poet Kendall Lytle read “I Too” by Langston Hughes
Jan. 26, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "Brown" by Kevin Young
Jan. 19, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read “Un-American” by Hafizah Geter
Jan. 12, 2021 - Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner read "Sharing a Bag” by Ross Gay