- Home
- Government
- Town Council
- Poetry Readings During Town Council Meetings
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.
Learn more about Carrboro Poet Laureate Liza Wolff-Francis in our announcement!
We are updating this soon with all the great poetry happenings!
- 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
- 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