Before politics comes poetry: Carrboro council meetings include poetry as well as politics

ARTS & CULTURE

CARRBORO–If you want to write poetry, Carrboro Poet Laureate Liza Wolff-Francis says, it helps if you’re open to the unexpected.

“The best thing about writing poetry is the discovery,” Wolff-Francis said in an interview with The Local Reporter. “You might start out saying ‘I am going to write about this thing’; if you allow yourself to be open to what comes, you may discover something more.”

As the town’s poet laureate, Wolff-Francis will open the Sept. 16 council meeting with one of her poems. It’s the first meeting after the summer hiatus from July to August.

Crowned with laurels

The Encyclopedia Britannica says England created the poet laureate title in the 17th century to honor poetic excellence. The United States developed the post of American poet laureate in 1936, plus most American states have their own poets laureate, with duties varying from state to state. The title stems from the Greco-Roman tradition of crowning great poets with a wreath of laurel leaves.

Some municipal governments, such as Carrboro, also create poet laureates. Wolff-Francis is the eighth Carrboro Poet Laureate since the town established the position in 2002.

“On the town scale, the city scale, the state scale, they’re having really large roles,” Wolff-Francis said of the gig. “They are to bring poetry to the community in which they reside.” A good poet laureate not only makes poetry available to others, but they also inspire others to write poetry.

Creation and community

Wolff-Francis said she has been writing poetry since her teen years. “Poetry has been a way for me to express myself, but also to find community. I’ve known poets for many years. I’ve been published in various literary magazines, I’ve published a chapbook, and I have a full-length collection out — ‘48 Hours Down on the Shore.’”

Wolff-Francis says she’s an eco-poet, “focused on the environment with an encouraging note to rescue our planet and ourselves from climate change.” A fluent Spanish speaker, she also published the collection “Language of Crossing,” about the Mexico-U.S. border, in 2015, and wrote the play “Border Rising” based on interviews with undocumented Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles.

The poetic community she’s found includes serving on Carrboro’s Poets’ Council, a subcommittee of the town’s Arts Committee. It’s one of the requirements that come with the laureate role. The town’s website says the council “promotes the writing, reading, celebration and appreciation of poetry in Carrboro, and works to integrate poetry into the life of the community.” That includes organizing events such as the West End Poetry Festival.

Listening to poetry readings and festivals, Wolff-Francis said, is a way to explore other people and build a deeper understanding than a casual conversation. “It can take you closer to the true self of that person.”

Opening the meetings

Wolff-Francis is approaching the end of her two-year term as town poet. Applications for the ninth poet laureate will open in October, with the changing of the guard in December. Where she received a $5,000 honorarium for her two years, the next poet will receive $6,000.

Along with serving on the Poets’ Council and helping organize the West End Poetry Festival, the poet laureate opens council meetings by reading a poem or arranging for another poet to read. In 2024, for example, poets Jay Bryan, Giddeon Young and Chad Knuth were among those besides Wolff-Francis who gave a reading.

Wolff-Francis said she puts in plenty of work on her council-meeting poems: “It’s not usually one I’ve written five minutes before the meeting.” Sometimes she brings a poem relevant to one of the topics on the meeting agenda, but it’s not unusual for a different topic to dominate the evening. “I do hope sometimes the poem can be a place to begin from but a meeting can go in many directions.”

One thing she’s learned in the role, she said, “ There is a greater hunger for the creative side of people’s selves to come out than we can recognize, a real desire to express yourself creatively. I already knew that but I didn’t know how much.”

Wolff-Francis says some people freeze at the thought of writing a poem, especially if they haven’t done it in years, or ever. She sometimes feels the fear herself when writing something new. However, if a poem turns out bad, nobody has to see it, ever, so fear shouldn’t win. “Just sit down, pick up your pen and see what comes out.”

Fraser Sherman has worked for newspapers, including the Destin Log, the Pensacola News-Journal and the Raleigh Public Record. Born in England, he’d still live in Florida if he hadn’t met the perfect woman and moved to Durham to marry her. He’s the author of several film reference books and has published one novel and several short story collections. This reporter can be reached at: Information@TheLocalReporter.press