It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve as the 2023 Piedmont Laureate. I have had a chance to share moments with so many people as a result of this role. I wish I was able to do more, but I am so happy about all that we were able to accomplish. I know that an impact was made.

I want to take a moment and thank the sponsoring organizations, Raleigh Arts, United Arts Council, Durham Arts Council, and the Orange County Arts Commission. They were wonderful partners throughout the year. They provided support, advice, and much more. Each organization works diligently to provide capacity for the arts and artists.

From the beginning of the year to the end, this has been about the poetry.

I started my term with a feature performance at Weave & Spin, a phenomenal open mic event held monthly at Eno Arts Mill Gallery. It was a great way to kick things off. I was able to do performance workshops throughout the year. The goal was to address how intimidating performance can seem and help poets get more comfortable in front of an audience. I had a great time with the attendees and met some talented poets. I wish we had more participants. I participated in a variety of events, spoke to the Durham City Council as they issued a proclamation for National Arts and Humanities Month, and posted writing prompts on the PL blog for the Raleigh Arts Flash.

One of the best parts of my tenure is that I was able to share space and time with other Black poet laureates across the state. In addition to the laureateship in Carrboro, there were new appointments in Durham, Charlotte, Kinston, Chapel Hill, and Greensboro. To walk in the shoes of NC Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green is an honor. We got to really understand the responsibility in fellowship with each other this year.

I also released a chapbook in honor of my role. The chapbook is called a brilliant and uncertain rebellion. We had the release event at the Durham Arts Council. The collection won the Literary Titan Book Award.

Below are some more of the year’s major highlights.

Big Night In For The Arts – I participated as a headliner in the 2023 event.

Pen 2 Page Shop Talks – we presented 4 talks across Durham, Orange, and Wake counties.

The High School Spoken Word Contest – we curated a contest for high school students across the Triangle. This was a partnership between United Arts Council and the Raleigh Fine Arts Society.

This was a year of impact. I had some wonderful conversations with members of the community. Some curious about the role. Some who were excited to see me in it. I believe it will help others seek the opportunity in the future.

We don’t always recognize the impression we make. We focus on the task at hand and the moment we are in. We don’t notice the eyes watching how we work and move. We need to realize how that impression can spread by word of mouth. At some point in time, you find out. It happens when that person comes to you and lets you know how much you’ve impacted them. The moment catches you off guard. They tell you what they have witnessed and what they took from it. At that moment, you find out that the “why” behind your actions and perspective came through. Those blessed affirmations are welcome reminders to keep doing what you do.

What is beautiful about the builders I have learned from is that they build regardless. They see a need, and they go to work. They pull the pieces together, plan, coordinate, and see the project through to completion. Again and again, I have seen them work. No panic. Frustration is just a temporary interruption but never a derailment. They are not fooled by those that leave the work in their hands. They keep building. I am thankful for all they have modeled because that guides me in my work.

When we open doors, we must consider those who helped make the door possible. That includes those who did the work to envision and create the opportunity. That consists of those who helped nurture your skills and abilities and positioned you to get the opportunity. That includes those who established the standards and traditions of your work. It also consists of the communities you represent. Consider their hands meeting yours as you open the door. Consider that welcoming as an affirmation and a handshake agreement that you will move with accountability and respect. That handshake is also a loving recognition that you are able, equipped, and worthy.

An understanding of how to build, grow, and empower is critical. Recognizing the shoulders you stand on and the voices you carry with you is vital. A grasp of your impact on the work that those can do after you is key. And keys open doors.

We opened doors this year. For that, I am eternally grateful.

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Here is a prompt for you to try. You can approach it in any way that you like, in free verse or in form.

1. Identify an aspect of yourself that you consider significant and important.

2. Think about the influences. What or who fostered or nurtured that part of you? Who shaped it, guided it, or modeled it for you?

3. How does that aspect manifest in the context of where you exist (however you choose to identify “exist”)

4. Now write a declaration to anyone who has or might misunderstand that aspect of you. Let them know what it really is. Include reflections on the influence and context. Let them know clearly about that part of you.

Blackout poetry—also known as erasure poetry, redacted poetry, and a form of found poetry—is a popular method of exploration and recontextualization. It is when you take a written piece of text from a book, newspaper, or magazine and redact words, in order to come up with a poem. You can take a black marker and mark through entire words, sentences, and paragraphs in the found text. This is a way of reworking text into your own verse. 

For this activity you will pick a favorite song. You can find the lyrics online. There are a number of sites that host lyrics. Cut and paste the lyrics into a word document. You can print the document and work with the paper or you can use the text highlighter color (set to black) to black out words. 

The goal is to find a poem inside of the lyrics. When you are done, give it a title. 

Poetry is about images. Images are like mental photographs created by the writer. For this prompt we are going to lean into that by doing a story board for a poem.

Start by picking a topic. Then take out a piece of printer paper (it helps if it has no lines) or sketch paper. Divide it into no more than 8 blocks. You can do this by folding the paper at least two times. This will give you lines you can trace to make the blocks. Write your topic on the back for record keeping.

You want to think of the poem in moments. What scenes can you envision when thinking about this topic? Do the scenes make up one story, are they multiple aspects of one situation, or they multiple occurrences of the same thing? Capture 6 to 8 in one sentence or less. Then write one sentence per square on your paper.

Draw the scene. Stick figures are fine. Try to represent each scene as best as you can. Add any elements you want or feel the scene needs. You can even use colored pencils to color the block. Colors convey feelings and emotions as well.

Once you are done drawing you are ready to write. Think of each square as representing a stanza. You will write what’s going on in each scene on a separate sheet of paper. Skip a line between each scene/stanza. When you are done with all 6 or 8, then give it a title.

Now it is time to think about the transitions or clarifying lines needed for the stanzas to connect and relate to the original topic. This will guide you into through your revisions. Now you are building out the story that encapsulates each scene from your story board.

Use the storyboard to not only help you build the narrative, but to also help you remember infuse vivid imagery in your poem.

Our lives are full of moments. These instances of activity and interactions that stick with us because they prompt thought, bring out emotions, cause drama, or bring joy. They can be transformative, memorable, triggering, and enlightening. This prompt is about envisioning a moment and bringing it to life in a poem.

“There are millions of incredible moments in a day. Even if you lose 1000’s, there are 100’s of them still left. Make them yours.” 

― Hiral Nagda

Write a scene where music is present. You decide where the music is coming from. The person(s) in the scene are having a moment. There is a choice they are wrestling with, a feeling they are working through (good or bad), a situation they are dealing with, or a thing they are celebrating. What is it? Why is it important or impactful? What affect does the music have on the moment?

Be sure to be descriptive. Try to make the language move in a rhythm that matches the music present in the scene. This is a narrative poem so don’t forget the progression of the story. Really bring us into this snapshot in time.

Examples:

On 52nd Street – Philip Levine

Trickster III – Kwame Dawes

I Got Heaven – Garrett Hongo

The Golden Shovel poetry is a poetic form, created by poet Terrance Hayes, that allows a writer to pay homage to an existing poem. The form follows a set of rules invented by Hayes in homage to Gwendolyn Brooks, the former poet laureate and the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize. Hayes published his poem “The Golden Shovel” in Lighthead, his National Book Award winning collection in 2010. The poem takes its form from the lines of Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool.”

Writing a Golden Shovel:

• Take a line (or lines) from a poem you admire.

• Use each word in the line (or lines) as an end word in your poem.

• Keep the end words in order.

• Give credit to the poet who originally wrote the line (or lines).

• The new poem does not have to be about the same subject as the poem that offers the end words.

If you pull a line with six words, your poem would be six lines long. If you pull a stanza with 24 words, your poem would be 24 lines long. 

Below is Hayes’ and Brooks’ poem:

We Real Cool, by Gwendolyn Brooks (original poem)

The Golden Shovel, by Terrance Hayes (golden shovel poem)