The United Poetry Service - Poems for the People
Join us Oct. 15-16 for online and outdoor events for our 2021 Festival
The Carrboro Poetry Council presents the West End Poetry Festival Oct. 15-16, 2021. The Council is composed of current Carrboro Poet Laureate, Fred Joiner, local poets Susan Spalt, Maura High, Abigail Browning, Gideon Young, and former Carrboro Poet Laureates, Gary Phillips and Jay Bryan. Technology consultant is poet/UNC Professor Emeritus Paul Jones. This year the Council has created both virtual and live presentations.
Friday, Oct. 15 - 7–8:30 PM - Zoom Poetry Writing Workshop
In this interactive workshop, take your poetry to the next level with guest poet Crystal Simone Smith. Crystal is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Routes Home, Finishing Line Press (2013) and Running Music, Longleaf Press (2014). She is also the author of Wildflowers: Haiku, Senryu, and Haibun (2016). Her work has appeared in numerous journals.
Saturday, Oct. 16 Events - All activities will be outside. Masks are required to keep everyone safe.
Poetry in the Round - 3-4:45 PM
Join us at the Carrboro Town Commons, 301 W. Main St., for an open mic, featuring YOU! Former Carrboro Poet Laureate Gary Phillips will host as we share one poem per person as we travel around the poet’s circle.
Community Poem - 3:45 PM
The Council is inviting members of the community to submit one line of poetry that will be compiled into a Community Poem. “United”, “Service”, and “People” are the prompts. The poem will appear and be read at 3:45 p.m. on Saturday. To participate, a form on the website should be completed by October 15 at 9pm.
Poetry Readings – 5:00-6:30 PM
Current and past area Poet Laureates, William Davis, Patrick Herron, Fred Joiner, Gary Phillips, Celisa Steele, and CJ Suitt will participate in a reading curated by prize-winning poet, Gideon Young. The readings will be posted on-line after the festival. For more information about these poets, please go to the website.
Zoom links to the performances will be available on the Festival’s website at the time of the event.
For more information, please consult the Festival website: westendpoetryfestival.org.
The festival is funded by the Carrboro Tourism Development Authority and the Town of Carrboro, and organized by the Carrboro Poets Council (Abigail Browning, Jay Bryan, Maura High, Paul Jones, Gary Phillips, Susan Spalt, Gideon Young, and Carrboro Poet Laureate Fred Joiner), with the assistance of the staff of the Recreation, Parks, & Cultural Resources Department of the Town of Carrboro.