Read excerpts from Athens' poet laureate's introductory poem, which left officials 'in awe'
It certainly strains credulity to suggest any government meeting could be poetic.
But that wasn’t the case as Athens-Clarke County’s mayor and commissioners were introduced at their Tuesday agenda-setting session to the county’s new poet laureate.
For the next two years, Mikhayla Robinson Smith, a first-grade teacher at Whit Davis Elementary School, who is also an essayist, author and spoken word artist will hold that post.
“I came here for college and I never left,” Smith, an Augusta native, said as she introduced herself to the commission, relating a circumstance familiar to many of her fellow Athens-Clarke County residents.
“I’m excited to be a part of Athens, and I feel so welcome here,” Smith told Mayor Kelly Girtz and the commission as she introduced a poem she had written specifically for her introduction to the community.
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Titled “In Our City,” Smith’s first poem as poet laureate called Athens-Clarke County “a place for divine collision, where we are meant to be here with one another, to uplift one another.”
But as it unfolded, “In Our City” proved much more than a fawning paean to the community.
“And even in the face of beauty, in the face of love, in the constant thrum of life,” Smith recited, “we cannot deny the cracks. Those that hunger in the cold, quiet nights, the silent separations, the scream of those without, the knowing that it could be any of us, in a second.”
“To love our city,” Smith continued, “is to know it in all of its forms, in all of its communities and fallacies. To love is to know the truth. To love is to fight the good fight. To live in the light and to defeat the darkness. … To be in arm’s reach of one another.”
“To stand a city,” the poem went on, “the foundation must outlast the brokenness. Our love for one another must withstand the test of time. In our city, we become a wave of change, an ocean for the people, by the people, an unwavering, unshaken faith … In our city, held together by the people who call it home.”
As the applause in the commission chambers died down after Smith’s recitation, Girtz said, “We stand in awe and wonder that Mikhayla has been willing to bless us with her work as poet laureate of Athens-Clarke County … Thank you so much.”
Smith was chosen as Athens-Clarke County’s second poet laureate. She succeeds local educator Jeff Fallis, who strives to integrate the local literary scene with its vibrant music and arts scenes by a committee of local arts administrators, educators, librarians, and other local poets. Selection criteria include excellence in craftsmanship, the candidate’s vision for the position, and their work to elevate the local visibility of poetry.
As poet laureate, which carries with it a $2,000 honorarium, Smith will be expected to bring poetry to segments of the community that may not be particularly familiar with it. Ultimately, according to the Athens Cultural Affairs Commission (ACAC), the goal of the poet laureate program is to “spike interest in poetry, teach writing poetry, and use poetry as a means of self-expression in Athens-Clarke County.”
The program is administered by the Arts Division of the Athens-Clarke County Department of Leisure Services, with ACAC support. According to a brief biography on the ACAC website, Smith plans to use her time as poet laureate to “share the freedom that she finds within words with others, and to prepare a table for those who may not have looked for liberation through them.”
To meet that goal, Smith said in a brief interview following her Tuesday recitation, she plans, among other things, to hold open-microphone nights where both young poets and older poets can share their work with each other and the public. She also plans to establish a writing club for mothers, Smith said.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Athens poet laureate brings her words of hope to city's leaders
