JAKI SHELTON GREEN – North Carolina’s Poet Laureate
Jaki Shelton Green is the first African American and third woman to be appointed as the North Carolina Poet Laureate. When he appointed her in 2018, Governor Cooper stated that “Jaki Shelton Green brings a deep appreciation of our state’s diverse communities to her role as an ambassador of North Carolina literature. Jaki’s appointment is a wonderful new chapter in North Carolina’s rich literary history.” FOR MORE
Jaki Shelton Green, North Carolina’s current Poet Laureate (and the first African-American to hold this title), has given us a deeply moving and powerful gift for her 67th birthday, which is Juneteenth (the anniversary of the emancipation of the last remaining enslaved African-Americans). There’s a musical quality to these spoken poems that is mesmerizing and deeply beautiful — yet “The River Speaks of Thirst” is so much more than that. FOR MORE
S St J
I want to highlight this along with the Hawaiian youth two articles, I found most enlightening.
I hope you enjoy searching around for what you do end up, including in your newsletter because I always enjoy your newsletter
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Sharron
as I read the story of the relationship of you and your mother, all I could think of was the amount of strength it takes to grow ourselves to wholeness, utilizing the strengths practiced and gained through the challenges of a very young life. we have to live a long time in order to learn how to fill in the deep, empty hole and the habit of unreasonable, self expectation and blame for not being able to change, correct the pain of life as well as to discover and find joy in the strengths that now service well that came out of the adversity of young life. I admire you and am delighted by your sense of humor and irony and creativeness and determination that serve you and the rest of us so well. And, most of all, what a loving person you are.