An interview with Liza Wolff-Francis, Carrboro’s 8th Poet Laureate

Ms. Wolff-Francis began writing as a child. She has a special memory of her mother giving her a Ramona Quimby notebook with writing prompts; she’s been writing ever since. She attended Guilford College in Greensboro and became interested in Slam Poetry, competing nationally in the 2000s. She lived in a few other places before moving back to North Carolina, where her family settled in Carrboro, appreciating the friendly atmosphere and vibe here.

An artist seeks company with other creative people and Ms. Wolff-Francis finds that community wherever she is. When she arrived in Carrboro, she got involved with the Poet’s Council which advises the Town on its annual West End Poetry Festival. Now, as Poet Laureate of Carrboro, she believes her job "is to bring poetry to the people.” The role of the Poet Laureate in Carrboro is unique in that one of its responsibilities is to open council meetings with a poem. “I do believe it is a way to ground the meeting before it begins. It’s a little bit of a time to reflect on whatever might be going on the world and just focusing in on a poem [because] people don’t often read poetry if they’re not poets.” During her term, Ms. Wolff-Francis has also invited other poets to open council meetings to amplify their work and to incorporate a diversity of artistic voices in civic life.

“I think everybody can be a poet but not everyone wants to be a poet,” she said. The work process of a poet is cultivating a regular practice. “Sometimes you can’t write every day. But developing a regular practice for yourself is how you’ll create your art.” And what does this practice do? It helps her understand the world and who she is in it. “I think it’s necessary for my life. I think it is probably necessary for everyone’s life, in their own way.”

The Carrborean asked Ms. Wolff-Francis about the role of poetry in society. “I think poetry can help us tap into something in our understanding of the world and ourselves and each other that we may not be able to see in other spaces.” She believes it can help us take another view. In the world today, we can feel as though “we don’t have permission to change our minds and to think something new or to wonder about something. I think that poetry allows us to do that, coming in the side door. It’s not knocking at the front door being like, ‘this is how it is’– it’s a little more subtle. It can really give us a view of other people’s feelings, thoughts, experiences, lives.”

In terms of craft, Ms. Wolff-Francis mostly writes free verse. “Generally, for me, I’m just writing and it might fit into a form or not.” But she believes that the mechanics of poetic form can sometimes provide helpful restraints that "get to" the magic and the feelings that touch the soul. Regardless of method, “If people can open themselves to whatever mysteries might come through their writing and not be embarrassed or ashamed by it, then I think it can really be moving for them and people they share it with.”

Thinking about your own creativity? Here’s encouragement from our Poet Laureate: “I do think that everybody has an ability to really use their creative side, whatever that means [for them], and come together in community around that. And I think that’s part of just practicing it.”

You can find Ms. Wolff-Francis at the West End Poetry Festival events this evening through Saturday. She will read her poems on Saturday, October 18 at 4pm at the Century Center.

You can find information about the history of the Poet Laureate in Carrboro on the Town’s website. Poets Laureate | Carrboro, NC – Official Website

The Town of Carrboro is seeking applications for its next Poet Laureate. Apply before October 31.