Salaam Green has officially started her term as the city of Birmingham’s first poet laureate.

Green, a writer and educator, was sworn in on Tuesday inside the city council chambers during the weekly morning meeting at Birmingham City Hall.

Mayor Randall Woodfin led the presentation from the podium during his remarks to the city council. Lined up behind him on the council floor stood Green, joined by city council member Carol Clarke, the chairwoman of the Birmingham City Council’s Arts and Culture Committee, and the staff of Create Birmingham, a nonprofit arts economic development program.

“The City of Birmingham is very committed to supporting our arts and culture community. It’s big, it’s deep, and it’s rich. There’s a storied history in regards to a robust arts and culture community that exists here. And we’re proud of it and we want to continue to celebrate it,” said Woodfin. “And part of honoring our local arts and culture community is… I think we should be keenly aware that artists and storytellers not only tell our stories verbally and visually, but they also preserve our history.”

During his address to the council, Woodfin thanked the organizations and partners who helped develop the poet laureate position, including the Alabama State Council on the Arts, who provided the stipends for two cities– Birmingham and Mobile– to have a first-time city poet laureate program, the Birmingham City Council’s Culture and Arts Committee, and Create Birmingham, who facilitated the application process and assembled a team of “respected Birmingham artists and creatives to select the best person for this special role.”

Next, Woodfin read a proclamation formally appointing Green as the inaugural 2024-2025 City of Birmingham poet laureate. Green, said Woodfin, will commence her two-year term this month, “further enhancing the culture tapestry of our city.”

“It is my pleasure along with my colleague, chairwoman Carol Clarke to announce the official start of her term as Birmingham’s first poet laureate,” said Woodfin.

Woodfin also listed the duties of the honorary poet laureate position, which include making public appearances, facilitating public and private educational programs, and building advocacy and community through poetry. After issuing the proclamation, Woodfin thanked Green for her dedication to enriching the literary arts in the community and invited her to the podium to speak.

Green began her remarks with gratitude, thanking Woodfin, the city council, and the constituents gathered in the chambers.

“I’m very excited to be the inaugural poet laureate of Alabama. And to be the city poet,” said Green. “I stand on the shoulders of all poets. All cultural folks and entertainers who are here in Birmingham and artists. And I’m very excited to have this distinguished honor. I look forward to serving the city as the first poet laureate. I look forward to working with each individual as well as organizations. And I look forward to poetry.”

Green also thanked UAB, where she is an artist in residence, and her manager Kimberly Kirklin, the director of the university’s Arts in Medicine program, for many years of using health as a tool to support poetry and the healing power of words, a practice she hoped to continue in her position as poet laureate.

Naturally, Green closed her address with poetry.

“Like any good preacher who should have a word, any good poet should have a word as well,” she said, smiling as she looked down at her notes.

She recited “What Must We Do, Birmingham?” a poem that spoke of the city’s history of radical resistance and stories of healing and forgiveness:

“What must we do, Birmingham?

We must open up the book of love and read each chapter carefully

Page by page, line by line, verse by verse.

We must digest the words of our forefathers, the cries of our four little girls, even the laughter of our critics

We must dare to write our own scripts. We must become the Birmingham we wish to see, we wish to be.”

Green’s voice, full of emotion, echoed throughout the council chambers. The poem was both a love letter and a direct address to Birmingham– a clarion call for the city to continue moving bravely and boldly into the future:

“We must embrace a new day because a new day has begun.

We must be the Birmingham we were birthed to be.

We must remind the world, a nation, that Birmingham’s beautiful spine should never be bent or broken.

But always perfected with the posture of an unmovable spirit.”

After Green ended her poem to a round of applause, two more speakers made remarks.

Meghann Bridgeman, the president and CEO of Create Birmingham, kept her reflections brief but joyful, congratulating Green and thanking the city for its support.

Councilwoman Clarke gave the presentation’s closing congratulatory words.

“I’m so excited! I stand here, as you all know, as chair of the Arts and Culture Committee. But I’m also a relic of Create Birmingham,” said Clarke, turning to look behind her as the Create Birmingham staff smiled and laughed warmly.

“We morphed into a lean, mean, economic development machine a few years back. After public funding for the arts dried up, we had to reinvent ourselves and I couldn’t be prouder of this organization,” said Clarke. “So, I wanted to take this opportunity just to sing the praises for the work they do all the time, and now this new work of helping us choose a poet laureate as stunning as Salaam to represent Birmingham.”

Clarke said she first learned about Green through her work with Create Birmingham. Green was in an early cohort of the nonprofit’s Co.Starters initiative, a series developed to help budding entrepreneurs learn business insights and tools.

“It’s just so much work that comes out of these folks. I just wanted to sing their praises for a moment. And celebrate this wonderful day,” said Clarke.

Woodfin first announced Salaam’s appointment as poet laureate last December during “The Blueprint,” a public forum update of his strategic plan for the city.

“One of the things I committed to in this second term was to make sure–through partnership, through advocacy, through support– that we support the art and culture scene of Birmingham, Alabama,” said Woodfin as he addressed an audience at the Birmingham Museum of Art. “And let me tell you why. Because our arts and culture in this city is one of our strongest assets and I dare say, one of the strongest in the state of Alabama.”

A native of Alabama’s Black Belt, Green has spent more than 16 years as an arts educator. She is the founder and director of Literary Healing Arts where she leads “Write to Heal” workshops– a series of seminars geared to instructing both individuals and organizations in using poetry, writing, and storytelling. Green is also a certified trainer for the Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation.

Last year, the Alabama Humanities Alliance announced Green as one of its Road Scholars, a select group of thought leaders, educators, and historians developed to deliver talks around the state.

Green is a frequent collaborator with the Magic City Poetry Festival, the month-long celebration of poetry founded by Alabama poet laureate Ashley M. Jones. Green was the program’s second eco poet, a tenure that ran from 2020 to 2022. In 2023 Green was one of the poets featured during the Magic City Poetry Festival’s Poetry in the Gardens program.

In her official video interview for the city of Birmingham, shot in one of Birmingham’s municipal libraries, Green spoke about her early hopes for her new role as poet laureate in a city renowned for its role in social justice and civil rights history.

“Everything that Birmingham has to offer, I believe that my work as a poet in healing other people and asking people to use their voice as a healing tool can be perfect,” said Green.

In an interview after Tuesday’s ceremony, Green said she was excited to meet with Mayor Woodfin this week to talk about the development of her role, especially as she starts the position during an election year.

“I’m excited to work in the schools and to work on literacy initiatives. And I’m also very excited to be working on the idea of poetry and political activation during this particular time,” said Green. “How do we bring poetry as a political agent to our city?”

Green, who is vocal about access to the arts, has a long-held mantra: You don’t have to be an artist to be a writer.

“I’m very excited because as a Black woman who is almost 50 years old and who didn’t start poetry until I was in my 40s, I want to show people that you can be inspired by doing it as well,” said Green. “And that people can have access to all kinds of poetry.”

Green’s role as the city’s chief ambassador for poetry comes as the Carver Theatre prepares to reopen this year after seven years of renovations. For decades, the historic theater and entertainment venue hosted programming for poets including, Onstage at the Carver Theatre, a performance showcase dedicated to the art form.

Green has never performed her poetry at the Carver Theatre, but says it would be a dream to grace the stage when it reopens, as well as support the events and programs at the historic building.

So far, Green’s schedule in Birmingham includes a reading at the upcoming 205 Day celebration hosted by urbanist Carmen Mays on Feb. 5

Read more: 205 Day: Urbanist, Birmingham native is hosting a three-day celebration of the city

Green is also a poet in residence at The Wallace Center for Arts and Reconciliation (formerly Klein Arts and Culture).

In February, the arts center– a former plantation house now used as a space for art and conversations about racial justice and reconciliation, will have two events featuring their artists in residence. On Feb. 22, the Wallace Center will partner with Sloss Metal Arts for a panel featuring Green, and multidisciplinary artists Tony Bingham, Elizabeth Webb, and Jennifer McCohnell. On Feb. 24 the arts center will host a dedication ceremony for “With Love, For Grief,” a community sculpture led by Green and Web.