Melissa Ferrer Civil demonstrated her poetry skills with the lyrical and provocative delivery of a five minute poem she wrote for her introduction as Kansas City’s first poet laureate. Her inaugural poem “Mounting Meditations on the Shoulders of Giants,” paid tribute to five Black poets greats and how they inspired her life: Maya Angelou, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Lucille Clifton, Nikki Giovanni and Langston Hughes.
Referring to Angelou’s poem ‘Still I Rise,” Civil said “her words taught me to rise, while this world told me to stay low.” After hearing that poem at 12-years-old, Civil says she began writing poetry.
“It was then that I knew how I would serve my community, by helping to provide solidarity through my own vulnerability,” said Civil.
Very open about her “battles” with mental illness, she said, “ Poetry helped me to express myself, to account for my perspective and actions, to respond to what I witnessed, to be honest with myself and with others. It set me on a path of telling the truth.”
Poet Laureate’s Role
Mayor Quinton Lucas announced creation of the poet laureate position in spring 2023, saying the role would be similar to that of the national poet laureate and poet laureates appointed in a number of cities. .
“Our poet laureate will be an ambassador for poetry and arts; encouraging the teaching, reading and writing of poetry as an avenue for education, culture and entertainment across the city,” said Lucas.
The poet laureate will be expected to attend events, deliver poems, and serve as an advocate for the arts. For the part-time, one-year appointment, Civil will be paid $5,000.
Pulling on the role poetry has played in her life, Civil said she wants to plan programming that “teaches poetry as a medium for transformation, liberation, recognition and solidarity.”
Applicants for the position were required to be Kansas City residents and have an “acclaimed” collection of literary work focused primarily on poetry that was supported by the submission of three samples of their work and a one-page narrative summarizing why they should be considered for the position and what the nominee would like to accomplish while serving in the role.
About Melissa
Civil, formerly known as Missy T. Ferrari, uses the pronouns “she/they” and, according to the mayor’s press announcement, identifies herself as “a first-gen, queer, Black, femme, poet, organizer, educator and theologian.
Melissa received a Bachelor’s Degree in both Creative Writing and Italian from Florida State University. She has also received her Master’s of Education with a specialization in Urban Education from Park University.
Melissa Ferrer Civil greets friends after the announcement that she is the City’s inaugural poet laureate.
She is a Charlotte Street studio resident, an alumnus of the Chrysalis Institute for emerging artists and was long listed for the 2021 Palette Poetry Emerging Poet Prize.
However, she’s quick to go beyond the honors and recognitions to tell the story of her life that has had her in and out of mental hospitals, in and out of college, joining a communal religious organization, living out of a van with “some hippie friends,” before finally arriving in KC, as she says “on her knees.”
“ I had been trying to shirk off God’s will for my life by trying to chase what someone else had or found, instead of going to the throne of God which is in my very heart,” she writes on her webpage www.melissaferrerand.com. You can go there to learn more about her intriguing story.
You can follow her on social media on Instagram @melissaferrerand and Twitter: @melissafpoet.
