POETRY FRIDAY

Last week, Jared Polis named Bobby Lefebre Colorado's Poet Laureate. According to his website, "Bobby LeFebre is an award-winning writer, performer, and cultural worker from Denver, Colorado. He is a two-time Grand Slam Champion, a National Poetry Slam Finalist, an Individual World Poetry Slam Finalist, and a two-time TEDx speaker.  LeFebre has performed at hundreds of cultural events, social actions, detention centers, conferences, and colleges and universities across the United States and abroad." He's also a playwright, whose newest play, Northside, just completed a 25 day run at Su Teatro in Denver. And the coolest thing for me-- last week I ran into G, who works in the cafeteria at my school. She's Bobby's mother!

Upon his appointment, Lefebre said, "The poet, and more importantly to me, the poet laureate, should not only strive to raise the consciousness and appreciation and the promotion and consumption and reading and writing of poetry, but they should also strive to raise the consciousness of our collective psyche, and heal where there is hurt, celebrate where there is joy, share where there is peace, disrupt where there is stagnation, build where there is opportunity, fight where there is conflict, and challenge where there is complacency," LeFebre said.

I didn't have an easy time finding his work on line. The one poem I did find is "Social Worker," a spoken word poem that LeFebre performed as a TED talk. 

"Social Worker"

When I tell people what I do for a living
they often respond by saying things like
"bless your soul" "that must be difficult" and my all time favorite, "it's so nice seeing someone not work for the money"
I'm a social worker
I tend to the wounds of people crucified by circumstance
carry hope and band-aids in my briefcase
share my own scars for street cred
I work with kids who see their probation officers
more than their fathers

Read the rest of this poem here. 

Check out Bobby's website here. 

Enjoy other poems at Margaret's Reflections on the Teche. 

Bobb