This poem touches on some of the challenges in society, and what we wish we could do instead.
by Jake Shelton Green | art by Jane Cheek

Jaki Shelton Green, the ninth poet laureate of North Carolina, is the author of nine poetry publications including Dead on Arrival, Breath of the Song and Conjure Blues. Her commissioned works have been choreographed and staged for film and will serve as the content for a collaboration with visual artist Monique Luck that will exhibit at The Mint Museum in September 2024.

Jane Cheek, a Raleigh-based installation artist, specializes in immersive installations that amplify joy and explore memory, drawing inspiration from her life and identity as a bisexual woman, mother and wife from the American South. Through her work, she uses techniques traditionally associated with women’s work and craft to transform everyday materials into monumental installations.

This article originally appeared in the June 2024 issue of WALTER magazine.