Miriam Brabham to bring ‘poetry in motion’ to Green Bay as city’s first poet laureate

For bumps in the road and broken relationships, Green Bay poet Miriam Brabham sees an opportunity to heal through writing.

“Every position I’ve held professionally informs my poetry. My poetry is an extension of myself and the experiences I’ve had,” she said. “In pursuit of being authentic and genuine, you have to bring your full self, those parts that are broken or bruised.”

This month, Brabham was selected the City of Green Bay’s inaugural poet laureate, said Erick Ledesma, the city’s public arts coordinator. She’s also the author of a 2024 book, 1,000 Apologies to Me: A Collection of Poetry, Short Stories and Reflections.

Brabham often writes about personal experiences, including feelings of depression and loneliness she has experienced.

“People have told me my poetry has allowed them not to feel so alone. That’s the greatest compliment you can get,” she said.

Brabham said several people encouraged her to apply for the poet laureate designation.

The application process involved creating a project idea to encourage the community’s awareness of poetry.

Brabham submitted a multifaceted proposal called, “Poetry in Motion: The Voices of Green Bay.”

“I wrote a proposal that tried to touch on many different demographics in Green Bay — our indigenous population, our Spanish-speaking population our black population — demographics that don’t always get the forefront visually,” she said. She plans to lead workshops throughout the city to collectively write “the poem of Green Bay.”

If Brabham’s full proposal is realized, year two will involve creating a collaborative mural for downtown.

The city is providing Brabham with an honorarium of $3,000 per year and a project stipend of up to $1,000 for expenses.

Lion’s Mouth Bookstore owner Amy Mazzariello said Brabham stood out for her “commitment to the community.”

Mazzareillo, who served as a juror to help select the poet laureate, saw promise in Brabham’s vision for bringing poetry and culture to Green Bay’s various population segments.

“What she plans to do with her position of poet laureate seemed to reach a pretty broad audience, one that we thought was inclusive and one that took more than the art of poetry, and her poetry in particular, into the scope of the job and her responsibilities,” Mazzariello said. “She seemed to exhibit the characteristics of a leader.”

Ledesma said Green Bay Common Council District 9 alder Brian Johnson encouraged his fellow alders to embrace a poet laureate program for Green Bay two years ago.

The city’s request for qualifications in fall 2025 netted 14 applications, which were narrowed to five finalists, he said.

To select the winner, two jurors — Mazzariello and Genre Urban Arts owner Nakeysha Roberts

Washington — and Public Art Commission members and liaisons scored applications in five categories: artistic excellence and craft; community engagement and public-facing experience; professional qualities and readiness; proposal feasibility; and proposal creativity, vision and impact.

“I fully believe artists should get to dream the program they develop,” Ledesma said.

“I’m excited to tell the story of Green Bay as it’s seen from inside the community for the benefit of those outside the community. Our story is often written by others. I’m excited to be able to be a small part of that story,” Brabham said.

With Brabham at the helm of the program, writing the city’s poem won’t be a solo activity.
She envisions gathering college students for seasonal poetry hikes exploring nature, working with young emerging writers on a youth poetry book and creating visual art that tells the story of the city and its people.

Brabham, who is in her 30s, has worked with UW-Green Bay students in several advising capacities, including as multicultural student success manager, according to her LinkedIn profile.

At schools, libraries and spoken-word gatherings she visits, Brabham will be asking people to help create a group poem about the city.

At the end of a year, Brabham plans to craft a poem using lines from the group efforts.
For Brabham, who describes herself as a multi-ethnic black woman, writing poetry during COVID was healing.

She moved to Green Bay from the Evanston area north of Chicago in 2019 due to a relationship.

“I came by happenstance but stayed for the community,” she said. “I’ve found a fantastic community here in Green Bay — all walks of life, ethnicities and identities; all the pronouns. It’s something I recognize as rare.”

The Commission unanimously recommended the Common Council approve its selection of Brabham as the poet laureate for 2026-2028. The Common Council approved Brabham’s selection without discussion at its Jan. 20 meeting.

The four other finalists were Jonathan “Cujo the Poet” Mojock, Dg Clearing, Hannah Neece Petraski and John Pidgeon.

The Public Arts Commission encouraged Ledesma to include the finalists in programming.

At its Jan. 14 meeting, Public Arts Commission members Alex Zacarias, Alyssa Proffitt, Sophie Bebeau and others shared concerns about the use of Artificial Intelligence in poetry and other creative works.

They directed Ledesma to instruct the poets involved in the program not to use it, and they included this stipulation in the resolution they voted on.

“Personally as an artist, I am 100% against AI for lots of reasons, reasons of creation of trademark and rights,” Ledesma said. “I don’t have any inkling our poets use AI. We can put it through a detector. I believe and trust the poets who submitted are using their voices creatively 100 percent,” he said.
Brabham said spoken-word poetry and prose are her preferred genres.
While she wrote her first poem in her youth, she said she didn’t see herself as a poet until she wrote her book, 1,000 Apologies to Me, during COVID.
In 2021, she said she performed spoken-word poetry with a poetry collective at the Tarlton Theatre in Green Bay.
As she looks ahead to the next two years, Brabham said, “I feel a sense of responsibility for safeguarding people’s stories and for committing to something because people are committing to me.”

Here is an example of a poem called “Word Sanctuary,” from Brabham’s self-published book
available on Amazon:
“Wounded by the world around me
I flee to the sheets
The ones bound for all eternity
The commitment
the safety of poetry
The words never betray me

Fold the pages around me like origami

Make me something new
Make me something complete

Lock me up
Throw away the key
Leave me here
Leave me be
Words I can control
Write myself a new identity

Lost in pros I’ll define happy
If Humans aren’t meant to be lonely
The Words will keep me company

In written illustrated see the real me
Just one more hit of coupling AB
Just one more line of rhymed symmetry

Loose my sobriety
To get drunk on others vulnerability
Huff their emotional instability
Snort their toxicity
OD on a lack of boundaries

Just to mainline on written therapy

Put me in recovery

Remove the stitches between what is and what could be
Let the words heal me
Iv of pros
Saline of empathy
Bandage me in spoken word
Write these wounds on loose leaf

Written artistry paints me as I would be
If I weren’t hooked on hurting
Or dependant on depression
If I were healthy
Would I lose this creativity
Is it just a life line out of crippling anxiety
Or does reality wait on me
Am I the problem
Is it me

Or am I the hero I have waited to see
The one that never saved me
The one that needed poetry
This places heals
In this place you can just be
This is the word sanctuary”