As April unfolds and National Poetry Month is celebrated across the country, the Knox County Public Library turns its spotlight to East Tennessee – a region where poetry flows as naturally as the Tennessee River. And while some poetry flows easier than others, East Tennessee has no shortage of voices that rise and ripple across generations.
Take Nikki Giovanni. We love her poem Knoxville, Tennessee so much that we featured it on the wall of the Children’s Room at Lawson McGhee Library. In her joyful ode to a summer picnic, Giovanni recalls the warmth of family, food and church gatherings from her childhood – a celebration of simple pleasures and enduring roots.
James Agee, another literary giant, famously remembered his own idyllic Knoxville childhood in Knoxville: Summer of 1915. His opening line still stops us in our tracks: ”We are talking now of summer evenings in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the time I lived there so successfully disguised to myself as a child.” The entire piece is worth reading for its lyrical beauty and ethereal innocence.
RB Morris, Knoxville’s first poet laureate, was deeply influenced by Agee. Much of Morris’s poetry and songwriting reflect that connection. His play The Man Who Lives Here is Loony explores Agee’s life while showcasing Morris’s own creative genius and reverence for Knoxville’s literary past.
Not far from Agee’s legacy stands another remarkable voice: Jane Merchant. Born in Knoxville in 1919, Merchant was a poet of profound sensitivity and strength. Despite a lifelong struggle with brittle bone disease that confined her to a wheelchair, and by age 22, left her deaf and nearly blind, Merchant’s poetry was published in major national magazines and celebrated around the world. Few readers knew of her physical hardships – only the fierce clarity and emotional depth of her work. Though she passed in 1972, her voice remains a vital part of East Tennessee’s poetic heritage.
Carrying the torch into contemporary times is Marilyn Kallet, professor emerita at the University of Tennessee. Her poems are rich with personal experience and cultural memory, woven with humor, tenderness and a deep love for language.
More recently, Rhea Carman and Black Atticus – Knoxville’s recent poet laureates – have continued shaping the city’s poetic identity. Their voices bring fresh energy and perspective, blending tradition with innovation.
And then there’s Linda Parsons – poet, playwright and editor – whose work speaks powerfully to healing, womanhood and the layered nuances of Southern life. Her poetry sings with lyricism and emotional honesty.
These poets — and many others — have given East Tennessee a vibrant literary identity, one that honors its history while welcoming new voices and visions.
For more poetry, visit our podcast, The Beat, hosted by Alan May, KCPL librarian and poet in his own right. In it, poets read their own poetry and some of their favorite poems by others.
This National Poetry Month, we celebrate their contributions and the ever-evolving story of poetry in this storied region.
Mary Pom Claiborne is assistant director for marketing, communications and development for Knox County Public Library.
