Michelle Smith is new Heights poet laureate

Michelle Smith

Heights Arts has named Michelle Smith its 12th poet laureate. She will serve a two-year term beginning in April. Heights Arts’ Heights Writes Community Team selected Smith, a poet and literary advocate, from more than a dozen applicants to be the Heights poet laureate for the cities of Cleveland Heights and University Heights.

Heights Arts Executive Director Rachel Bernstein said, “We are very excited to welcome Michelle Smith as our 12th Poet Laureate. Her enthusiasm for the role combined with her compelling poetry, civic engagement history, and community connections will serve to elevate this art form to the highest level in the Heights communities. I can’t wait to see her in action."

 “I am grateful for this opportunity and looking forward to a wonderful two years,” said Smith. “I thank Heights Arts and everyone that participated in the selection process.” 

Smith is the creator, producer and director of Blax Museum, an annual performance showcase open to all forms and dedicated to honoring notable Black figures in American history and culture. She is the author of the poetry collection Ariel in Black (Guide to Kulchur Press) and an upcoming chapbook tentatively titled The Real Jazz Wives of Twentieth Century America (Outlandish Press).

Smith’s appointment is testament to her exceptional talent and dedication to the arts. She steps into the role following in the footsteps of recent laureates Siaara Freeman and Ray McNiece.

As poet laureate, Smith will not only champion the written word but also serve as a beacon for inclusivity and artistic expression in the Heights. Her appointment highlights the ongoing mission of Heights Arts to support and uplift local artists while promoting the transformative power of poetry. 

Heights Arts’ is the longest running poet laureateship in the state of Ohio. It has a long-standing partnership with the city of Cleveland Heights and a more recent partnership with University Heights. Smith will collaborate with these partners to engage both communities through the literary arts.

“We were thrilled to join Cleveland Heights in the Heights Poet Laureate program," said University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan, "and I look forward to our participating in the program going forward. University Heights is committed to supporting the arts. Adding poetry to our city events has been inspirational and has helped bring residents together.”

Cleveland Heights City Council President Tony Cuda said, “I am pleased to continue supporting the 2025–27 Heights Poet Laureateship in partnership with University Heights. It is a long and honored tradition which makes our community special.”

As poet laureate, Smith will lead and direct Heights Arts’ Ekphrastacy events, in which poets write and perform poetry inspired by each art exhibition at Heights Arts. Smith’s passion for creating meaningful artistic spaces and her dedication to fostering community involvement promises to make her tenure as Heights poet laureate a vibrant one.

The next Ekphrastacy poetry event will be held at Heights Arts (2175 Lee Road) on Thursday, April 17, at 7 p.m. Heights Arts’ outgoing poet laureate Siaara Freeman and several former poet laureates will perform original works inspired by the Regional Perspectives exhibition, which runs through May 11. 

For more information visit www.heightsarts.org.