Carmin Wong is a poet-organizer, Penn State PhD candidate, and the State College Borough's first ever poet laureate.
WPSU intern Alex Fischer spoke with Wong about her work and what she hopes to accomplish in the poet laureate position.
Alex Fischer
Carmin, thanks for speaking with me.
Carmin Wong
Thanks for having me.
Alex Fischer
So, you’re a poet and a playwright. What inspired you to make this your career?
Carmin Wong
Poetry actually found me as a young writer, and soon, a young performer. My entrance into the world of poetry was reading poets, listening to poets, attending youth poetry slams, and ultimately wanting to articulate a sense of belonging, coming to this country, immigrating here as a young girl from Guyana with my family. And I think, searching for a sense of home and a sense of identity that felt like mine.
Particularly growing up in New York City, at a time in which it was not always safe to be from somewhere else. And we’re talking about a city that is primarily made up of immigrant families.
Writing became a way to articulate those experiences and to grapple with it.
Alex Fischer
Could you read one, of or part of one, of your poems for us?
Carmin Wong
I have a short little disclaimer about this, then I’ll go into it. 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of Malcolm X and we celebrated Malcolm X’s centenary here at Penn State. And this poem emerged from that celebration and thinking about the radical contributions of Malcolm X’s legacy on a global front. Reminding folks that it is not enough to just simply sit and remember. But to also acknowledge that we are part of a global struggle that requires us to do something right now.
I am not as much afraid of death as I am of living
In a country that defends itself against my lynching
It is scary.
To wake up, to learn another body who looks like me
Five four, dark brown eyes, gritted teeth, warm skin
A woman is no longer alive.
There's no other way to put it plainly
Except maybe in textbooks and a few scribbled poems
Documenting this as the most American of histories:
Black life measured through a sequence of last breaths.
Don't it tire them to try to dismantle the color of our skin
Or rather, to rewrite the laws dictated by the color of our skin
Or to pursue policies that deliberately obscure our humanity
Because of the color of our skin?
I'm just wondering here, I am alone
In thinking, about the trees
The blood of our ancestors laboring into foliage?
These sites of dispossession,
Where a body be unrested dreams decomposed
The soil seeping deeply into the skin, and suddenly we
A cartography of memories
Death does not end us who hold hands and sing of spirit
No survive will sometimes be a moan
A last breath, a grunt, a groan
We be a whole eternity.
Alex Fischer
That was awesome. You ate that up.
You were involved in the Frances Harper 200th anniversary celebration. Can you talk a bit about sort of what your involvement was in that, and what that experience was like for you?
Carmin Wong
We’re talking about a 19th-century Black woman poet, educator, suffragist. Someone who fought for temperance. Someone who absolutely believed in human rights.
There is an intergenerational discourse that’s happening around Harper’s poetry, which, if you read, many of it is still stands the test of time. It's still talking a lot about the kind of racial disparities that we experience, and the gender inequities that we experience in the 21st century.
And I’m currently working on a collection that is set to come out, I think sometime next year, that brings to life, and back into circulation, the poems of Frances E.W. Harper, through a very contemporary lens.
Alex Fischer
You're the first poet laureate of State College. What does that position entail?
Carmin Wong
We are working toward making sure that we can amplify literary arts.
And my goal in being the poet laureate is to make sure that we have potentially a central place where we can commune together to experience that art form, that craft through readings, through community workshops, through community dialogues.
Wanting to just make sure that we realize that poetry is this thing that exists, you know, far outside of a book. And that it is a way for us to hold each other in community and in space, to be able to listen to one another, to be able to articulate our needs, our wants, our desires, and our futures, right, to go dream together and so forth.
Alex Fischer
What have you already accomplished as the poet laureate, and what do you hope to accomplish?
Carmin Wong
Wow. What have I accomplished? That, you know, that always feels like a difficult question, because this work is ongoing.
But I think something that I would love to see is young writers take up more space here in State College. And so, you know, wanting to publish young writers, wanting to get them comfortable with hearing their own voices. And so next time, maybe it won’t just be me in this interview, but that we have young people listening to us, watching what we’re doing, and hopefully maybe saying that “I can do that, too.”
Alex Fischer
And then is there anything else you want people to know about anything that we've talked about?
Carmin Wong
I would like for folks to know that this is an opportunity for all of us to get involved.
And although I was appointed in this inaugural position, I see it as a shared position among many of us who are committed to making sure that we have an equitable future, and a future in which our stories continue to be told by us. And so, if anyone is interested and has any ideas, and wants to learn more, they can certainly reach out to me.
Alex Fischer
Thank you so much, Carmin. It was great talking to you.
Carmin Wong
Likewise. Thank you for having me.
