Cathy Smith Bowers

Poet Laureate of North Carolina, 2010-2012

Cathy Smith Bowers served as Poet Laureate of North Carolina from 2010-2012, and in 2017 she was inducted into the South Carolina Author's Hall of Fame. She was born and reared, one of six children, in the small mill town of Lancaster, South Carolina, and received her BA and MAT in English at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. She went on to do graduate work in Modern British Poetry at Oxford University in England. Her poems have appeared widely in publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, The Georgia Review, Poetry, The Southern Review, and The Kenyon Review. She served for many years as poet-in-residence at Queens University of Charlotte where she received the 2002 JB Fuqua Distinguished Educator Award. She now teaches in the Queens low-residency MFA program. She is the author of four collections of poetry: The Love That Ended Yesterday in Texas (Texas Tech University Press, 1992); Traveling in Time of Danger (Iris Press, 1999); A Book of Minutes (Iris Press, 2004); The Candle I Hold Up To See You (Iris Press, 2009). In 2010, to celebrate Ms. Smith Bowers' appointment as North Carolina Poet Laureate, Press 53 published, Like Shining from Shook Foil, a collection of selected works from all four previously published poetry books, as well as selections of poems previously published before her first book but not published in any of her books. In 2013, Press 53 published The Collected Poems of Cathy Smith Bowers, which contains all four of her previously published books in one volume with an introduction by former North Carolina Poet Laureate Fred Chappell. Ms. Smith Bowers' Press 53 books are published as Tom Lombardo Poetry Selections.

The Abiding Image by Cathy Smith Bowers gives testament to poet and editor Alfred A. Poulin’s belief that “the very act of writing poetry is an affirmative one, saying no to any force that would destroy the human spirit.” Part handbook, part memoir, part stand-up comedy routine, this collection of essays and lectures will provide inspiration and guidance for any writer, reader, and teacher of poetry. From those who have no idea where to begin to those in need of practical and innovative ways to reboot and revive, this book is for you.

Put simply, I cannot imagine American poetry without Cathy Smith Bowers’ original voice nor her extraordinary imagination. —Major Jackson, author of The Absurd Man: Poems

Praise for Cathy Smith Bowers

Cathy’s powerful poems open new avenues of thought and are a reflection of the love of words and learning. She believes poetry inspires and instructs North Carolinians of all ages.

—Bev Perdue, North Carolina Governor, 2009–2013

Cathy Smith Bowers uses a modesty of presentation and an economy of means in the interest of saying something genuine. Nor does she confuse sincerity with honesty. What she says, she means and knows that if she said more she might actually mean less.

—Fred Chappell, North Carolina Poet Laureate, 1997–2002