Sonia Sanchez's replacement as Philly's Poet Laureate announced

Today Mayor Nutter announced Sonia Sanchez's successor to the throne of Philadelphia's Poet Laureate. Stepping into the shoes of a giant will be Frank Sherlock, 44, a self-taught poet and native Philadelphian whose experimental poetry has a wicked sense of humor and an acute ear for the sounds of the city.

Case in point: his collaboration with CAConrad, another Philly poet, on The City Real and Imagined, a book-length poem based on their walks through the city, one of which leads them to a closed LOVE Park.

NO TRESPASSING!
Robert Indiana
LOVE Park
barricaded
no bongos today
skateboarders peer
through fence
quietly skate
off
ASSHOLE IN SUIT: (laughs)
Guess they closed your
LOOOOOOVE Park huh?!
ME: (sitting on police
barricade) IT’S YOUR
PARK TOO ASSHOLE! (21)

As Poet Laureate, Sherlock will work to raise poetry's profile through public readings and mentor the city's Youth Poet Laureate, which might not sound that exciting, but we expect the co-founder of the guerilla poet activist group PACE to have fun with it anyway. 

At his inauguration, Sherlock began with a breakneck reading from his 2011 Mural Arts project "Neighbor Ballads" for which he spoke to seven South Philly immigrants and translated their experiences into poetic broadsheets. In this recording, he channels Point Breeze resident Dorothy Allen, the daughter of West Indian and African-American parents. 

Following the obligatory thank you's, Sherlock closed with You Can Feel Good About, a prose poem written in response to some of Zoe Strauss' photographs. This poem should be required reading for anyone living here, especially now that Sherlock is our sovereign poet.

You can feel good about I-95 when you take a walk underneath Feel good about rocking black lip liner Your shirtless muscle pose is something you can flex & feel good about You can feel good about life in this ditch since you know that your future starts here You can You know you can feel

You can feel good about the love of your life in a snapshot left on a boxspring A gun & a bun in the oven is something you can feel good about You can feel good about beating the Giants You Yes

You can feel good in the skin you're in even if it's been broken You can feel good about the fire fighter & the wonder of fireworks at once Show off your titty tattoos & feel good I feel it Feel good about falling in love w/o government sanction Flip the bird to the law & feel good You can feel good about your wave cap when it's tied just right Can you feel how good this feels this blinking sign of redemption You can feel good about smoking in bed & not waking up in a fire You can you

You can feel good about dollar magic You can feel good about letting your wang hang out You can

feel Silly string from an overhead wire is something You can feel good about Froggy Carr You can feel good about making love in Centralia Rome can make you The shrimp & petro fest makes you feel good & hungry You can feel good about gangsta ink on your face You can feel that smooth Bicentennial roundball (go ahead & say it it's so so good.....Julius...Errr-ving) I told you now didn't I

You can feel good about yours It's first one of its kind in the world You can feel good about being young crazy rich & flashy Feel good about the fleur-de-lis You can feel good about $$$$ just don't be a dick about it Couples touching tongues can make you feel oo la laHe wrote dirty jokes in the Store of the Stars just so you could feel good Feel him You can feel good about dignity under the El You can feel good about half of everything & the half that seems to be missing Just feel for it

You can feel good about the most we feared has turned out to be empty & barren Drinking a Bud can

with one pinky up will make you feel pretty classy You can feel good about feeling like any day you might be a star Feel good about making out with a stranger on a day you come out in drag Some days you feel for the dead (R.I.P.) You feel good about showing your exit wounds because of what you've held onto Let's feel good & meet me under the overpass because now is the time to be close