Patti Garrett, Decatur’s new Mayor. Photo obtained via http://pattigarrett.net/

Mayor Patti Garrett’s first State of the City Address Tuesday, Jan. 26 will also feature 2012 U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey.

Her address at the Courtyard Marriott Decatur Conference Center starts at 6 p.m. with a reception beginning at 5:15 p.m., according to The Decatur Minute, the city’s blog.

[adsanity id=27331 align=aligncenter /]

The blog said, “Mayor Garrett has some special surprises in store including a guest appearance by Decatur resident and 2012 U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey who will close out the program by reading her poem ‘Meditation At Decatur Square.'”

Trethewey, a Pulitzer Prize winner in poetry and a professor at Emory University, debuted the poem at the Decatur Book Festival last year.

Mayor Garrett is quoted as saying, “It is a distinct honor to have Natasha come and read it again at the close of my first State of the City Address.”

Garrett was elected mayor earlier this year by her fellow city commissioners.