Carl Morton

Carl Patrick Morton (born June 7, 1920 in Leeds; died February 20, 1994 in Helena) was a business executive and former Poet Laureate of Alabama.

Morton was the son of Hartwell and Eunice Morton. He graduated from Auburn University.

Morton served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II and was awarded a Bronze Star. He spent his career with the Hardy Corporation and served as president of the Birmingham Mechanical Contractor’s Association. He retired as a vice president in 1983.

Morton married the former Isabel Gibbons on October 2, 1946 and had three children.

Morton had three books of poetry published, and was president of the Alabama Writers Conclave, the Alabama State Poetry Society, and the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. He was named the fifth Poet Laureate for Alabama by Lieutenant Governor Bill Baxley, serving from 1983 to 1987. He was part of a group of poets that popularized the "Beymorlin Sonnet" form, based on Italian and Shakespearean sonnets with an added internal rhyme scheme.

Morton also served on the advisory board for the Auburn University School of Arts and Science.

Publications

 * Morton, Carl P. (1973) Desiring Stone. Peterborough, New Hampshire: Windy Row Press
 * Morton, Carl P. (1977) An Occasional Tyger. Birmingham: Woodview Press
 * Beyer, Richard G., editor (1984) Scrod I. The Poetry of Carl P. Morton, Sue Scalf, Riley Nicholas Kelly, Ann Caroly Cates, Richard G. Beyer & Marjorie Lees Linn. Florence: Pauper's Press