Poet Laureate, Silver City; Grant County, NM

I have been selected as the inaugural poet laureate for southwestern New Mexico. I cannot tell you how humbled I am by this two-year appointment. I feel as though I am back in my Montana one-room school, and just received a gold star for the week. I am especially pleased to be able to use the post of poet laureate to enhance the awareness of the literary arts in our area.

I anticipate encouraging other writers, particularly those who were as insecure as I was about showing my poetry to anyone. The idea of reading it aloud terrified me. I hope that beginning poets will contact me, and that I can meet with them individually, or plan workshops that will leave them feeling more confident. Needless to say, my own poetry will be richer for the experience.

I am looking forward to meeting the other poet laureates in our state. There are now four. Only a short time ago, there one in Santa Fe. A poet laureate was selected in Albuquerque this week. Unfortunately, the poet laureate of Las Cruces died recently.

I will be writing more often on my blog, and poetry will be a frequent topic along with a few comparisons of poetry revision and pruning in the garden.