New Poet Laureate, Shelter-in-Place

Here's the quick update since my last post in this blog.

In the last two years, I have attended many poetry readings, continued my online monthly workshop with MFA cohort members, published another review, joined an in-person critique group, and had the honor of being invited to represent the County Library system on the selection committee for the 2020-2022 Sonoma County Poet Laureate.

There were extremely strong candidates for the position of Poet Laureate, and the decision was not easy. But in the end, the group chose Phyllis Meshulam, author of several books of poetry as well as Poetry Crossing, a book of lesson plans drawn from the work of California Poets in the Schools. Phyllis has long been a very active supporter of CPITS and for years coordinated Poetry Out Loud in the county, the high school poetry recitation competition started by Dana Gioia. I had to acknowledge that Phyllis is a friend during the meetings of the selection group. However, she is a friend of many other people on the committee - as are, it is important to note, other candidates. I felt that we all did an excellent job of setting aside personal feelings while making our decision. We focused instead of the criteria that would be most significant for a Poet Laureate right now.

Of course, this was before the changes wrought by the coronavirus. Now all events, including the inauguration of the next Poet Laureate have been postponed. But the shelter-in-place order has meant time to read and write poetry and prose. A blessing in the midst of difficulty.

The review I had published was of Michele Bombardier's wonderful What We Do (Aldrich Press). I am grateful and honored that Valparaiso Poetry Review chose to publish it.

I am blogging more in general, and just wanted to ensure something was added to this site as well. I hope to add entries more frequently in future.