Poet Laureates of City, State and Country

A week ago today, Bobby LeFebre, Colorado’s Poet Laureate, gave a captivating performance of his poetry to a live audience at the Rialto and a dispersed one watching the event remotely.  His reading was the opening event of Loveland’s weekend celebration of National Poetry Month.  His work was rich with language and insight, and his commentary genuinely encouraging of other writers (and readers) of poetry.

Lefebre provided the perfect lead-in to the main event on Saturday:  a conversation with and reading by the Poet Laureate of the United States: Joy Harjo.   In the afternoon, UNC professor Evan Oakley adeptly interviewed Harjo, whose project for her laureate tenure is a map of native American poets, 47 of them, and a complementary anthology: Living Nations, Living Words. In the interview, Harjo noted that she enjoys being surprised the poems she is writes, as though she is a conduit of an external spirit.  This is congruent with her belief in the power and influence of ancestors in our lives. 

In the evening’s reading, Harjo shared many poems from her most recent collection, An American Sunrise, which focuses on the Trail of Tears (“The Indian Removal Act”)—an expulsion of over 100,000 native Americans from their homelands in the era of Emily Dickenson and just prior to the American Civil War.   

Ok, Colorado Poet Laureate, U.S. Poet Laureate; how does the third laureate come in?  Well, Loveland Poet Laureate Veronica Patterson was key to making these events happen.  Part of the mission of laureates of poetry is bringing poetry to a wider audience.  Certainly these events met that criteria! 

Lefebre read one poem that he declared was his last poem about Covid.  While I am sure there is much more to come from all as we process the last year over time, these two poets and their in-person readings last week may indicate a “hinge” in the poem of our lives—a shift out of quarantine and into normal life.  Let’s hope so, even if it is a “new normal” in which we can gather again thanks to vaccinations, while continuing to wear masks to protect those who cannot be vaccinated and continuing to wash our hands well. I agree with these two great poets that it is glorious to be together, in person, again.  Let’s hope for more of that.   

Did you miss the readings last week?  Good news: you can view them for the next 20 days or so at the addresses listed below. 

♦ Bobby LeFebre Reading/ Performance: https://vimeo.com/525725227

 

♦ An Afternoon with Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo in conversation with Evan Oakley:  https://vimeo.com/535120326

 

♦ Joy Harjo Reading: https://vimeo.com/535308751

These events were made possible by the Loveland Poet Laureate Program, Aims Community College, The Erion Foundation, City of Loveland Cultural Services, City of Loveland Arts in Public Places Program, Northern Colorado Writers, Columbine Poets – Northern Chapter, Columbine Poets Inc., Towne Place Suites Loveland by Marriott, ArtWorks Loveland, the Rialto Theater, and many other organizational and individual donors.

More information about Harjo’s signature project is available at the Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/