Veronica Patterson's Last Poet Laureate Reading

Review of Ronnie’s reading

Lynn Kincanon’s first workshop as the new Loveland Poet Laureate (bringing together National Poetry Month and National Gardening month) was an excellent segue from the retirement of Loveland’s first Laureate: Veronica Patterson. 

Concluding a three-year appointment, Patterson gave her final Laureate reading last Thursday evening before a crowd that filled the basement room at the Loveland Museum.  It is always a pleasure to hear her read (my own poems sound so much better when she reads them!) Her pacing is deliberate, and the timber of her voice is just perfect for poetry—what is that?  Bill Tremblay is another such reader!

Several of the poems she read were recent—one was written for last week’s reading in support of Ukraine.  Another, following the cento form, pulled lines she gleaned from members of the Loveland Poet Laureate Committee—an appropriately timed verse. 

She stepped away from the podium to recite one of her previously published poems; a feat which always impresses me and gives a reading a more intimate, conversational style.

With a nod to the Cloud Appreciation Society (you must check that out!) she read a poem in which she compares tangible objects to clouds: Walt Whitman’s beard, for instance. (Rather the reverse of the game of looking at clouds and finding tangible objects in their shapes!). 

She closed the reading with a delightful piece about how she “helps the morning” on her daily walk along the lake.  This was a perfect example of how poetry often rises out of, and celebrates, paying attention.  Try that while gazing into your smart phone!

Certainly this is not the last we will hear from Ronnie Patterson even though it was her last reading as Poet Laureate; she will doubtless continue to be a voice for poetry in Loveland and beyond. 

And the legacy continues: meet and follow the new Laureate at https://www.facebook.com/lovelandpoetlaureate/