RCAH Center for Poetry, Lansing Poetry Club, LEAP seek Lansing Poet Laureate

January 24, 2017

This spring, the RCAH Center for Poetry, in collaboration with the Lansing Poetry Club and the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP), will appoint the first Lansing Poet Laureate. Applications from tri-county area poets are being accepted through March 3 for this culturally significant position. Not only does this appointment honor the selected poet, it also provides increased opportunities for the community to engage with poetry.

The Lansing Poet Laureate will serve as an ambassador for poetry, holding a 2 year term while receiving a $2,000 per year stipend from LEAP. A minimum of three readings and/or workshops will be offered in the tri-county area’s schools and communities, with the intent to foster a love of poetry.

“At a time when so many in this country seem to be focused on technology, trade, and business investment it’s important to realize that not all investment is calculated in dollars and profits,” according to Anita Skeen, director of the Center for Poetry. “We have under-invested in the arts and humanities for years, and as the winds of change threaten both the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, it’s very important that we here in the Lansing area who believe that poetry enriches our lives in ways that nothing else can take delight in and support the coming appointment of the first Lansing Poet Laureate. I look forward to the work that our poet laureate will do and to hearing how poetry is reaching new audiences and finding new venues.”

The state of Michigan is currently one of six states without a Poet Laureate. The first and only holder of the position, Edgar A. Guest, served from 1952 until his death in 1959.

Last year, the Lansing Poetry Club and the Center for Poetry were involved in efforts to pass House Bill 4763, introduced in July 2015 to establish a state poet laureate. The efforts were stalled when the bill did not make it out of committee.

The establishment of a Poet Laureate representing Michigan’s capital city is expected to raise awareness of the issue and increase support for a state poet laureate.