By David L Harrison, Missouri Poet Laureate (2023-2025), explains how you can nominate yourself for this prestigious position
On July 3, 2023, Missouri’s Governor Mike Pearson chose me as the state’s 7th Poet Laureate. My job is described as “a two-year term, to be filled by a published poet, a resident of Missouri, be active in the poetry community, and be willing and able to promote poetry and the arts in the state of Missouri by making public appearances at public libraries and schools across the state and compose an original poem in honor of Missouri.”
I am the first children’s poet to be selected as Missouri’s state poet. I nominated myself in 2015 and stressed that if we want to encourage more adults to enjoy poetry, we don’t wait until they are adults. We reach out to them when they are children. We demonstrate to them what great fun poetry can be to hear, read, and write. I wrote on my nomination form that I’ve visited schools and libraries in my home state and around the country for fifty years, doing just what the job description requires.
I wasn’t accepted. In 2019, a librarian nominated me. No luck. She tried again in 2021. Another miss. In 2023, a different librarian nominated me. On the fourth try, I made it. Everyone who reads this article knows the sting of rejection and rewards of perseverance. I’m unaware of a children’s poet who has served as a state poet laureate anywhere else. If I’m wrong, and I hope I am, it is safe to say that our number is small. I wrote this article to encourage more children’s poets to consider seeking nomination in their states.
Applications are generally provided by your individual state, but you can find out more information through the Library of Congress or the State Arts Council. State poet laureates must be current residents of their individual state.
Of course, there are official duties that come with the position. Visiting schools and libraries isn’t hard for most well-published children’s poets. Reaching out statewide to adults is more complicated. My predecessor, Maryfrances Wagner, challenged writers to compose haiku poems. She had good results engaging people of all ages. For my major project, I decided to try starting a newspaper column.
Amos Bridges, Editor-in-Chief for Springfield (MO) News-Leader, accepted my proposal and gave me a weekly space for a 500-word column to be called Poetry from Daily Life. I gathered a list of sixty poets in the United States and beyond who are taking turns contributing guest columns. My list includes a former U.S. poet laureate, half a dozen former state poets laureate, some famous professors, and a who’s who of widely respected, high profile children’s poets. I now have enough guest columns on hand or committed to last well into 2025. Since November 2023, the column has been picked up by four other papers in three states. Circulation of the papers exceeds 65,000. I expect further growth in 2024.
Does being a state poet laureate take time from my writing? You know it does. But I think it’s worth a two-year interruption in my routine. Children’s poets have much to add to ongoing efforts to recruit more people to the pleasures and rewards of poetry.
I was a science major at Drury and Emory universities. I’ve been a pharmacologist, greeting card editor, and managing owner of a concrete block company. I’ve published more than 100 books, including several for teachers, and am Poet Laureate for Drury University. I believed that my mix of experiences gave me something to say. If becoming poet laureate in your state appeals to you, consider your assets and how you might apply them to spread the gospel of poetry. If your decision is to go for it, I hope you win.
David L Harrison