St. Louis is looking for its next bard.
The city offers established poets the chance to be St. Louis' poet laureate. The title has been held by Michael Castro, Jane Ellen Ibur and Shirley LeFlore, and gives a poet from the city a chance to engage residents and “wax poetic†about their hometown.
The position is a two-year appointment, and the laureate spends that time engaging in public appearances, leading workshops, performing readings and developing original works. The goal is to enrich the lives of residents through sharing and promoting poetry.
St. Louis Poet Laureate Michael Castro reads from his work as part of the keynote address by Juan Felipe Herrera, poet laureate of the United States, during the 2016 St. Louis Brick City Poetry Festival at Central Library downtown Oct. 16, 2016. Photo by Sid Hastings
Applications for the role opened on Thursday and will close on March 7. In order to apply, you must be a resident of St. Louis city and at least 21 years old. Applicants should also be able to submit a portfolio of publicly accessible work and demonstrate a commitment to bringing poetry to “a wide range of places and people.â€
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Members of the public may also nominate someone for the role.
View more requirements and the application at the city's .Ìý
Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Shirley LeFlore enjoys a moment with the Rev. Perry Moore and her youngest granddaughter, Bella Grace Ituen, 5, after LeFlore was named St. Louis' poet laureate during a ceremony at city hall on Nov. 9, 2018.
The St. Louis Board of Aldermen created the position of St. Louis Poet Laureate in 2014. The city’s first poet laureate under that ordinance was Castro. He and LeFlore died in 2019.
The program lapsed during the pandemic, and there is no current city poet laureate.
The city appoints a task force to select the poet laureate. This year’s task force will be chaired by poet MK Sadiq, who founded Urbstetiks, which hosts the VerbQuake Youth Poetry Slam. He also works for the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis.
Also on the task force are Ann Haubrich, director of grants and programs at the Regional Arts Commission; Pamela Garvey, a professor at St. Louis Community College–Meramec; Kaylyn McKoy, a slam poetry champion and community college student; Nikki Smith, an experience research manager at Enterprise Mobility; and Connor Kerrigan, director of communications in the city’s mayor’s office.
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