After a slew of executive orders came down from the Trump administration over the last few weeks, in Massachusetts this week, Governor Maura Healey issued one of her own, creating the position of a state poet laureate to be selected sometime this year.
Poetry "enriches the civic life of Massachusetts in innumerable ways," stated the order.
Poetry is what connects communities, though some people may think it's not written for them, said Amy Dryansky, the Northampton poet laureate from 2017 to 2019.
"Whenever folks are in an extreme situation, even people who don't ordinarily read poetry, go to poetry — for solace or celebration or protest," Dryansky said.
If as a commonwealth we want to support our communities Dryansky said, "why not get more and more people engaged with poetry?"
Massachusetts is a state known for supporting the arts and some wonder why the state remained among the very last to establish the poet laureate role.
Among them, poet Alice Kociemba, who lives in Falmouth, Mass.
"Other New England states had a poet laureate but [not] Massachusetts, and given the rich background, it just seemed odd to me," Kociemba said.
A few years ago, Kociemba, working with Mass Poetry, interviewed town and city poet laureates around the state.
“There are a wealth of poets who I call 'ambassadors for poetry,'" said Kociemba.
Being a poet laureate is not about promoting your own work Kociemba said, "it's really figuring out how to engage the general public in poetry.”
'Years in the making'
Along with several state officials, the Mass Cultural Council, Mass Humanities and Mass Poetry have been instrumental in creating a process for the state to find and promote the work of a poet laureate, said Brian Boyles, executive director at Mass Humanities.
The role has been a few years in the making, he said.
"In Massachusetts, sometimes because we have such a richness of cultural activity, doing the things that other states do maybe takes a little longer, because we have to put a lot of thought into who we bring into the process," Boyles said.
Over the next few months, Mass Humanities and the Mass Cultural Council will form a nomination committee, Boyles said. The committee will review poet laureate applications and then pass on recommendations to the governor.
Once selected, the state poet laureate will be charged with organizing and attending public poetry readings and other statewide literary and cultural events, with composing poetry for ceremonial occasions and advising Massachusetts education department how to incorporate school programs that focus on poetry.
'A voice the nation can look to'
A poet from Massachusetts is a voice that the nation can also look to, Boyles said.
"It is a very important responsibility we have as a state," Boyles said, adding that he thinks a lot about the words of John F. Kennedy.
In a eulogy for Robert Frost at Amherst College in 1963, Kennedy delivered a speech about the importance of public service and the role of the poet in a democratic society.
"'When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses,'" said Boyles, reciting Kennedy's words.
More details about nominations and the selection of Massachusetts's first poet laureate will be announced this spring. Whoever is chosen will receive a stipend, provided by the Mass Cultural Council.
“There are so many [possible poets],” Kociemba said, “I don't want to name anybody, only because I might miss somebody.”
