It has become something of a tradition that each New Hampshire Poet laureate create a project that reflects her or his approach to celebrating poetry in general and highlighting New Hampshire poets in the process. In 2007, laureate Patricia Fargnoli, inaugurated a bi-monthly feature: ” At my request, The NH Arts Council is providing me with a link to the poet laureate page on their website in order that I may showcase poems by a number of New Hampshire Poets. The poets will be by my invitation only, but I plan to include both the famous and the less famous ….those who are seriously working at poetry craft from many areas of the state. A different poet and poem will be presented every 2 weeks.” Pat’s project ran the length of her term and was continued by her successor, Walter Butts. And interesting feature of the project was the prose commentary that each poet was asked to include with the poem. These short essays provide perspective and insight into the poetic process. NH State Council on the Arts Poet Showcase
Now Hobblebush Books has collected the poems into an anthology and is sponsoring a series of statewide readings to promote it. My town’s library is one of the venues. Five area poets will read on April 11th at 5 pm. NH Poets Read from New Anthology Hobblebush Books
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