Somewhere Between KC/MO and East St. Lou

<p>During my time as Missouri's 6th Poet Laureate I have had two major goals. The first has been to put poetry into </p><p>the hands and ears of Missourians who don't usually read poetry or go to poetry readings. My second has been to </p><p>promote or highlight Missouri poets and publishers. Thanks to all of the poets (over 50) who have participated in some </p><p>part of one of the projects and thanks to Jason Ryberg of Spartan press and Ben Furnish of BkMk press for </p><p class=ql-align-justify>production. As a result of Covid I have not been able to have the usual Missouri Poet Laureate travel experience for public </p><p>appearances. I've given readings talks and keynotes taught workshops judged contests participated in book festivals </p><p>written poems published a book re-issued a new edition of <em>Red Silk</em> been interviewed and traveled around some parts </p><p>of the state. I have done many events while sitting at my computer on Zoom so I decided I wanted to create some </p><p>projects that would help me fulfill my two primary goals and reach all regions of the state in a meaningful way. </p><p>The most significant thing I have learned so far as Poet Laureate is how many fine poets have lived or worked in </p><p>Missouri for a large part of their lives. Through my projects I have tried to represent all regions of the state multiple </p><p>styles and diversity but I know there are still many poets out there I don't know or was not able to contact to be </p><p>involved in one of my projects. I know I haven't begun to represent all Missouri poets but I'm not done yet so there's </p><p class=ql-align-justify>more to come. My first project was to create ten podcasts called The Literary State. Each of these is a ten to twenty-minute </p><p>podcast with a Missouri poet. Poets answer two questions about the craft of poetry give a writing prompt and read </p><p>two of their poems. The podcasts are available on Anchor Spotify and Apple or those interested can google them and </p><p>listen on their phones or computers. The goal is that people will listen to them in their car while cooking dinner sitting </p><p>at a table with a pen in hand ready to write or anywhere they usually listen to podcasts. I also hope that teachers </p><p>and professors will share them with their students as the podcasts offer valuable information about writing. </p><p>My second major project was to create Tiny Books to highlight eighteen more Missouri poets. Each of these tiny </p><p>books includes one poem. Each of those poets received a quantity of tiny books to distribute to people who do not </p><p>usually read poetry-the grocer waiter doctor dentist mail deliverer grass cutter neighbor etc. These tiny books have </p><p>been incredibly popular and I wish I had thousands more of them to distribute since there are over six million people </p><p>in Missouri and I wish everyone could have at least one of them. Some have reacted in wonderful ways of helping to </p><p>spread them around for many to read and I thank them for that. The third project is this one-two anthologies. Ten </p><p>poems from ten more Missouri poets in two anthologies published by Spartan press and in partnership with <em>I-70 </em></p><p><em>Review. </em>Welcome to the words of ten Missouri poets in this anthology. Enjoy. </p><p><br></p><p>-Maryfrances Wagner Missouri's 6th </p><p> Missouri Poet Laureate 2021-2023 </p>