Marin Poet Laureate
It is a great and joyful honor to be named the new Marin County Poet Laureate. I’m humbled to follow in the footsteps of our previous poets laureate, all writers and humans I admire. I hope that my work sharing the pleasures of poetry will further the work each laureate undertook during their own terms.
We moved often when I was growing up—by the time I started 6 th grade, I’d been to five different schools—and I feel lucky to have lived longer in Marin County than I’ve ever lived anywhere. For twenty-four years, I have wandered Marin County open space with an ever-changing cast of goofy, eccentric dogs. I’ve raised my three children here, and I’ve written most of my poems at my Novato kitchen counter. Marin County has provided me a wonderful place to raise my children, access to staggering natural beauty, and a rich poetry community that has generously supported my development as a writer. Especially Marin Poetry Center, where I’ve attended readings and workshops and have also served on the board, and David St. John’s workshops in Sausalito have nurtured me as I’ve worked to build a life as a poet.
Throughout my life, I’ve written and read poetry to get to know myself, humanity, and the world better. Poetry has served as a source of comfort and pleasure and refuge. As Marin County Poet Laureate, it is my goal to share the many gifts poetry has to offer as widely as possible, particularly with those who may not have had much exposure to it before—the unsheltered, those experiencing incarceration, children, and others who may have simply never given poetry much of a try.
