November 8, Nov. 15, Nov. 29, Dec. 13
Wilkinson Public Library, Telluride, CO, 6-8 p.m.
Back in high school English class, you probably learned how poets spoke for their time—how the literature of the day reflected all that was happening politically, culturally, spiritually and economically.
Who’s speaking for us today? In this series, we’ll take a look at the four most recent U.S. poet laureates: Philip Levine, Natasha Trethewey, Charles Wright and Juan Felipe Herrera. Nov. 8 features Levine, known as a poet for the working class people.
Appointed annually by the librarian of Congress, the official job description of the Poet Laureate is to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry. But the Poet Laureate, who is selected by a committee that includes the current Laureate and distinguished poetry critics, is someone who represents the prevailing poetry aesthetic.
What do your laureates have to say about you? And what do you think of them? And what, in fifty years, will high school students have to say about how these poets spoke to our time here on this planet, in this country?
The Nov. 22 Tuesday will not feature a class due to the holiday. The Dec. 6 Tuesday will feature a reading by our own San Miguel County Poet Laureate Elissa Dickson across from the library at Telluride Arts hosted by Talking Gourds Poetry Club.
The discussion series is free. For more information, contact the amazing Elissa, edickson@telluridelibrary.org
You can read all about what to expect in this article from the Telluride Daily Planet.