News at Eleven: The state has been without a laureate

going on a month now, since Samuel Green's term expired at the end of 2009, [Kris] Tucker said.

But Tucker hopes to have the program reinstated.

"The state has a really strong commitment to literacy, to communications and to the arts," Tucker said. "Poetry pulls all those things together. It's such an accessible art form."

Once you have the title, there is also the question of what to do with it. Tacoma's former laureate, Bill Kupinse, helped put together a book with 75 Tacoma-based poets.

State laureate Green spent much of his time traveling the state--from Forks to rural areas north of Spokane--talking to students and doing readings. He even wrote a poem for the dedication of a new land bridge in Vancouver, Wash.

from The News Tribune: Redmond poet laureate one of the few in Washington

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