State's poet laureate reads his own poetry and showcases other poets

Carlotte Warren of the Dungeness Valley has a book signed by Samuel Green, state poet laureate, at the Little Threatre at Peninsula College on Tuesday. -- Exclusive peninsuladailynews.com photo by Chris Tucker/Peninsula Daily News

State's poet laureate reads his own poetry and showcases other poets

By Erik Hidle, For Peninsula Daily News

PORT ANGELES — You won't find the state poet laureate's book available at the Peninsula College bookstore. It's sold out.

Samuel Green, Washington state's first poet laureate, read poems from his new book, The Grace of Necessity, at the college on Tuesday.

He told stories, read poems and introduced those in the auditorium to other Washington poets' work.

"I thought he was excellent, and I thought it was wonderful he introduced other poets from the state," said Peggy deBroux, a 15-year resident of Port Angeles who writes poetry.

"I was just shocked when I heard he was the first poet laureate."

I think we should always have one."He was a good choice."After the reading, Green ate lunch at the Pirate Union Building and signed books the bookstore had ordered — all the books the library ordered — as they were sold to those who had listened to him earlier in the auditorium.

Peninsula College student Teya Priest-Johnston of Port Angeles purchased a book immediately after Green ended his reading.

"I didn't know him in depth before this, just knew of him through my writing class," Priest-Johnston said."

I definitely didn't want to leave without my own copy of his book."I could go on and on about how beautiful his work is."

His book has three sections of poems dealing with death and violence, the daily world and how he reconciled all of it into lessons learned.

Part of the book is a collection of short poems that Green wrote over the course of a year as an exercise to help him understand what was going on in the outside world.

Living poorGreen lives on Waldron Island in the San Juans.

He has no electricity or running water and the island is not serviced by a ferry.

He said that he and his wife moved to the island so they could be so poor that they wouldn't need to work.

His work reflects heavily on his experiences on the island and deals with the death of his neighbors.

Green was named poet laureate by the state on Dec. 17.

He opened the 2008 session of the state Legislature with a reading from his new book.

Green felt it was appropriate, since a lot of legwork from legislators and Washington residents helped him gain the title.

"I am very grateful to them for this, but it is bigger than me," Green said.

"The real excitement is to have a poet laureate, rather than for me to be one."

"The exciting part is to be able to represent poets of this state because we have a lot of them."This isn't just about reading my work."
Showcasing poetsGreen read seven poems from different poets who live in the state.

At one point he received applause for reading a poem by Jana Harris of Sultan, northeast of Seattle.

"That was a poem that I heard her read, and knew it was going to get me through the day," Green said."

I'm glad they liked it, too."I felt like I was reading to my peers today," he added.

"There are people here whose work I have read and respect."

Kate Reavey, who teaches English at the college and who has lived in Sequim for 19 years, was one of the faculty members instrumental in bringing Green to Port Angeles.

"He has been here a number of times before," Reavey said."When we heard that he had been named poet laureate, we called him immediately and asked him to come."

Green said he was happy to oblige, having traveled to Port Angeles for readings since the late 1970s.

"I have cousins who live in this area, and I have been coming to the area for some time now."

It's almost like coming home, even though I don't live here."

"His poetry means a lot to me personally," Reavey said.

"We are very excited to have him here."

Last modified: February 05. 2008 9:00PM

Fonte (image include): Peninsula Daily - Port Angeles,WA,USA

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