Illinois

State Poet Laureate

On November 2020, Angela Jackson was named Poet Laureate of Illinois. Jackson is the state’s fifth poet laureate, following Howard Austin, Carl Sandburg, Gwendolyn Brooks, Kevin Stein, and honorary Poet Laureate John Prine.

City and County Poets Laureate

Chicago, Illinois

In 2026, Mayda Alexandra del Valle was appointed the poet laureate of Chicago.

Elgin, Illinois

In 2024, Aron Ryan was appointed poet laureate through 2025.

Urbana, Illinois

In 2024, Ruby Mendenhall was appointed poet laureate of Urbana. Mendenhall will serve a one year term.

Type	Title	State
Literary Magazine	Chicago Review	Illinois
Writing Program	Midwest Writer's Workshop	Illinois
Poetry-Friendly Bookstore	Women & Children First	Illinois
Literary Magazine	Columbia Poetry Review	Illinois
Colony	The Ragdale Foundation	Illinois
Small Press	Visual Artists Collective Poetry	Illinois
Literary Magazine	East on Central	Illinois
Writing Program	University of Illinois	Illinois
Poetry-Friendly Bookstore	Powell's Lakeview	Illinois
Literary Magazine	Ninth Letter	Illinois

The sky is dark and the hills are white

As the storm-king speeds from the north to-night,

And this is the song the storm-king sings,

As over the world his cloak he flings:

"Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep;"

He rustles his wings and gruffly sings:

"Sleep, little one, sleep."

On yonder mountain-side a vine

Clings at the foot of a mother pine;

The tree bends over the trembling thing,

And only the vine can hear her sing:

"Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep;

Eugene Field

1889

        Hog Butcher for the World,
        Tool maker, Stacker of Wheat,
        Player with Railroads and the Nation's
             Freight Handler;
        Stormy, husky, brawling,

Carl Sandburg

1914

To the Williamson Brothers

High noon. White sun flashes on the Michigan Avenue asphalt. Drum of hoofs and whirr of motors. Women trapsing along in flimsy clothes catching play of sun-fire to their skin and eyes.

Inside the playhouse are movies from under the sea. From the heat of pavements and the dust of sidewalks, passers-by go in a breath to be witnesses of large cool sponges, large cool fishes, large cool valleys and ridges of coral spread silent in the soak of the ocean floor thousands of years.

Carl Sandburg

1916

Poetry Near You

Illinois

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Daryl Hine

Edith Franklin Wyatt

Eunice Tietjens

Poetry Near You

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Illinois

Recent & Featured Listings

Daryl Hine

Edith Franklin Wyatt

Eunice Tietjens

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