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Poetry Near You

Find poetry readings, workshops, festivals, conferences, literary organizations, and poetry-friendly bookstores, and learn more about poets laureate, in your area.

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Kentucky

State Poet Laureate

In 1926, Kentucky established a state poet laureate position, which is currently held by Silas House, who was appointed to a one-year term in 2023. 

Recent & Featured Listings

Type Title State
Literary Organization The Carnegie Center Kentucky
Poetry-Friendly Bookstore Poor Richard's Bookstore Kentucky
Literary Organization Kentucky Council of Teachers of English/Language Arts Kentucky
Poetry-Friendly Bookstore Robie Books Kentucky
Literary Organization The Kentucky State Poetry Society Kentucky
Landmark Robert Penn Warren Birthplace Museum Kentucky
Literary Organization Green River Writers Kentucky
Literary Organization Kentucky Shakespeare Kentucky
Literary Magazine Appalachian Heritage Kentucky
Small Press Blair Mountain Press Kentucky

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Related Poets

  • Davis McCombs

    Davis McCombs

    Davis McCombs is the author of three poetry collections, including lore (University of Utah Press, 2016). His poetry often reflects the landscape and history of his native Kentucky, and he lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

    Read more about >
  • Constance Merritt

    Constance Merritt

    Constance Merritt is the author of Blind Girl Grunt: The Selected Blues Lyrics and Other Poems (Headmistress Press, 2017). She lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

    Read more about >
  • bell hooks
    bell hooks

    bell hooks

    bell hooks (a.k.a Gloria Jean Watkins) was born on September 25, 1952, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

    Read more about >

Related Poems

One woman drives across five states just to see her. The woman being driven to has no idea anyone's headed her way. The driving woman crosses three bridges & seven lakes just to get to her door. She stops along the highway, wades into the soggy ground, cuts down coral-eyed cattails, carries them to her car as if they might be sherbet orange, long-stemmed, Confederate roses, sheared for Sherman himself. For two days she drives toward the woman in Kentucky, sleeping in rest areas with her seat lowered all the way back, doors locked. When she reaches the state line it's misting.

Nikky Finney
2011

—For Mammoth Cave National Park

Humongous cavern, tell me, wet limestone, sandstone caprock,
      bat-wing, sightless translucent cave shrimp,

this endless plummet into more of the unknown,
                            how one keeps secrets for so long.

Ada Limón
2016

[ A ]

Long ago, in Kentucky, I, a boy, stood
By a dirt road, in first dark, and heard
The great geese hoot northward.

I could not see them, there being no moon
And the stars sparse. I heard them.

I did not know what was happening in my heart.

Robert Penn Warren
1985

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