Kentucky

State Poet Laureate

In 1926, Kentucky established a state poet laureate position, which is currently held by Kathleen Driskell, who was appointed to a one-year term in 2025.

Type	Title	State
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
Literary Magazine	The Louisville Review	Kentucky
Small Press	Sarabande Books	Kentucky
Small Press	Finishing Line Press	Kentucky
Writing Program	Western Kentucky University	Kentucky

[ 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

^{to Ken Kesey & Ken Babbs}

Clumsy at first, fitting together

the years we have been apart,

and the ways.

But as the night

passed and the day came, the first

fine morning of April,

it came clear:

the world that has tried us

and showed us its joy

was our bond

when we said nothing.

And we allowed it to be

with us, the new green

shining.

Our lives, half gone,

stay full of laughter.

Wendell Berry

1985

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

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Gayl Jones

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Kentucky

Recent & Featured Listings

bell hooks

Gayl Jones

Silas House

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