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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 Arts Across Kentucky Kentucky
Poetry-Friendly Bookstore Lincoln's Loft Kentucky
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

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Related Poets

  • Wendell Berry
    Photo credit: Dan Carraco

    Wendell Berry

    Poet, essayist, farmer, and novelist Wendell Berry is the author of more than thirty books.

    Read more about Wendell Berry >
  • 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 Davis McCombs >
  • 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 Constance Merritt >

Related Poems

Kentucky River Junction

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

Cattails

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

Notes on the Below

—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.

All my life, I’ve lived above the ground,
            car wheels over paved roads, roots breaking through                              concrete,
and still I’ve not understood the reel of this life’s purpose.

Not so much living, but a hovering without sense.

Ada Limón
2016

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