Poet Laureate Home

After three and a half remarkable weeks in Portugal and Spain, first teaching a poetry workshop in the Disquiet International Literary Program in Lisbon for two weeks, then traveling a bit with my husband and son, I am at last back home in the county and look forward to begin the process of posting the nearly 100 Favorite Poems that have been submitted.

I plan to post the poems in alphabetical order according to the poem’s author’s last name, and much as U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky did in his national project, I will list all comments in one post for a single poem in the case of multiple submissions. I’ll let you know when the posting will begin. Look for a blog update soon.

Then stay tuned for the second part of the Favorite Poem Project as planned, which is a series of readings around the county given by YOU, the contributors of Favorite Poems. Not to worry if you did not manage to submit a poem in time for inclusion on the blog(submissions now closed). Any resident will be given the opportunity to read a Favorite Poem at these events.

In the meantime, I’m including this newsworthy item, below. During my time with the literary program in Lisbon, I was struck by the value placed on all the arts in Portuguese culture and how well they were integrated into daily life. This seems far more common in Europe than here in the U.S. Well, we’re doing our part!

French Coach Relies on Poetry (click on link)
By Jeré Longman
The New York Times

Sally Ashton
Santa Clara County Poet Laureate