On Monday, May 1 Utah Governor Gary R. Herbert named Lance Larsen—award-winning poet, professor, and Fire in the Pasture contributor—Utah’s new Poet Laureate. A role initiated in 1997, the “Poet Laureate is a Governor-appointed advocate for literature and the arts throughout the state” (see here). I’m gathering some more articulate thoughts on Lance’s well-deserved appointment (to be posted next week), but I wanted to give him some quick kudos for, well, already being such a dog-gone awesome poet and advocate for poetry and the arts. He’ll wear those laurels well, I’m confident of that. You can read more on Lance’s appointment here.
And because I find the poem especially fitting for the occasion, I’m embedding Lance’s reading of “Some Minutes,” which was recorded and broadcast on YouTube as part of Katharine Coles’ Poet Laureate project. (Coles is Utah’s departing Poet Laureate.) Enjoy.
And Lance: Get that swan costume ready. You’re on…
Tyler – the website is compelling.
Great to have Lance under the lights and reading – a lasting contribution. This may sound ridiculous, but the staging, camera angle and presentation reminded me a bit of General Conference, and I felt a tad amused to think we could benefit from a similar poetic interlude every now and then in a Saturday session. Should choral music be the only artistic highlight of Conference?