National Poetry Month Special: Interview With Robin Davidson, Poet Laureate of Houston

Robin Davidson is Houston's current poet laureate. I was pleased to have a conversation with her about what her new position entails, and what she plans to do to promote the art of poetry in one of the country's largest and most diverse cities.

Shivani: You were a finalist for the Houston poet laureate position a couple of years ago, and this time around you were chosen as our city's poet laureate. What does the poet laureate position mean to you, and why was it important for you to persist?

Davidson: My colleague and fellow poet, Jane Creighton, Professor of English at the University of Houston Downtown, nominated me for the poet laureate competition in 2013. I would never have applied initially without Jane's faith in my work. I persisted because I continue to believe in the power of poetry to change lives, to engender in each of us deep human empathy, and I appreciated the opportunity it would be to work under the leadership of Mayor Annise Parker, a poet herself and a passionate supporter of the arts in Houston. The laureate role is one of service to poetry, ambassadorship. It is not to promote one's own work--because simply promoting one's own poems diminishes the position's opportunity to celebrate the widest range of poetry that may already exist in a community, or could exist, if the art form were introduced widely to those who might not yet feel its power. I hope to design opportunities that will engage the public in poetry--as readers, writers, listeners--and raise the visibility of the poetry that already exists here. The City of Houston is rich with poets and poetry devotees, among them such entities as Inprint, the UH Creative Writing Program, Writers in the Schools-Houston, Houston Poetry Fest, Meta-Four, Word Around Town, Speak!Poet, Public Poetry, Writespace, Monsoon Art Space, Gulf Coast Poets, Rice Gallery Words & Art, to name a few!

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