WhatcomTalk Rena Priest, Washington’s New Poet Laureate, Calls Bellingham Home
For the next two years, our Washington State Poet Laureate promises to reach out to residents, and bring poetry into the natural world. Photo courtesy Rena Priest
Rena Priest, Washington’s New Poet Laureate, Calls Bellingham Home
A member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation and an American Book Award winner, Priest is the first Native American poet to serve as our state s poet laureate
Bellingham resident Rena
Priest made a deal with herself: she would apply for two positions that help
her follow her artistic dreams, and if she got either one, she could quit her “day
Washington state names its first Native American poet laureate
A member of the Lummi Nation, Bellingham writer Rena Priest will bring attention to local poetry, climate change and the loss of vital natural resources.
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On the first day of National Poetry Month, Bellingham-based Rena Priest is named the new Washington State Poet Laureate. She ll be a statewide ambassador for poetry during a two-year term. (Hillary Cagey)
After years of entering poetry contests and submitting to literary journals, Rena Priest had developed a habit: She would slip a copy of a New Yorker cartoon into the envelope along with her work. The image showed a car with a driver and passenger stuck in a sea of traffic. The caption: “Try honking again.”