Post being created as a catalyst for poetry in the community

If, as Percy Bysshe Shelley opined, “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world,” then Colorado Springs is about to get its first official representative to the congress of ideas.

The first Pikes Peak Poet Laureate will be named in April, during National Poetry Month.

“We need our version of Neil Armstrong, someone who will be engaging and inspiring, and lead programs that will draw people in,” said John Atkinson, chair of the organizing committee. “The idea is to make poetry accessible to every person.”

A coalition of local groups came together to establish the poet laureate program, including Poetry West, the Pikes Peak Library District, Colorado College, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region.

The committee is accepting nominations through February 15, interviewing final candidates to suss out which projects they would take on in the community, and then naming the winner for a two-year term. Atkinson said they are looking for someone who is respected among academics, and who is also an outgoing figure who can be inspiring for the community.

Colorado Springs is following in the footsteps of Denver, which appointed its first living poet laureate in 2006.

The tradition of poets laureate began in Britain in the 1600s — Colorado appointed its first poet laureate in 1919, and the United States began the practice in 1937.

If there’s already a national poet laureate, and a state poet laureate, why do we need a local poet laureate?

“I think part of it is a celebration of local community,” said Chris Ransick, the poet laureate of Denver. “Writers aren’t just people in New York City or Paris, they are people who live and work among us.

“I live on an average street in an average house, and I mow my lawn on the weekends. I just have a passion for writing.”

Ransick’s theme has been “poetry for the masses.”

He’s appeared at many city events, given readings and workshops, and used his position to promote projects such as Poetry in Motion that put poetry in 800 buses and trains, a 500-foot scroll he calls the world’s longest multi-lingual poem that people keep adding to, and bringing poets together to record audio books for the blind and dyslexic.

Ransick said his most unexpected success is being a diplomat, bringing together a fractured cultural community — “I’m starting to see collaborations where I didn’t see them before.”

The coalition that formed to establish the Pikes Peak Poet Laureate might be a good sign that it will have the same effect here. Atkinson, of Poetry West, sees the Denver poet laureate as a successful model to emulate.

The local coalition wants the position to serve three purposes: to honor the accomplishments of a local poet; to create a catalyst to organize poetry events and activities; and to facilitate and fund a major project by the poet laureate that will raise the visibility of poetry.

To that end, organizers are launching a fundraising campaign to raise $13,000. The money will cover costs, pay the poet $2,000 a year, and fund the poet’s major project. They are looking for 100 “Founding Muses” to build the foundation with early donations.

It’s clear that the poet laureate organizers are going for accessibility, not snobbery. They want to spread the message that poetry is for everyone.

Ransick’s advice: Pick a poet who wants to serve rather than just sell books. Give him or her plenty of freedom. And have realistic expectations, because the poet laureate is meaningless without the community he or she serves.

“Having a poet laureate doesn’t mean you automatically enhance literary culture,” he said. “The real work doesn’t get done by the poet laureate, it gets done by the community. The poet laureate is just the catalyst, if he’s doing his job right.”

IF YOU’RE A POET, AND YOU KNOW IT . . .

- Nominate poets to become the first Pikes Peak Poet Laureate by completing the form at PikesPeakPoetLaureate.org by Feb. 15.

- How to donate: For more information, go to PikesPeakPoet Laureate.org, e-mail info@PikesPeakPoetLaureate.org, or call the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region (COPPeR) at 634-2204. Individuals contributing $50 or more before March 31 will be permanently designated as a “Founding Muse” of the project, invited to a special reception for the poet laureate, listed in the award ceremony program and permanently recognized on the project’s Web site.

- Checks should be made payable to PPLD Foundation, with “Poet Laureate Project” written in the memo field, and mailed to PPLD Foundation, P.O. Box 1579, Colorado Springs 80901-1579.