so much depends
upon
a local poet
turning her
gaze to
Zozobra and
chile.---
With the two-year term of its previous poet laureate about to expire, the City of Santa Fe is seeking a new wordsmith who can be the face of the city's literary arts, and, well, wax poetic about life in the city different.
Poets must be nominated by the end of the day April 26. Nominees must be at least 21 years old and residents of (or employed in) Santa Fe County for at least five years. They must have a history of community involvement, in addition to the poetic chops to do the city justice. A city of Santa Fe arts commissioner and up to four other panel members will evaluate the nominees, according to the city website. The winner will be announced June 8 and serve from July 1, 2012 until June 30, 2014.
Outgoing poet laureate Joan Logghe is a native Pennsylvanian transplanted to La Puebla who makes reference to the area's desert landscape in her work. In addition to numerous other accolades, Logghe got a "Best of Santa Fe" award last year for her book Singing Bowl —along with a designation as "Less Cool" on an Uber Cool to Less Cool continuum. She blogged humorously about the latter for a Pojoaque publication, writing,
"And remember, Santa Fe Reporter Staff, I was young once and if you're lucky, you will cool down gracefully."
Duly noted!
Before Logghe was laureate Valerie Martinez. She created a project called Lines and Circles that drew on the creativity of 11 Santa Fe families, bringing together multiple generations of each to write a poem reflecting their history. In the 2009 poem excerpted below called "Santa Fe Sestina," Martinez describes an autumn scene on the plaza through the perspective of a jewelry vendor:
"the caricaturist silver-
haired, at his booth, the Mexican girls skipping on the plaza,
the santero wrapping up Saint Agnes in crisp blue
tissue paper. It's October. The day feels old as adobe,
new as the drugstore's loopy neon sign (sky-
high and glowing), fluid as the clouds' unruly ribbons."
Santa Fe's first poet laureate was Arthur Sze, originally of NYC, whose poetry has been translated into 12 languages. His poem "Chyrsalis," excerpted below, makes reference to northern New Mexico scenery:
"The first night of autumn has singed
bell peppers by the fence, while budding
chamisa stalks in the courtyard bend to ground.
Observing people conversing at a nearby table,
he visualizes the momentary convergence
and divergence of lines passing through a point.
The wisteria along the porch never blooms;
a praying mantis on the wood floor sips water
from a dog bowl. Laughter from upstairs echoes
downstairs as teenage girls compare bra sizes.
An ex-army officer turned critic frets
over the composition of a search committee,
snickers and disparages rival candidates.
A welder, who turns away for a few seconds
to gaze at the Sangre de Cristos, detects a line
of trucks backed up on an international overpass
where exhaust spews onto houses below."
