Reflecting on Two Terms as Dublin California’s Poet Laureate (now Emeritus)

In June 2021 my appointment as the City of Dublin’s first poet laureate in ten years was official, with a second term approved in January 2023. As the calendar turns to 2025, my second term concluded and a new local poet (Richard Deets) will continue the tradition. He’s attended many of the Poetry & Pizza Open Mics I hosted during my tenure and he’s a wonderful successor.

Looking back, there are many notable events that demonstrated to me how poetry can be a powerful contribution to communities. Poetry can be tucked into any event or place, with many poems fitting in a page or less than ninety seconds. All a poet needs is a microphone, an audience, and a moment of attention. The City of Dublin was a wonderful partner during my two terms as poet laureate – providing support and encouragement, without trying to be my poetry editor. They trusted my judgement, and I never abused that trust.

For future poets laureate, or cities considering creating a poet laureate role for their community, below are some of the highlights from my time as the City of Dublin’s Poet Laureate.

One of my first major tasks was crafting a poem to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the City of Dublin’s founding. To create the poem “At the crossroads” I wanted to capture the history of the region, which spanned thousands of years, along with contemporary references residents would appreciate, while retaining the poetry. 

In addition to City of Dublin events, a big part of being poet laureate (in most cases a volunteer position) is finding ways to bring poetry into the community on a tiny budget. For my two terms I partnered with a local pizza place with an outdoor patio/bar for a monthly “Poetry & Pizza Open Mic”, held a “Poetry Walk” each April during National Poetry Month (featuring 25 local business / 25 poets / 25 poetry posters), and hosted a poetry event at the city’s annual Splatter art festival. 

I also contributed poems to City of Dublin Veterans Day and Volunteer Recognition events. My poem “NORMANY (in 9 scenes)”, which captured my experience visiting D-Day memorials in Normany, France served as an effective way to celebrate Dublin’s “Hometown Heroes”.

The most unique request was to author captions for six sculptures being commissioned for the City of Dublin’s Heritage Park and Museums. While poetry wasn’t specifically requested, I used the prose poetry form to create six captions that worked individually, but also as a six stanza poem. The captions were stamped in steel, as permanent as the sculptures they accompany.

Inevitably a city’s poet laureate will be asked to author an original poem for ribbon cuttings, and the challenge for the poet is finding poetry in the event. In my case, I was asked to craft poems for the opening of a new park and, later, a foot bridge. In both cases I dug into the history and backstory of the places to find the poetry, and to incorporate references residents would appreciate.

I was even asked to collaborate with an Irish songwriter to craft lyrics for an original song to be performed at the City of Dublin’s Annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival.

For future poets laureate, and cities without a poet laureate, I hope these glimpses into my two terms as poet laureate provide some inspiration into how poetry can be tucked into communities.