St. Louis task force interviews three poet-laureate finalists; members to score rubrics and forward recommendation to Board of Aldermen

The St. Louis City Poet Laureate Task Force held recorded interviews with three finalists for the city’s poet-laureate position and agreed to collect scored rubrics and a ranked recommendation to forward to staff and, ultimately, the Board of Aldermen for approval.

The interviews, held during a virtual session and livestreamed for the public, gave each finalist 30 minutes to describe their practice and outline a vision for the term. Task force members discussed logistics for scoring and scheduled a follow-up action to assemble a formal recommendation.

The three finalists described overlapping priorities: documenting local poetic history, building sustained convening and mentorship programs, expanding youth and intergenerational opportunities, and finding ways to connect poetry to city life beyond performances. Paysha [last name not provided], poet laureate candidate, emphasized preservation and teaching: “Poetry is the wellspring of tradition, the bleeding connector of yesterdays and the free passport to futures,” and proposed digital or physical archives and more centralized…