Reggie Gibson was sworn in as Massachusetts’ first state poet laureate at a ceremony at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, where Governor Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll administered the oath.

The new role, created this year by the Healey–Driscoll administration and organized by the Mass Cultural Council, is intended to expand poetry programs in schools and public spaces across the commonwealth. "Words are powerful. They pave the way forward," Governor Maura Healey said during the ceremony as she introduced Gibson.

Michael Bobbitt, executive director of the Mass Cultural Council, said the position signals a statewide commitment to the arts. "With this new role, we say loud and clear, poetry matters here," Bobbitt said. He and other organizers noted the program results from a statewide search; at different points in the event speakers described the applicant pool variously as "hundreds of applications" (Governor Maura Healey) and as "23 applicants" (Michael Bobbitt).

Gibson, an acclaimed writer, performer and educator, recounted a childhood anecdote about a gift from his uncle and the role of words in his life during brief remarks after taking the oath. "For me, it's where the words lived," Gibson said of the dictionary his uncle gave him. He also performed an extended piece rooted in Massachusetts history and landscape and said he will appear at related events, including a performance he said would take place "tomorrow at the BUR Festival."

Officials and arts partners at the event included Mayor Dominic Pangalo of Salem, the Peabody Essex Museum, Mass Poetry, Mass Humanities and members of the Mass Cultural Council and its poet laureate nominating committee. Mass Poetry and the Mass Cultural Council said Gibson will serve as an ambassador for poetry, working in schools, public spaces and community programs to "amplify poetry and creative expression in Massachusetts," in the administration's words.

The ceremony coincided with the start of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival weekend in Salem. The oath included references to the constitutions of the commonwealth and the United States, which Gibson repeated as part of the swearing-in; the oath text and ceremony were ceremonial and required no formal council vote.