Poet laureate reviews six‑month report, lists events and asks task force for marketing and grant help

The poet laureate addressed the City of St. Louis Poet Laureate Task Force on June 1, 2026, submitting a six‑month update and outlining upcoming events and grant activity. The laureate said the task force’s most valuable help would be marketing and fundraising support and offered concrete ideas for outreach and applicant assistance.

The laureate listed recent work including monthly typewriter poetry workshops, a poetry jam (on break for June), school workshops, a commission for Great Rivers Greenway, readings and community‑center events, and other collaborative projects. The laureate said they and partners applied for an Academy of American Poets fellowship through the Poetry Center; the application deadline was moved to Aug. 31.

On nominations, members and staff discussed why some potential nominees did not apply—forms felt long or intimidating—and proposed streamlining the initial nominator form and letting nominees submit full materials after being flagged. A task force member confirmed that self‑nominations were already permitted under current practice.

The laureate asked for help with outreach logistics: a single contact on the task force to receive weekly or biweekly notices of upcoming events, help pulling quotes or clips for city social media, and occasional assistance with fundraising asks. “I’m terrible at asking for money and I’m terrible at telling people about things if you’re not in front of my face,” the poet laureate said, explaining why centralized support would be effective.

Next steps: the task force agreed to consider a hybrid approach to working sessions to draft ordinance language and to assign follow‑up tasks off‑line; staff will confirm whether a proposed meet‑and‑greet must be publicly noticed and will advise on clarifying residency language before the next application cycle.