Welcome our new Poet Laureate, —— Gwen Westerman

 I have, for some years now, been a member of the Academy of American Poets. It was not until today that I discovered they have multiple pages about Minnesota poets and poetry on their web site. The  discovery was made after I received an email notice from the Minnesota Humanities Center that:

Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan will announce Minnesota’s next Poet Laureate. This event is only available to credentialed members of the press. 

At 2:00 p.m. the Humanities Center live-streamed the announcement. Our new Poet Laureate is Gwen Westerman (@gwenwesterman on Twitter; her page in poets.org; her page at Poetry Foundation)

From the Academy:

Gwen Nell Westerman is the author of Follow the Blackbirds (Michigan State University Press, 2013), a poetry collection written in Dakota and English. She is a Professor in the English Department at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and lives in rural Blue Earth County.

From the Foundation:

Gwen Nell Westerman is Dakota, enrolled with the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation through her mother. She is author of Follow the Blackbirds (Michigan State University Press, 2013).

 

Follow the  Blackbirds, Gwen Nell Westerman

One of her poems is included in When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through, edited by Joy Harjo, current  Poet Laureate of the US. You can learn more about her at her own web site.

Give-Away Song

Gwen Westerman

This is my give-away— 
            not because I don’t want 
                  it anymore, 
            not because it’s out of 
                  style or 
                broken or 
                useless since it lost 
                its lid or one of its buttons, 
            not because I don’t understand 
                the “value” of things. 
This is my give-away— 
            because I have enough 
                  to share with you 
            because I have been given 
                  so much 
                    health love happiness 
                    pain sorrow fear 
            to share from the heart 
            in a world where words can be 
            meaningless when they come 
            only from the head. 
This is my give-way— 
            to touch what is good in you 
            with words your heart can hear 
            like ripples from a pebble 
            dropped in water 
            moving outward growing 
            wider touching others. 
            You are strong. 
            You are kind. 
            You are beautiful. 
This is my give-away. 
     Wopida ye.    
          Wopida ye. 
                Wopida ye.

 

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