PORT TOWNSEND — Applications are open for the second Port Townsend poet laureate position.
Applications for the 2026-2027 appointment are due Aug. 31 and can be found at https://tinyurl.com/yv86dmdf. Applicants must be 18 years or older and live in East Jefferson County.
The city is looking for poets who want to bring their craft to the community to show how it can inform civic dialogue, said Katy Goodman, Port Townsend’s arts and culture coordinator.
“The poet laureate, as a position, has a history throughout our country,” Goodman said. “There’s a national poet laureate, there’s a state poet laureate, and then many municipalities and counties also have had these programs for a long time.”
Port Townsend and Clallam County established the role more recently, she said.
Port Townsend’s inaugural poet laureate, Conner Bouchard-Roberts, is 1½ years into his two-year term. Clallam County’s second poet laureate, Nellie Bridge, took over for Jaiden Dokken in April.
The position seeks to recognize the impact that the language arts, specifically poetry, can have on civic conversations, Goodman said.
“(Poetry) can bring ideas into a dialog in a different way,” she said. “It kind of opens up the perspective or opens up the aperture on ways to engage with the world more broadly.”
The poet will bring their perspectives into government meetings, community events and possibly schools.
The impact their perspectives have in civic dialogues depends on the poet, Goodman said.
“I can imagine having a poet laureate who’s like, ‘You know what? I’m really interested in focusing on bringing poetry to the young people in our community.’ I can see a poet who is like, ‘You know, I’m really interested in the power of poetry to talk about our climate crisis.’”
The position is meant to bring beauty and connection to the community, Goodman added.
In addition to having a strong background in the literary arts and in poetry, candidates should be compelled to engage with people, Goodman said.
“It’s important that a candidate for the position wants to come out and read and speak in various forums and for various populations,” she said.
The poet would shape their programming along with the Port Townsend Library and the Port Townsend Arts Commission (PTAC).
There are some main programming requirements for the position: One main event or project per year, submission of poems in the city’s quarterly newsletter, one public event per quarter, and recitations before the city council.
The poet will receive an annual honorarium of $1,500 and will receive project support from the library and the PTAC.
The poet will be appointed from a five-person panel, including a PTAC member, city council member Ben Thomas and three local literary artists: Bouchard-Roberts, Bridge and local poet Amber Huntsman.
The panel will choose the next poet laureate in September and announce its decision in October.
Bouchard-Roberts will finish his term in December.
“(He) had a really strong focus on sort of lifting other voices,” Goodman said. “What he wanted to do as a poet wasn’t necessarily always to have it be about his own writing, but because he’s a publisher and a bookstore owner, he wanted to make sure that the other poets in the community had their work uplifted as well.”
“The position of poet laureate is about adding the language and depth of poetry to civic space,” Bouchard-Roberts said in a city press release. “There’s a certain quality of language that can come from putting poetry in a place where it doesn’t usually find its way because it’s often in books. Language is exciting to play with.”
Bouchard-Roberts and Goodman will host a Q&A at the Port Townsend Library, 1220 Lawrence St., from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 13.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
