PORT ANGELES — You won’t find the state poet laureate’s book available at the Peninsula College bookstore. It’s sold out.
Samuel Green, Washington state’s first poet laureate, read poems from his new book, The Grace of Necessity, at the college on Tuesday.
He told stories, read poems and introduced those in the auditorium to other Washington poets’ work.
“I thought he was excellent, and I thought it was wonderful he introduced other poets from the state,” said Peggy deBroux, a 15-year resident of Port Angeles who writes poetry.
“I was just shocked when I heard he was the first poet laureate.
“I think we should always have one.
“He was a good choice.”
After the reading, Green ate lunch at the Pirate Union Building and signed books the bookstore had ordered — all the books the library ordered — as they were sold to those who had listened to him earlier in the auditorium.
Peninsula College student Teya Priest-Johnston of Port Angeles purchased a book immediately after Green ended his reading.
“I didn’t know him in depth before this, just knew of him through my writing class,” Priest-Johnston said.
“I definitely didn’t want to leave without my own copy of his book.
“I could go on and on about how beautiful his work is.”
His book has three sections of poems dealing with death and violence, the daily world and how he reconciled all of it into lessons learned.
Part of the book is a collection of short poems that Green wrote over the course of a year as an exercise to help him understand what was going on in the outside world.
