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Denise Low's E-mail:
------------------ *Permission is granted that this page's information can be used by others to positively promote Kansas Poet Laureate Denise Low.
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About Denise Low
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Read Statement from the Poet Laureate
For over 25 years she taught at Haskell Indian Nations University, and she has been visiting professor at the University of Kansas and University of Richmond. She has awards from the NEH, Sequoyah National Research Center, Lannan Foundation, The Newberry Library, Academy of American Poets, and Ks. Arts Commission.
Her academic books include prose about Native and settler literatures of the middle plains region. She is 2011-2012 president of the national board of the Associated Writers & Writing Programs. Her web site is www.deniselow.com , and she maintains a writing-related blog, http://deniselow.blogspot.com .
More on the Denise Low
Her father was the Democratic Party Lyon County chairman from the 1960s to the 1980s. As a child she remembers his lively discussions with William L. and Kathryn White of the Emporia Gazette and other Republican advocates.
Low began her writing career as a high school correspondent for the Gazette, like her brother David and sister Jane Ciabattari. Her sister Jane is a well-known journalist and fiction writer in New York City.
Dr. Low holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in English from the University of Kansas and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Wichita State University. She has published ten books of poetry and essays and received awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Lannan Foundation, Kansas Arts Commission, Poetry Society of America and others. She also publishes reviews and articles about poetry and American Indian Literature.
Dr. Low followed the lead of the first Poet Laureate of Kansas, Jonathan Holden. Dr. Holden initiated a dialogue with communities and schools across the state through televised poetry programs and other appearances. Low continued adding to the Kansas Poets web site (www.kansaspoets.com), created by Greg German, to engage writers and readers of Kansas poetry. In addition, she wrote a weekly column featuring a Kansas poet for the web site, free to Kansas schools, libraries and arts organizations. Ad Astra Project
Dr. Low resides in Lawrence and is married to Thomas Weso. Her children are David Low of Healdsburg, CA; Daniel Low of Washington D.C.; and stepdaughter Pemecewan Fleuker of Lawrence.
*Permission is granted that this page's information can be used by others
...a statement by Denise Low at the end of her 2 year term, June 30, 2009
"As a new poet laureate, I planned to make appearances and to create a series of electronic poetry broadsides to disseminate to poets, arts organizations, libraries, and publications. I did not expect to take on such a broad role as an ambassador for poetry to colleges, arts centers, libraries, social service organizations, and churches. I spoke on radio and television shows. I judged contests and ran my own series of contests for Poetry Month. In this time I discovered the profound hunger Kansans have for high-level communication. Poetry is not an easy art form, as it requires concentration, skill, logic, and heart. It is the most intense form of literacy. I appreciate the chance to be part of the Kansas Arts Commission-sponsored effort to bring arts into daily lives of my fellow citizens."
...a statement from , by Denise Low at the beginning of her term, July 1 2007
Dear Fellow Kansans,
The poet laureate position has a long European history. A king’s poet or “versificator regis” was part of a royal household. In 14th century Rome, Petrarch, who invented a sonnet form, was made poet laureate. Richard the Lion-Hearted had a court poet, and Chaucer had a pension and allotment of wine to serve the court of Edward III. Edmund Spenser served Elizabeth I, and John Dryden was the first officially appointed poet laureate. Ben Jonson in 1619 declined a pension and took his payment as wine allotments only, and no cash. So far the state of Kansas has not offered this option to me, nor have they offered cash beyond a modest stipend for related expenses. A Topeka radio station disc jockey wondered just how much the state of Kansas was paying someone to be poet laureate, and believe me, it is not a salaried post. My state is known for being frugal.
In America, a position Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress was created in 1937, and Kansan and KU graduate William Stafford held that position. In 1985 Congress changed the name to The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress and their guidelines state: “During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.” The current U.S. poet laureate is Donald Hall, who spoke in Kansas City Jan. 24, 2007. Nebraskan Ted Kooser spoke at the University of Kansas and Kansas City in 2005-6, during his tenure as U.S. poet laureate. The American approach to national and state poet laureate position is to value individualism. The United States laureate mission states: “Each Laureate brings a different emphasis to the position.” Various projects have included teaching school children, discussion of the African diaspora, poetry placed in public places such as airports and buses, and many other forms. Most often public appearances in themselves raise public awareness, and I understand Ted Kooser made 100 appearances in a year.
There are poet laureates for cities, such as San Francisco. We could indeed create a poet laureate position for Lawrence, Wichita, or any other community. Wikipedia maintains a current list of the thirty-nine state poet laureates.
The governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, appointed its first poet laureate, Jonathan Holden, 2005-2007. In Kansas, the arts commissions stipulates: “The Poet Laureate program of Kansas is intended to serve the cultural tradition of officially recognizing a citizen poet of exceptional talent and accomplishment. The program will also encourage the appreciation of poetry in Kansas by making the Poet Laureate available to a wider audience throughout the state.”
Holden, a distinguished professor at Kansas State University and friend for twenty-five years, addressed the needs of the poet laureate position in terms of the size of this state, through a series of teleconferences. Holden summarized this project, on the www.kansaspoets.com site: “To promote the practice of poetry in the state of Kansas, I propose a series of poetry readings and conversations by and about Kansas poets. The Kansas Poets "Shoptalk" Series will consist of readings of contemporary poets, as well as readings and discussions of past Kansans, in order to provide an historical perspective. In this way, we can create a Kansas-wide community of poets who have access for continued discussion and ‘shoptalk’ to the finest and most knowledgeable poets across the state no matter the location.”
This shoptalk series had outlets in just about every larger town in Kansas. Some of these were videotaped and are available through the kansaspoets.com site. The site and Holden’s efforts provide resources for teachers and students of poetry.
My own plans are to continue some of Holden’s initiatives, including the kansaspoets.com website; a few shoptalk sessions; participation in the second annual Kansas Book Fair in September and the first River City Book Fair in Lawrence (Oct. 2007); and personal appearances. I hope to be part of a poetry rendezvous in the Flint Hills that will feature the influence of William Stafford.
In addition, I have talked with the Center for Kansas Studies at Washburn University about an internet and print media project that would result in an anthology of Kansas poets. The Kansas Ad Astra Poetry Project would begin with a weekly e-mailed poem by a Kansas poet, to be delivered to libraries, schools, and other subscribers and also published on the Kansas Poets website. Libraries and schools would be encouraged to print out copies to post. I would select from living and historic poets and include short biography, the poem, and commentary. At the end of the term, the Center for Kansas Studies is interested in printing the collection of these pieces as a representative publication of Kansas poets. This anthology can be distributed to school and public libraries across the state, according to the Center for Kansas Studies.
I have already begun, through encouragement of my women’s writers group, a blog, which lists events, commentary, reviews, and poems, at http://deniselow.blogspot.com
Poetry sustains our spirits and holds our communities together. It celebrates the land, our loves, and mourns our losses. Words create our ability to survive. N. Scott Momaday named his autobiography, Man Made of Words, and I think that is our unique identity as human beings. We all are made of breath and flesh. Poetry binds these together. Sincerely,
Denise Low
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