This week, Gov. Brian Schweitzer named Greg Pape the new Montana poet laureate. Pape, of Stevensville, succeeds Sandra Alcosser, a Florence poet who was the first to serve in the honorary position.
“I don't know what it is about the Bitterroot,” Pape said with soft laugh. “But I think that most people don't really realize what a great literary scene, what an amazing bunch of young poets we have here in this state in general. I've never been in a place that has so many terrific writers, so it's an especially great honor to be named poet laureate.”
“I was stunned and very pleased when I got the call,” Pape said Wednesday.
The poet laureate designation “recognizes and honors a citizen poet of exceptional talent and accomplishment,” according to the official description of the position from the Montana Arts Council, which solicits and accepts nominations for the position and chooses finalists. The governor ultimately designates the poet laureate. The program was created by Senate Bill 69, which was signed into state law in March 2005.
Though Pape isn't a Montana-born poet, he has lived in the state since 1987, and before that he carried on a long-term personal correspondence with Richard Hugo, the most famous Montana poet of his generation. Pape, whose direct, plainspoken and personal style of writing echoes something of Hugo's poetry, ultimately was hired at the University of Montana to take the position vacated when Hugo died in 1982.
“I consider myself a slightly romantic realist,” Pape said. “I loved (Hugo's) style, writing about daily imaginative experience, places you see along the highway, places that mean something to you. Land and landscape have always been important to me and that's a big theme in my poetry; I grew up in the West, and even when I was teaching in the East I missed the West a lot.”
Pape is well aware of the challenges faced by poets today. Though some mainstream magazines still publish occasional poetry, you'll never find a poetry book on the New York Times best-seller list.
“In a way, poetry is wonderful because everybody ignores it and you can't really sell out, so you can just do your thing and hope it means something to someone besides yourself,” Pape said wryly.
Despite the general dearth of publishing opportunities for poets, Pape has seen seven books of his poetry published, including the Edwin Ford Piper Prize-winning “Sunflower Facing the Sun” (University of Iowa Press). His most recent book of poetry, 2005's “American Flamingo” (Southern Illinois University Press), was hailed by Alcosser as “a beautifully compassionate book. ... In the manner of James Wright and Horace before him, Greg Pape celebrates the delicate and daily exchange living beings make with each other.”
His poetry has also been published in magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, Poetry, Colorado Review and Missouri Review. He is a past recipient of the Richard Hugo Memorial Poetry Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Vachel Lindsey Poetry Award, and two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships.
And now he is the state's poet laureate. Though the position comes with neither budget nor pay, Pape hopes to use the title to stir up events and opportunities to promote poetry around the state during his two-year term.
“I'm hoping to be able to travel around the state and meet people, do some readings and make this a lively and interesting experience,” Pape said. “I would love be able to use this position to encourage people to read more poetry. A poem a day is a vitamin for your mind.”
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