Every year since 1977, Bucks County has held a poet laureate contest for current residents. Past winners of the competition have come from many backgrounds and earned various other awards and professional achievements, including Guggenheims, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowships, and a Pew Foundation of the Arts grant.
This year I was selected as one of the contest runner-ups. (Yay!) The award reception was on November 14, and I had the opportunity to read a couple of my poems (including “Regrowth,” which was published by Rust + Moth in 2020) alongside some very talented poets, including this yearʼs winner Nicole Steinberg, last yearʼs winner Jane Edna Mohler, contest judge Ernest Hilbert, and fellow runners-up Judith Lagana and Lynda Gene Rymond. The reading was a wonderful experience, and it was truly an honor to have the chance to read with this group of excellent local poets.
Congratulations to Judith, Lynda, and especially Nicole!
Tara Tamburello 