Montgomery County Poets Laureate
The Annual Montgomery Poet Laureate Competition is the foundation upon which the MCPL Program was built. The competition is the ultimate expression of the program’s mission; creating an ever expanding community of poets, supporting their work and providing opportunities for poets to elevate their visibility while also benefiting the community with their service project, many of which continue long beyond their tenure.
How does the competition work?
Each year MCPL recruits a celebrity poet with a national reputation, who along with two additional local Delaware Valley poets, adjudicate the submitted manuscripts.
The newly selected Montgomery County Poet Laureate is honored with an award in the amount of $500 along with a personalized statement about their work, which is shared through MCPL and other local organizations.
The Award is presented during an Award Ceremony and Reading, open to the public and attended by the celebrity judge and previous poets laureate to read with and welcome the newest member of their esteemed ranks.
Who can compete?
Poets of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged to submit their poetry for review and adjudication in the annual competition. Poets must also be residents of Montgomery County. The window for submissions generally opens in early December and closes mid-February with the winner to be announced at the end of March.
The role of the Poet Laureate
The Poet Laureate functions as an ambassador for poetry in Montgomery County from April 1 of the year of his/her naming to March 31st of the following year. This role includes working with MCPL’s Executive Director, Joanne Leva, to develop a schedule of readings, workshops
Appearances may include the Forgotten Voices Poetry Group, Farley’s Bookshop First Thursday Poetry Reading Series, and the annual Caesura Poetry Festival. They may also hold the office of “
Emi Maeda, 2024 Montgomery County Youth Poet Laureate
2024 Montgomery County Youth Poet Laureate
Pickled Plums
Instead of being honest,
let’s go to the grocery store,
where you’ll ask me
something, and I’ll shake my head.
I’ll try to say something along the lines
of salt and leaves. But lines end.
And I’ll end up with a messy mouth.
It’ll be like I have your arms.
You have mine.
But we’re both not quite sure
how to use them, So they’re dangling.
Uselessly. Awkwardly.
Funny, right? I’ll laugh.
You won’t.
Because I can’t explain the joke.
Forgive me. It’s my first time in this country.
My father, your son, was too busy
for sixteen years. We’ll walk through
the fruit aisle. Past the rambutans
that look like the itch in my throat,
Past the persimmons
that are the color of the first and only kimono I’ve ever worn.
Do you ever see someone familiar
but can’t remember their name?
Do you ever see someone who loves you and you love back
but can’t tell them so?
I’ve written poems about you
in words you’ll never understand.
This is one. We’ll leave
the grocery store. Salt, leaves, and plums
in hand. Dump them in a pot and wait
for them to pickle ‘till they shrivel red and sharp.
When they’re finally ready,
we’ll eat those sour plums,
smiling through the flavor.
From supermarket to sky, with eyes to seeing eyes and then I, Maeda shows the swerve that happens from happening to writing. Here, lines are lineages and the lyric looks as a woman and at a woman at once. These poems weave history with future in a voice that mimics many voices telling stories together while passing pickled plums around the table. Maeda’s poems are bildungsromans that offer possibilities for old ideas about where knowledge comes from. “I’ll try to say something along the lines/of salt and leaves. But lines end.” Maeda writes with a bravado that can whisper through firework booms.
Announcement of the 2024 MCYPL Finalists
On March 25th, the five finalists for the 2024 Montgomery County Youth Poet Laureate were announced! Congratulations to Emi Maeda of The Baldwin School, Maya Brothers of Friends’ Central School, Samrithaa H.V. of Methacton Senior High School, Sofia Bagarazzi of Friends’ Central School, and Sophia Hall of the University of Pennsylvania on this outstanding accomplishment.
Poets Laureate
