Uplifting Colorado Poetry, Inspiring New Poets
Begin Where You Are: The Colorado Poets Laureate Anthology collects the best work of the ten people who have served as Colorado Poet Laureate, including poems never published before. Sales fund poetry events in rural, lower-income schools and libraries. Any state could copy the model.
Lower-income and rural communities in Colorado have less access to poetry and the literary arts. Whole counties have gone 30 years without a visit from a Colorado Poet Laureate. Book sales fund the work that closes that gap.
The book spans more than 100 years of Colorado’s poetic history, from Andrea Gibson back to Alice Polk Hill, the state’s first poet laureate, in 1919. It was published in November 2025 through the University Press of Colorado and the Center for Literary Publishing, and is available in print at bookstores nationwide and as an e-book. The living laureates have graciously committed to foregoing their royalties, so all of the proceeds go to support the mission.
Proceeds establish an endowment for future Colorado Poets Laureate and fund grants for poetry readings and events in lower-income and rural schools and libraries. Launch readings are set for the Tattered Cover in Denver on April 11, 2026 and the Boulder Bookstore on April 15, 2026.
I am the director and book compiler. I built the team and ran the work, from scanning hundreds of pages of out-of-print poetry through publication. Follow the project at coloradopoets.org.
