(The Center Square) — Pennsylvania is one of only a few states without a poet laureate. But if the General Assembly acts, one could reappear in the commonwealth. Rep.
Bob Freeman, D-Easton, has proposed House Bill 2308 to re-establish a Pennsylvania Poet Laureate to conduct official readings at the governor’s inauguration, the opening of the legislative session, and to serve at other official commemorations. In the 1990s, then-Governor Bob Casey appointed Sam Hazo as poet laureate, but Gov. Ed Rendell terminated the position when he took office in 2003.
Reviving it matters, Freeman argued; a laureate could “draw on the rich heritage we have, the rich cultural and artistic community we have here in Pennsylvania.” “Poetry is a written art form that can inspire people, can be very instrumental and a symbol of our cultural and artistic background,” he said. Massachusetts, New Jersey, and South Carolina are the only other states that don’t have a poet laureate.
New Jersey, for a brief time, had one — but abolished the position in less than four years after poet laureate Amiri Baraka sparked controversy with an anti-Semitic poem. “Arts have a very important role to play in our culture, they define us,” Freeman said. “They give us a chance to be inspired by beauty and thoughts of beauty.
They can be inspirational from a civic standpoint, too.” Cultural endeavors, he argued, could drive tourism and out-of-town interest, be it for a concert or local festival or.
