Tangled Roots Writing: Nevada County Poet Laureate Update – first 16 months by the numbers (part 1)

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Nevada County Poet Laureate Update – first 16 months by the numbers (part 1)

(After Harper’s Index)

(At Truckee Thursday, 2026, Truckee Cultural District Booth)

A Poet Laureate advocates for poetry as part of everyday and civic life in our county by reaching out to all communities with an empowering and welcoming approach.

(Tangled Roots Open Mic & Reading series, March, 2026, Alibi Ale Truckee)

According to Adrienne Rich, “We go to poetry because we believe it has something to do with us. We also go to poetry to receive the experience of the not me, enter a field of vision we could not otherwise apprehend.”

This field of vision highlights what people hold in common using language that helps people see themselves in the experiences of others. To see their connections with people they may never meet, strangers, neighbors, and people that seem different. Poetry can also celebrate public and private memory and history. It celebrates caring for each other.

(With Eliza Tudor, Executive Director Nevada County Arts Council, and Carrie Haines, Truckee Cultural District)

“At a public event, a poem changes the air. Sometimes the shift is barely visible: a pause before applause, a room growing quieter, a few people hearing their own experience returned in language. That is not policy. It is not road repair. But it is one way a public becomes aware of itself.” – Clara AB Joseph, Calgary Poet Laureate

(Dramatic skies over Truckee Thursday, June 18, 2026)

Number of months since “Passing of the Laurels”:16

(Passing of the Laurels, March, 2025, with Kirsten Casey, Nevada County Poet Laureate Emerita)

# public events in the last 16 months: 92

# writing workshops taught: over 30

On September 17^th the Truckee community Block Party will bring together community services, local culture, and neighbors in the heart of downtown. I’ll be reading a new poem for this event and inviting Alexis Cota to read in Spanish our translation in support of the bilingual nature of Truckee. Food trucks, art, music, bike valet, games, community organization booths, and poetry come together. The poem can make concrete the unsayable feelings of what creates the heart of a community, or allow the public to become aware of itself in a new perspective, and this might capture the manifestation of poetry as civic infrastructure.

(Nevada County Championships, Poetry Out Loud, 2025)

“Infrastructure alone does not create civic life. A functioning city also depends on forms of attention that are harder to quantify: the ability to listen, remember and imagine oneself connected to people we may never meet.” – Clara AB Joseph, Calgary Poet Laureate

(At Reno Lit Crawl with Jesse James Ziegler, Reno Poet Laureate Emeritus, Priya Hutner, founder of Tahoe Lit Fest)

My work as Poet Laureate has brought me into libraries, schools, town and county meeting halls, downtown streets, churches, festivals, art galleries, parks, breweries, farms, nature preserves, and backyard porch fests. At these events, I’ve engaged in conversations about science and art, healthy food accessibility, song-writing, tourism, Indigenous culture, history, LGBTQ+ Pride, reading, publishing, environmental health, outdoor recreation, forest bathing, art careers, social justice, girl power, civil rights, youth voices, community engagement, meaning-making and making change.

# of miles driven to events in 16 months: 3800

# of people who have attended one of my poet laureate events in the last 16 months: over 6000