1889 AugSept 2017

artist in residence
Tod Marshall,
Washington’s
Poetry Road
Warrior
The state’s poet laureate
wants you to memorize
a poem
Amy Sinisterra
written by Alison Highberger
HIS TRAVEL SCHEDULE is brutal—long days crisscrossing
Washington’s 71,303 square miles by car and by plane, being
away from home several days a week, laughable pay. But it’s all
in the service of poetry, and being poet laureate of Washington
for 2016 through 2018 is one of the best gigs Tod Marshall, 49,
has ever had.
As the fourth poet laureate in Washington history, and the
first from the eastern part of the state, Marshall’s job is to build
awareness and appreciation of poetry—including Washington’s
legacy of poetry—through public readings, workshops, lectures
and presentations around the state. That’s on top of his job as an
English professor at Gonzaga University in Spokane.
“It’s been wonderful. It’s an honor, and it’s a mission, is how I
look at it. I want to get to every place that wants to hear about
poetry, and that wants to share poetry,” Marshall said. “Serving
as poet laureate has reinforced my beliefs about the power of
poetry and the importance of finding words that matter. It’s
something I believe very profoundly in.”
By the time his term ends on January 31, 2018, Marshall
said he’ll have participated in nearly 400 events, and put more
than 25,000 miles on his car doing poetry readings, writing
workshops, talks in libraries, youth centers, senior centers,
museums, primary school classrooms, college campuses,
bookstores, coffee shops, bars and correctional facilities. “I did
one hike-and-write,” Marshall said. “I want to do more of those.”
During his travels over the past year, Marshall occasionally
encountered people who didn’t like poetry, but they were the
exception. “I’ve been introduced a few times by teachers saying,
‘You guys know I don’t like poetry, but that’s why he’s
here to talk about it!’ But I think we do like poetry.
Children love poems. Children love books in verse. I
think it’s stunning the number of adults I encounter at
38 1889 WASHINGTONS’S MAGAZINE AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2017