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The Poetry Festival is coming up on Friday, October 10th through Sunday, the 12th, and it looks great! I am excited that former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky will be in town. One might wonder what a Poet Laureate actually does, but in the case of Pinsky, who served from 1997 – 2000, the work is ongoing. He came up with the brilliant Favorite Poem Project by simply asking people what their favorite poem was and why. The response was amazing, with 18,000 Americans of all ages and backgrounds writing in, and the result became an anthology of poems with the comments of the responders included, and then a second and a third book were compiled. The books are a refreshing mixture of poems and show the quiet importance of poetry in people’s lives. For awhile, I would give the first book, Americans’ Favorite Poems, as graduation and birthday gifts. The second book, Poems to Read, was given to me as a gift, and I hear that the third, Invitation to Poetry might be the best of all, because it includes a DVD of people reading their favorite poems aloud. So, while I don’t know Pinsky as a poet, I admire him immensely as a laureate. You can buy tickets for the Saturday night reading featuring Pinsky here (they’re a good deal at $11.50/$15 at the door). Note: most of the events are free and there are many family and kid-centered workshops and events - “Poetry detectives” sounds fun!