Meet Your Poets Laureate
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Have you met the new Poets Laureate of Fort Collins, Colorado? Did you even know there was such a thing? How might the two of us work together? What does a Poet Laureate even do? Should we write commissioned works to honor our city? Should we hold programming and workshops for the community? Should we apply to big grants from foundations with lots of money or should we just try to keep things chill?
Come to Wolverine Farm, Sunday, July 26, 2026 from 4:00 to 5:30 pm to meet the new Fort Collins Poet Laureates--Erica Reid and Jake Friedman. We'll share a little bit of our own work--less as an indulgence or an excuse to hear ourselves read than a kind of honor, we think, a way for you to get to know us better, an offering-- and talk about how we came to and view the position. Then, we'll open the conversation up to the room to see what you think. If you have any questions, find us on social media. If you can't make it, send Wolverine an email telling us what to do. We hope to see you there.
BIOGRAPHIES:
Jake Friedman (he/him) has avowedly declared that he will never write another professional biography in a non-professional setting. He is very very tired of being in a professional setting. He would much rather be a Poet Laureate of Fort Collins--an honor he is exceedingly happy and grateful to hold, and one with which he hopes to do right by you. He will say, however proudly, that he does have an MFA in Poetry from Colorado State University, and has a good joke about it he will not put on the internet / tell you in person. And that he is what some folks refer to as a 'documentary poet'. Which might mean that he--I--produce my poems out of pre-existing texts, other people's work--mostly historical, mostly dead--most of which I'm currently channeling from the 19th century in the American West. Or, it might mean, tropaically, that he finds himself unable to speak. That his mouth is full of blood. That he is porous, preceded. And so the questions becomes whether to swallow this blood or spit it out. And if you spit it out, where.
Erica Reid (she/her) is the author of Ghost Man on Second, winner of the Donald Justice Poetry Prize -- Ghost Man, like most of her poetry, circles around ideas of belonging and estrangement, as she is never quite sure where she fits. Words you can count on finding in her poems: clock, key, rabbitbrush, daughter, teeth. Erica’s poems appear in Rattle, Cherry Tree, Colorado Review, and more, and she is the recipient of a 2026 Pushcart Prize. She earned her MFA at Western Colorado University, where she currently teaches Poetry and Nature Writing. ericareidpoet.com
Come to Wolverine Farm, Sunday, July 26, 2026 from 4:00 to 5:30 pm to meet the new Fort Collins Poet Laureates--Erica Reid and Jake Friedman. We'll share a little bit of our own work--less as an indulgence or an excuse to hear ourselves read than a kind of honor, we think, a way for you to get to know us better, an offering-- and talk about how we came to and view the position. Then, we'll open the conversation up to the room to see what you think. If you have any questions, find us on social media. If you can't make it, send Wolverine an email telling us what to do. We hope to see you there.
BIOGRAPHIES:
Jake Friedman (he/him) has avowedly declared that he will never write another professional biography in a non-professional setting. He is very very tired of being in a professional setting. He would much rather be a Poet Laureate of Fort Collins--an honor he is exceedingly happy and grateful to hold, and one with which he hopes to do right by you. He will say, however proudly, that he does have an MFA in Poetry from Colorado State University, and has a good joke about it he will not put on the internet / tell you in person. And that he is what some folks refer to as a 'documentary poet'. Which might mean that he--I--produce my poems out of pre-existing texts, other people's work--mostly historical, mostly dead--most of which I'm currently channeling from the 19th century in the American West. Or, it might mean, tropaically, that he finds himself unable to speak. That his mouth is full of blood. That he is porous, preceded. And so the questions becomes whether to swallow this blood or spit it out. And if you spit it out, where.
Erica Reid (she/her) is the author of Ghost Man on Second, winner of the Donald Justice Poetry Prize -- Ghost Man, like most of her poetry, circles around ideas of belonging and estrangement, as she is never quite sure where she fits. Words you can count on finding in her poems: clock, key, rabbitbrush, daughter, teeth. Erica’s poems appear in Rattle, Cherry Tree, Colorado Review, and more, and she is the recipient of a 2026 Pushcart Prize. She earned her MFA at Western Colorado University, where she currently teaches Poetry and Nature Writing. ericareidpoet.com
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Where is it happening?
316 Willow St, Fort Collins, CO, United States, Colorado 80524
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherWolverine Farm Publick House
