Montana Poets Laureate Celebrated in New Anthology

• Eric Heidle
• November 26 2024

The Montana Arts Council has published the first anthology collecting work from each of Montana’s poets laureate since the honorary post’s creation in 2005. Titled This Place the Gods Touched Earth, the poems published here have been selected by the authors themselves and represent a vibrant cross-section of voices and viewpoints across two decades of life in the Big Sky. Produced in partnership with the Montana Historical Society, This Place the Gods Touched Earth celebrates the writing and reading of poetry, but also the work of these poets, who travel to all corners of the state, teach their craft to new generations, and advocate for support of and literacy in this fundamental art form.

“This Place the Gods Touched Earth is the first poetry anthology to come out of the Montana Historical Society Press. But it’s much more than that—speaking as the historian that I am, this anthology is the bottled zeitgeist of Montana over the past two decades of the Poet Laureate program," says Jeff Bartos, editor, Montana Historical Society Press. "It’s a primary source for the language arts in Montana in the twenty-first century, compiling—by discretion of the individual poets—their most meaningful writings and profound observations into one volume.'

Published in November 2024, This Place the Gods Touched Earth features an introductory essay by current Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray, and includes biographies, short essays, and the selected works of Montana’s eleven poets laureate to date. The book is distributed by Montana's Farcountry Press and is available at independent bookstores or by ordering online from the Montana Historical Society Press.

"It’s beautifully written, loaded with emotion for people and lands of Montana," remarks Jeff Bartos. "Spend time with it. Read the poems aloud to friends and family, take it traveling, and ponder the words of our poets.”

art.mt.gov/anthology

farcountrypress.com

mhs.mt.gov/pubs/Books

About the Montana Arts Council

In 1965 Montana Annotated Code 22-2-102 established the MAC as an agency of state government. The MAC mission is to develop the creative potential of all Montanans, advance education, spur economic vibrancy, and revitalize communities through involvement in the arts. Fifteen individuals appointed by the Governor oversee the Montana Arts Council. More information can be found at art.mt.gov