National Poetry Month: Indiana
Celebrating its 21st year, National Poetry Month seeks to highlight the influence of poetry on our culture and its impact on literature. Indiana officially created the role of Indiana Poet Laureate in 2005; however, the position has been well-established, yet unofficial, since 1929. Shari Wagner is the current poet laureate, taking the position in 2016. The previous poet laureate, George Kalamaras, is a Cedar Lake native and often wrote about this area.
Poetry has been an influential art form in Indiana for a long time. The Indianapolis Poetry Club was formed in 1921. In 1927, at the home of Meredith Nicholson, the city poetry club expanded into the Indiana Poetry Society. The society changed its name several times and is currently known as the Poetry Society of Indiana. The Indiana state poem “Indiana,” by Arthur Franklin Mapes, was adopted by the 1963 General Assembly. Mapes was designated state poet laureate in 1977. To celebrate the bicentennial year, poet April Pulley Sayre, wrote “The Indiana Chant,” commemorating the people, places, and things that represent Indiana.
Other Indiana poets include former poet laureate Norbert Krapf, William Buckley, local poets Charles Swisher and T.H. Ball, Meredith Nicholson, Jessamyn West, Jared Carter, Rebecca Lard, and “The Hoosier Poet” James Whitcomb Riley. Even our state nickname is thought to have roots in the poem “The Hoosier’s Nest” by John Finley, furthering the influence of poetry on the story and the culture of Indiana.
