To the Mount Vernon Area Arts Council and the Mt. Vernon/Lisbon Community:
It was my sincere pleasure and infinite joy to serve as your poet laureate. It was an experience I will treasure always and remember with deep fondness. Serving in this role allowed me to forge new connections in the community, re-establish relationships long dormant, and serve my core values as an educator and a writer. It was a beam of light from a pharos on a foggy night during the pandemic and provided me with the opportunity to serve my community and engage in personal growth.
I want to personally thank my family for always coming to hear me read. Tawnua Tenley was a wonderful teacher when I was 17 and schooled me just as well 20 years later — her poetic insights were much appreciated.
To Mike Woods and all the members of the American Legion, it was an honor to collaborate with you for Memorial Day. Thanks to Bob Campagna for reaching out to collaborate with me on our book Final Elegance — that experience allowed me yet another opportunity to reconnect with a teacher from my past. I am infinitely grateful to everyone who wrote to the Sun on my behalf in times of controversy; you supported my voice and my truth, and I will never forget it. And special thanks to the MVACC for championing the arts and steadfastly supporting me in this role, especially Marie DeVries, who has known me for most of my life.
Thank you, and I am delighted to welcome my successor, Scott Russel Morris. I leave you in his capable hands.