Welcome to Boulder, distinguished carrier of the Outrider/Beat lineage, home of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, founded by legendary poets Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, and Diane DiPrima, along with renowned composer John Cage.

Their full-time and guest faculty have included Gary Snyder, Gregory Corso, Margaret Randall, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Amiri Baraka, Joanne Kyger, Diane Wakowski, William S Burroughs, Bernadette Mayer, Alice Notley, John Ashberry, WS Merwin, Ted Berrigan, and countless more. Among these, Baraka, Notley, Randall, Mayer, and Snyder have all visited in the last 10-12 years.

I could go on naming legends, or I could tell you more about the legends living in our midst, like Anne Waldman, co-founder of the JKS and Beatific mother to poets and misfits, radical voice of Fast Speaking Music, and author of over 50 publications. Or Michele Naka Pierce, who has won 4 literary awards and published 7 books of poetry, and spends 20 years at Naropa teaching other poets to be both better teachers and better people. Or Julie Carr, a CU Boulder professor and NEA grant recipient with over 10 publications under her belt, not to mention a civil rights lawyer and noted activist.

Or what about Aimee Herman, who regularly hosts at least 4 literary events, including Longmont Out Loud: Open Stage at Tumbleweed Collective, Queer Art Organics at Junkyard Social Club, Friendship Goodybag at the Bus Stop Gallery (on temporary hiatus), and the Erotic Poetry reading and open mic at East Window Gallery? Or Joshua Robinson, who has hosted the monthly 2nd Friday workshop + reading and open mic at The Coffee Stand for two years now, and has published two “Screaming At America” anthologies featuring revolutionary and dissident local voices?

Or what about—dare I even say it!—FRCC Professor Jonathan Montgomery, who founded boulderpoetryscene.com 12 years ago to document this incredibly active and talented literary community? (Editor’s note: I had nothing to do with this suggestion.) From this project grew Boulder Poetry Scene Press, which has published more books than even Matt Clifford, including collections by locals Rob Geisen and Sarah Lee, and the “I Love Your Poem” Anthology, where local writers submitted their favorite poems written by their peers alongside writeups about why they loved them.

Boulder, home of the “So, You’re a Poet” open mic series, which JKS alum, Beat Book Shop proprietor, and author of 8 books, Thom Peters has run weekly for nearly 38 years across multiple locations, the longest currently ongoing poetry open mic in the world. It has an annual Jack Kerouac Birthday Reading and has been visited by more famous poets than you can name. It currently makes its home upstairs at Wesley Chapel every Monday at 8:30pm.

Home of the Beyond Academia Free Skool, founded by Marcus If, which provides monthly free writing workshops by rotating faculty every 2nd Sunday at the Boulder Public Library, as well as a free 2 week Summer program featuring traveling poets along with JKS alums and/or faculty teaching daily. BAFS hosted the Frozen Dead Poet’s Slam at Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland for nearly a decade, and, now under the leadership of Maggie Saunders, has recently begun holding annual public performances in the Boulder Bandshell in Central Park and in front of the Pearl Street Courthouse. It also had an interactive exhibit at the Boulder Public Library for several months, featuring writing, publications, art, collages and creative collaborations by the local poetry community.

Home of Mi Chantli, operated by poet, entrepreneur, and breakdancer Changa Hernandez, where every Wednesday night at 9pm anywhere from 15 to 30 poets gather for the Writer’s Block, a weekly poetry circle featuring a rotating gallery of leaders with unique prompts and lessons. Mi Chantli has hosted Punketry, Hip-Hopetry, book release readings, open mics, and much more, including collaborative performances fusing poetry and dance.

Home of the Full Moon Reading, founded by Toodles Methuselah, Alan Mudd, Boxturtle McGillicuddy, and Flapjack Flanders, which has happened every full moon at midnight in Morrison Alley for the last 14 years. There is no list, no host, no mic, and nothing else like it anywhere on Earth.

And former home of Innisfree Poetry Bookstore, gifted us by Brian Buckley, which stood high on University Hill for 10 years before falling to the pandemic. The 3rd all-poetry bookstore in the United States, Innisfree carried local poets on its shelves, featured them weekly at standing-room-only Tuesday night readings, and generated a deeply connected poetry community which remains active to this day.

Again, I could go on listing the many events and organizations that support poetry in Boulder, or you could check out the local poetry calendar on this very website, which lists spaces for poets ranging all the way from Fort Collins in the North to Highlands Ranch in the South, curated by yours truly. (Editor’s note: Why not Eric Fischman for laureate?)

But you don’t really need to know any of that to know that Boulder is a poetry town. All you need is to show up to any of these events, like the 3rd Tuesday reading and open mic at the Boulder Bookstore run by Beth Franklin of the Colorado Poets Center, or Aspen Everett’s new monthly variety event at the Boulder Library’s Canyon Theater, Spotlight: A Boulder Notoriety Show. Or you can pick up a copy of Jasper’s Folly issues 1-3, edited by poet and photographer Jeffrey Spahr-Summers, of Cherry Publications, showcasing a wide array of local and non-local writers, including many of those already mentioned here.

Or you can take my word for it. I came here from NYC 14 years ago, and I’ve never looked back. Nowhere have I felt so creatively energized and inspired, or felt so strongly that I was part of a vibrant and meaningful arts community. Nowhere else have I felt like I truly belonged. Now that sounds like a city that deserves a poet laureate to me.

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Eric Raanan Fischman, MFA graduate from the Jack Kerouac School at Naropa University, author of “Mordy Gets Enlightened,” and co-author of the recently released “Lily in a Codebox,” He is the unsung hero of Boulder Poetry Scene, who’s updated our calendar for forever.