Lincoln And Obama, Poets

Since their appointment, the National Student Poets have reached a diverse group of audiences through events at locations ranging from the White House to military bases to teacher conferences to local libraries and more. As part of events, these young poets have stood alongside and interacted with former National Poet Laureate Billy Collins and former Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken, among other literary figures. This pattern of service and professional growth for the Class of 2013 is the hallmark of their ambassadorial year and will be embodied in all their April events, which further their reach, inspire new audiences of all ages to embrace poetry and showcase the essential role of writing and the arts in academic and personal success. Upcoming April NSPP events include:

Lincoln and Obama, Poets

MARTÍN ESPADA:There are times when poets have to go to places that cannot be explained away as a matter of evidence and logic. That we have to be able to reach out and put our hands on the intangible, to touch it, to feel it, to see it.

MARTÍN ESPADA:That the world is as we see it and it always will be. And poets have been saying this for centuries. Poets have been trying to get across this message in one form or another. William Blake, the great English poet wrote in one of his proverbs "What is now proved was once only imagined."

MARTÍN ESPADA:I take that question to mean that there are times when poets have to go to places that cannot be explained away as a matter of evidence and logic. That we have to be able to reach out and put our hands on the intangible, to touch it, to feel it to see it.