Connecting with Louisiana’s State Poet Laureate

This week marks the 20^th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. August is a challenging time to visit the city with its warm weather and humidity, but it is also a time to appreciate all the city has to offer. Twenty years ago, after Hurricane Katrina, the city was left for dead. But the resilient people who insisted on rebuilding their homes make this important port town special. While the city continues to adapt and evolve, New Orleans and the people who contribute to the culture and make art and music will not be washed away. I have the pleasure of knowing several of the city’s culture bearers, including my friend Gina Ferrara who has been named the next Poet Laureate of the State of Louisiana.

Ferrara is an associated professor of English at Delgado Community College in New Orleans and has five collections of poetry. Her work has appeared in many journals including Callaloo, The Poetry Ireland Review, Tar River, and The Southern Review, and she was nominated for a Best of the Net and a Pushcart Award in 2024. She has been invited to read her work in Ireland and all over the country, including Santa Barbara and Orcutt. Unlike Santa Barbara, which has a city and state Poet Laureate, the City of New Orleans does not have a poet laureate program. If it did, she would be at the top of their list of nominees. She is from New Orleans and has run the Poetry Buffet, a poetry series at the Latter Library, since 2007. I have always admired her poetry and I am not surprised she has been appointed the state’s Poet Laureate, where she will serve for the next two years.

Of her appointment, Gina said, “I am thrilled to be LPL and am looking forward to bringing poetry and fostering a love for it throughout the state.” Ferrara says she traces her love for words back to her grandmother whose everyday language was full of metaphors and expressive language.

Gina Ferrara shares two of her Katrina poems. “My Mother’s City,” from her poetry book Ethereal Avalanche and “Athena in the City,” from her collection, Amber Porch Light. Her latest book is Amiss, published by Dos Madres Press in 2023.

My Mother’s City
By Gina Ferrara

Gallahad, Athis and Chapelle
stucco, wood and brick,
my mother’s houses,
those she owned 
and those she didn’t
twisted by hands,
unraveled like a Mayan rope,
fibrous and coarse
made from husks,
my mother’s city hung
watermarked
an ancient civilization
by a thread 
from an August hurricane.  

Athena in the City (for Elizabeth)
By Gina Ferrara

You stayed rescuing mothers and children,
the infirmed, and those with belongings
crammed into ice chests.  Cries of help
came from attics and rooftops.  Corpses
floated on way streets, down avenues,
named after martyrs and saints.  

Your hair became a hindrance.
Beyond your waist, the braid
unraveled into a dense jungle,
especially on those nights following the storm.  
Near the nape, tangled ringlets and waves
struggling to escape, trapped like denizens
who couldn’t leave.  
You removed your helmet.  

A flooded city could dry out faster than your tresses,
slaked, impulsively scissored
then tossed into the Mississippi near Algiers,
with the aegis of Aegean seaweed
and brushed against the rocks.  
You stood on the shore defending
the city behind you left in darkness.  

Santa Barbara’s current Poet Laureate, George Yatchisin, is accepting poems regarding all things food and drink. The deadline has been extended. The anthology will feature all ways that food shapes our culture and relationships. Send up to three poems to gunpowderpress.submittable.com by September 30. If you are still unsure of what to send, attend George’s workshop and tasting August 31, at the Presidio. (Click here for information.)

September also means we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month. The Santa Barbara Central Library will host a reading from contributors to the Somos Xicanas anthology, September 13, at 3:30 p.m. The day will feature lowriders on display, beginning at noon. Poets from the anthology include Melinda Palacio, Jesenia Chavez, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Brenda Vaca, and Lorna Dee Cervantes. This free event is part of the library’s celebration of community and culture during Hispanic Heritage Month.

Upcoming Poetry Events

Sunday, August 31
Poetry Grows Here: The Presidio Neighborhood, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate George Yatchisin and Gunpowder Press invite the community to find inspiration and create poetry about Santa Barbara County food, drinks, restaurants, and agriculture for a new collection to be published by Gunpowder Press. After a poetry workshop led by Yatchisin, participants will visit Rudy’s Mexican Restaurant for a tasty bite, Loubud Wines to sip a local sparkling wine, and The Space — Su’nan Protection, Art & Cultural Education Center for a Chumash sweet treat. We hope this immersive experience in the Presidio Neighborhood will inspire you to create your own poetry about our community’s food and drink, and submit your work to the forthcoming Santa Barbara County food and drink anthology, free but must pre-register, event begins at Pico Adobe at El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park, 920 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara, noon-2 p.m.

September 2025

Wednesday, September 3
Phil Taggart and Christopher Buckley, The Blue Whale Reading Series, open mic afterward, hosts Laure-Anne Bosselaar and Christine Kravetz, Chapel Unity of Santa Barbara, 227 E. Arrellaga St., Santa Barbara, 5:30-7 p.m.

Saturday, September 6
Women in a Golden State: California Poets at 60 and Beyond, a reading by local writers in this anthology, including Lisa Alvarez, Valerie Anne Burns, Susan Chiavelli, Kathleen Gunton, Elizabeth Iannaci, Karen Lewis, Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Amy Michelson, Kathee Miller, Kathy O’ Fallon, Enid Osborn, Joan Jobe Smith, and Dale Griffiths Stamos, hosted by co-editor Diana Raab, Tecolote Books, 1470 E. Valley Rd., #52, Santa Barbara, 3 p.m.

Monday, September 8
Lowstate Salon, An evening of supportive creative writing. The host for this month, Josh Kuntzman, will come with writing prompts and activities to get the creative work flowing. Bring paper, pens, and some willingness to write something new, weird, and wonderful. After the writing session, there will be time for anyone who wants to read or discuss their writing. Join us for inspiration and community with other creatives and writers. Casa Agria, 418 State St., Santa Barbara, 7-9 p.m.

Wednesday, September 10
Perie Longo Presented with the First Santa Barbara County Literary Champion Award The evening will be held outdoors and will feature remarks honoring Perie Longo, presentation of the award, and light refreshments. The Santa Barbara County Literary Champion Award is a new honor recognizing those who have gone above and beyond in advancing the literary arts. It celebrates individuals devoted to community, the written and spoken word, and literacy.

Perie Longo, poet and therapist, served as the City of Santa Barbara’s second Poet Laureate (2007–2009). She has published four books of poetry and led workshops for California Poets in the Schools and the Santa Barbara Writers Conference for 30 years. As a therapist, she has conducted writing groups for healing and well-being through Hospice of Santa Barbara and Sanctuary Centers of Santa Barbara. She also chairs the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s poetry committee and was named a 2024 Local Hero by the Santa Barbara Independent.

This event is presented by the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture at the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management, 4408 Cathedral Oaks Rd., Santa Barbara, 5-6:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 13
Somos Xicanas: Anthology poetry reading and Lowrider Car Showcase, join Santa Barbara Public Library for an inspiring afternoon of lowriders and a powerful reading from Somos Xicanas, celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, 40 E Anapamu Street, noon-5 p.m., reading at 3:30 p.m. inside the Faulkner Gallery. Lowrider showcase on display from noon-5 p.m. on the plaza.

Sunday, September 14
The Poetry Zone Monthly Reading, Karpeles Manuscript Library, 21 W. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara, 1:30 – 3 p.m.

Sunday, September 14
Susan Cronmiller and George Yatchisin, featured readers, open mic afterward, host Phil Taggart, EP Foster Library, 651 E. Main St., Ventura, 3-5 p.m.

Thursday, September 18
Sunset Sessions at the Band Shell: Poetry & Fiction, featured readers include Lisa Bass, Cynthia Carbone Ward, Craig Clevenger, Melinda Palacio, Michelle Petty-Grue, David Starkey and more TBA, host/reader George Yatchisin, Plaza Del Mar Band Shell, corner of Castillo and Cabrillo Sts., Santa Barbara, 6-8 p.m.

Saturday, September 20
Poetry in the Bowl: An Afternoon with Keith Ekiss and Nicholas Reiner,  a powerful afternoon of poetry under the oaks at the historic Coggeshall Bowl featuring two celebrated voices in contemporary literature; Ekiss is a Barry Spacks Prize Winner and Reiner a winner of the Alta California Chapbook Contest, both published by Gunpowder Press. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara, free and open to the public with museum admission, 4-5 p.m.

Sunday, September 21
Let’s Chat about Poetry, Join local poetry professor and esteemed author Laure-Anne Bosselaar for an informal conversation about poetry, domecíl studio, 1223 State St., Santa Barbara, 4-5 p.m.