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Washington Poet Laureate Reflects On First Year On Job

caption: A Hike and Write event that Elizabeth Austen held at Deception Pass State Park in the summer of 2014..
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A Hike and Write event that Elizabeth Austen held at Deception Pass State Park in the summer of 2014..
Dave Wenning

Marcie Sillman speaks with Washington state poet laureate Elizabeth Austen. Over this past year she has visited 24 counties throughout the state teaching writing workshops, giving readings and meeting fellow poets. Austen speaks about her first year as an "ambassador for poetry" and what she plans to do for her second and final year on the job.

Austen had a Catholic upbringing. She wrote her poem "I Remember the Bruise" as part of her on-going pursuit to make sense of that past.

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