Saratoga Poet Laureate to Deliver Reading as Annual Report

As the first year of his two-year term draws near its close, Saratoga Springs Poet Laureate Jay Rogoff will deliver an Annual Report to the public. It will take the form of a poetry reading with commentary, at the Saratoga Springs Public Library on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 6:30 p.m. The event, part of the Laureate Poetry Series, is free and open to the public.

Rogoff has written over forty poems as Laureate, and his reading will include a selection of this new work. Many of the poems commemorate important Saratoga events, including the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday, the inauguration of the Mayor and City Council, the 40th anniversary of Saratoga Arts, the centennial of Yaddo, 60 seasons at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and the city’s 25th anniversary observance of the World Trade Center attack.

Some poems refer to current events in our nation, and others celebrate Saratoga itself, such as meditations on the city’s famous springs and Daniel Chester French’s Spirit of Life sculpture, and a memory of Rogoff’s first visit to SPAC, to see the Beach Boys. Still other poems take a more personal stance, especially lyrics that grieve friends and parents.

“The laureateship has helped me develop a new body of work that I hope will become a book, which I’ve tentatively called Embarked,” Rogoff says. The title, he explains, refers not only to travel and departures, but also, in a punning fashion, to the idea of the laureateship itself.

“My position is called ‘poet laureate’ because poets, athletes, and military heroes wore crowns of laurel leaves, which came from the laurel tree, which exists because the gods transformed Daphne into a tree when Apollo was pursuing her,” Rogoff explains. “So, I’ve also written poems that dip into mythology to wonder what it’s like to become a tree, which returns us to the idea of the woods, and our city in the country that we are so justly proud of.”

Rogoff’s position carries no salary and no funding for programming, and he is gratified by how many area poets have eagerly participated in the programs he has organized. 

“We have held readings to celebrate art at the Tang Museum, the Declaration of Independence at Saratoga Arts and in the village of Victory, 60 seasons of classical art at SPAC, and April Fool’s Day and Halloween at the Walt and Whitman Brewpub,” Rogoff said.  

Rogoff has also conducted free poetry workshops for adults, teens, and children, as well as a Poetry Repair Café at Northshire Bookstore. 

“After all this hard work,” Rogoff jokes, “I expect my salary to double next year.”

A book sale and signing will follow the Annual Report.