This time on The Children’s Hour, New Mexico Poet Laureate Lauren Camp inspires us to find our poet within, putting our feelings, thoughts, stories and ideas into words to create our own poetry. Featuring poems read by Bob Odenkirk, Joy Harjo, and others, we celebrate poetry and explore our own poet within each one of us.

What makes a poem, and how do we find the poet within? New Mexico Poet Laureate, Lauren Camp walks us through how poetry comes to life from our thoughts, sensations, and to describe the world around us. Hear how her poem Forest Man makes us feel like we are inside the trees with us.  

New Mexico Poet Laureate Lauren Camp has written 8 books of poetry, and has contributed to a coloring book showcasing how amazing New Mexico is, with line art drawings from many talented New Mexican artists. Produced by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, the coloring book is free and you can download and print it no matter where you live!

We hear poetry from former United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. She was the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, and the first Native American to hold the honor. Joy Harjo is from the Mvskoke Nation. She is only the sec­ond poet to be appoint­ed a third term as U.S. Poet Laureate.  The Current United States Poet Laureate is Ada Limón. We also hear from Shel Silverstein, Bob Odenkirk, and others.

Write your own poem answering the prompt provided by our guest Lauren Camp:

What does zero feel like? 

Submit your poem to us in your own voice or using our contact form. We would love to hear from you. Hear what our Kids Crew came up with as we were interviewing Lauren Camp.

This episode of The Children’s Hour was produced by Executive Producer, Katie Stone, with help from Senior Producer Christina Stella. Our Education Director, Lorraine Archibald also contributed.

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