Portsmouth Poet Laureate

Tammi J. Truax, the 12th Poet Laureate of Portsmouth, presents poems for the pandemic.

Tammi is the 2019-2021 Poet Laureate of Portsmouth. She works as a writer and as an elementary school librarian. She has taught in a variety of settings from preschool to prison.

In 2008, with NH poet Kyle Potvin, Tammi founded the non-profit The Prickly Pear Poetry Project: Processing the Cancer Experience Through Poetry. Children’s literature is a lifelong passion for her and she has several picture books ready for a publisher.

She was editor of a new release of Lady Wentworth; A Poet’s Tale by Henry Longfellow (illustrated) (Bookbaby, 2013), and released her debut novel Broken Buckets, as an eBook the same year. A YA novel in verse, For to See the Elephant, was published in 2019. More at www.tammitruax.com

Her Portsmouth Poet Laureate Project is called “Poetry as a Bridge.” To visit her website, click here.

During the pandemic, Tammi started writing a weekly poem for publication in the City Manager's Advisory, presented every Sunday. Associated Press featured that initiative in its global "One Good Thing" series and The New York Times followed with a Sunday story. Jim Memmott, a columnist for the Rochester NY Democrat & Chronicle. CNN published a profile here. Peter Biello interviewed her for NHPR. And the Union Leader offered this profile.

For each work, click on the link below:

January 31, 2021, Last Tanka

January 24, 2021, "After Amanda"

January 17, 2021, "A New Day Dawns for America"

January 10, 2021, "For Sargeant Ray Goulet with Best Birthday Wishes"

January 3, 2021, "Devolution of a Resolution"

December 27, 2020, "338,263 US Deaths to Date"

December 20, 2020, "Ursa Minor"

December 13, 2020, "Yo Ho Ho"

December 6, 2020, "Around the World"

November 29, 2020, "Second Best"

November 22, 2020, "But he wasn't carrying any..."