Meet Clallam County’s first Poet Laureate

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 12, 2023

“Clallam County influences my poetry in the same way that this place influences who I love,” said Jaiden Dokken, Clallam County’s first Poet Laureate.

“It is the landscape that my life happens within, the backdrop to my feelings, and it would be impossible to write myself separate from it.”

Dokken’s two-year role as Poet Laureate kicked off earlier this month with a poetry reading challenge for residents that ends May 1.

An inauguration event is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St. After opening remarks by Clallam County commissioner Mark Ozias and librarian Clair Dunlap — herself a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and poetry journal editor — Dokken will read a selection of their own poems.

The approximate hour-long event has 150 seats available in the large public area of the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St., and a Zoom link for those wishing to join virtually is posted at nols.org/poet.

‘Vast variety of poetry’

Dokken said they see their role as, “illustrating the vast variety of poetry and what it can be … sharing it into all the edges of the county with as many people in as many towns [as possible].”

Some of Dokken’s plans for the two years of their tenure include open-mic nights across the county, encouraging people to write poems on seed-paper embedded with local wildflower seed to “watch actual flowers bloom from their words,” and possibly opening up some editing hours to give feedback to local writers.

It also includes plenty of collaboration with other dedicated and passionate people such as photographers, painters and runners.

Representatives of the North Olympic Library System (NOLS), which sponsors the program in partnership with Clallam County, noted, “A committee of local arts leaders and enthusiasts selected Jaiden from a pool of talented applicants. In addition to being a skilled writer who shows strength and vulnerability in their poetry, Jaiden is very community-oriented and has experience building connections throughout Clallam County.”

Dokken said, “My favorite writing generally to read is pretty intimate — a close look. The point of a lot of art is to bring someone into your room for a moment. That ends up being a lot of what I write.

“Most of my work is trying to write into the gray areas that we all feel.”

NOLS representatives said Dokken “approaches poetry as a way to foster togetherness, empathy and resilience.

“Poetry helps us to see, understand and think about our community and our world through a different lens and challenges us to reconsider the common ties that bind us together.”

“The Library foresees that this program will help people feel unintimidated by poetry, expand curiosity about poetry, and increase opportunities to learn from diverse experiences. NOLS also anticipates that Jaiden’s term will be a meaningful blueprint for future Poets Laureate.

“The Poet Laureate has freedom to determine many aspects of the role. They are encouraged to explore community needs and enrich connections in innovative ways through poetry. It is also a time for self-reflection and to work on their own poetry. By engaging with people throughout Clallam County, the hope is that the Poet Laureate is gaining something creatively and writing poetry in new ways, alongside the community.”

Personal history

Born into families that lived in Clallam for a couple of generations, Dokken said they were raised in Sequim on 16 acres off U.S. Highway 101. They have one older sister, who is an artist herself, managing an embroidery department at a print shop in Seattle.

“Anything she tries to do, she’s great at,” Dokken said.

“Both my parents are artistic. They worked hard, and found a joy in art. Their father is a photographer and their mother paints.

“I have been writing as long as I can remember, forcing my family to sit down and listen to poems since I was old enough to read.”

Teachers noticed they were good at writing and encouraged them.

“I was definitely a ham,” said Dokken, and “a teacher’s pet.”

They said one of their favorite teachers was second-grade teacher Cathy Raycraft, and that “[Martha] Rudersdorf has been one of the most impactful teachers I’ve had.”

When Dokken graduated from Sequim High in 2012, they had the intention to become a teacher. This changed as Dokken’s schooling progressed, and they graduated in 2016 from Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Western Washington University with a bachelor of arts degree in human ecology.

Human ecology, Dokken said, is the study of how humans interact with their natural, social and built environments. They studied for a semester in Chiang-Mai, Thailand, and Jaipuri, India, so they had the opportunity to see how other cultures structure their societies within their local environments.

Dokken said the interdisciplinary format of the college allowed them to take classes they truly wanted to learn.

“I think about that a lot because that’s what I’m trying to do now.”

Since graduating, Dokken has partnered in a cider business, sells their ceramics and block printing locally, makes illustrations, and continues with poetry and other creative writing, as well as being a reader and editor at Perennial Press.

Dokken may also have returned to their teenage vision by becoming the Poet Laureate, as it does involve becoming a teacher, just not in a classroom context.

“I’m the kind of person who will try to convince you that anything can be poetry. Sure, poetry is emotive writing with an emphasis on form, rhythm, and word choice. But if I show you the achey place where I used to find sand dollars that can’t be found anymore, are you sure that’s not poetry? And if I carefully fold your palm around the sticky wrapper of my late grandmother’s favorite candy, are you sure that’s not poetry?

“A lot of the time, poetry’s power is in the words we write and speak. But sometimes it’s recited at the edges of the mundane, the infinite ways our senses insist each and every day that we are here, living, right now.”

Contact Jayden Dokken at poetlaureate@NOLS.org.

Poetry Reading Challenge

To celebrate National Poetry Month in April, Clallam County Poet Laureate Jaiden Dokken invites the community to take a Poetry Reading Challenge.

Print out the challenge checklist from the NOLS website (nols.org), or pick one up from your NOLS library branch, Pacific Pantry (229 S. Sequim Ave.), or at Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St.

Follow the prompts on each line to complete the challenge.

Email a photo or scan to poetlaureate@nols.org, or add your name and contact information and drop off a hard copy at any NOLS location.

The due date is May 1. Participants will be entered into a raffle for a prize that includes local art.