Durango Poet Laureate Program
A vision to make a vibrant platform for local poets to share their unique voices while engaging with the community at large.
- Esther Belin
Durango Poet Laureate, 2024 to 2027
The 2024 Durango Poet Laureate is Esther Belin, a distinguished poet who has lived in the Durango area since 1997, and has two single-volume poetry books published by the University of Arizona Press, one of which won the American Book Award in 2000. She was one of four editors of The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature which won the American Book Award in 2022. She teaches at Fort Lewis College in the Native American & Indigenous Studies department, and is a faculty mentor in the Institute of American Indian Arts Creative Writing MFA program.
Esther will serve a three-year term and will receive an annual stipend of $2,000 to leave a positive mark on the cultural landscape of Durango. “The best poetry is generated when the person releases the self and becomes a conduit to the free play of creativity and imagination. When people are guided into spaces of vulnerability and safety, poems that reflect on relationship, participation and contribution to society are achieved.,” she said.
Upcoming Events
AWP conference Mar 27-29, 2025 - Los Angeles
Books and Writings by Esther
Selected Poems By Esther Belin
Personal Poem
by Esther Belin
When I walk around downtown DurangoMy general intention is to not have one
However, when I start walking past familiar landmarks
Carver’s, Maria’s Bookshop, Brown’s Shoe,
I sometimes find myself searching for the location
of shops and restaurants no longer there
Chocolate Company thinking
I will not go in to buy a tray of truffles, or
An Americano, or discounted chocolate in
the bin by the east wall, yet
I do pop in, and gaze deeply into the case
and rather than see the chocolatier’s artistry displayed
in all the multi-colored & diversely shaped
small batch truffles neatly arranged, a thought
pops into my head, deterring me from my intention
to focus on shiny speckled & smooth surfaces, gold dusted
surfaces, nut-layered surfaces, all laid out
wavers. There is a ruckus on Main St. and just as
I lift my head, I see Nancy who tells me she
just came from the Pride (not official Pride event
because she is affiliated with a subversive collective
that interjects love & kindness willy nilly) event
at the 11th St. Station. She’s covered with rainbow
hearts and we split one down the middle and pose. Click,
and good times from just being able to hug in broad
daylight on Main St. in this mountain desert, tourist-
tangled, tousled about like miners searching for a
Mother-lode-of-gold town, the place we call home.
(De)colonial Therapy
by Esther Belin
The cat releases his urine on
your side of the bed
where it neatly
pools in the indention
you nightly rest your head
How am I to infer this male urine?
A stream of (un)consciousness?
Relief(-lease) to my neuroses?
A psychoanalytical sweet caress?
The cat releases his yearning
on my side of the bed
Westernized tentacles of Thought
Colon(-ized) instinctual urges
s(M)other the Matriarch’s head
My dynamic unconscious reaches
to strangle the cat, my past life
extends a hand to stroke fixations,
relief with each sleek touch
The cat (wise old man) releases his Jungian
approach, vicissitudes flood my bed-
lam. The body politic morphs, treaty lines
blackened with cedar charcoal. Your
Urban Indian complex(ations), fix(you)ations thunder and split
lightning
awakens
oppressed
id
cathars(eizing)
soles
limbs
head
I hope to God you will not ask
by Esther Belin
I hope to God you will not ask
Me or my People to send
Postcard greetings: lamented wind
Of perfect sunrisings, golden
Yes, we may share the same sun setting
But the in-between hours are hollow
The People fill the void with prayers for help
Calling upon the Holy Ones
Those petitions penetrate and loosen
The binds you tried to tighten
Around our heart, a tension
Blocking the wind, like a shell
Fluttering inside, fluttering inside