Spotlight on Laura Hansen, Minnesota Poet

Laura Hansen Brainerd Writers Alliance Fall Event 2017

Laura Hansen is a poet, writer, artist and workshop leader. She lives by the river in Little Falls, MN, a place that inspires her work. Laura is passionate about words and has won many accolades in the literary world. She is a member of the League of Minnesota Poets, a regular contributor to regional magazines and literary journals, participated in poetry exhibitions and has self-published three chapbooks. Her poetry has been featured on Lakeland Public Television and Northern Community Radio. She's the winner of the 2015 Stevens Poetry Manuscript Competition. Laura's winning book, Midnight River (Finishing Line Press), published in 2016 was a book finalist for the 2017 Midwest Book  Awards.

Laura's most recent poetry chapbook is Deja Vu (Finishing Line Press) 2017  

Upcoming:
New poems by Laura Hansen will be found in these print anthologies coming out in 2019:
"Upon Waking"
"Women Under Scrutiny"
"Martin Lake Journal"
And the online journal:
"Heron Tree"

Laura is currently putting the finishing touches on a chapbook-length collection to be titled The Night Journey: Stories and Poems. This collection will initially be published in the online library at MN Writes, MN Reads.

Thanks Laura for sharing your poem "Word Scrabble" in honor of National Poetry Month.

"Word Scramble"
by Laura Hansen

Poetry is made up of try,
of yet, of trope. Poetry is
entropy minus the “n”

but then that’s what entropy is,
a lessening, a loss,
a slipping away.

Poetry contains yore
as in days of, and rope
and pry and Poe, of course.

For those who like to memorize, poetry is made of rote
and, less happily, rot.

There is no poetry
without poet,
without rye.

Scramble the letters again
and you can cross top with pot,
or pot with pet, toe with port.

Pry open a poem or a poet
and you find more words
than the letters might belie,

a horse of surprises
worthy of Troy.

Laura L. Hansen
© July 26, 2018 Rev 2/23/19