Katrina “Kathy” Monroe is the new Benicia Poet Laureate.
Kathy Monroe, who will serve a two-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2024, is a published poet and active in the First Tuesday Poets program of the Benicia Public Library. Since moving to Benicia seven years ago, she has mentored teens at Liberty High School and worked with youth at the Kyle Hyland Teen Center, which offers teens emotional support and mental health services. She is a founder of the Benicia Poetry Salon.
She has been active in Carquinez Village, a virtual village that helps older adults connect, contribute to their community and support each other. As membership committee chair of the Benicia Yacht Club, she brought in 175 new members.
She sums up her volunteer activities with this: “It’s a pleasure to share.” In the first poem she would like to share with the community, “What Keeps You Going”, she reminds us that in midst of this season of giving and thanksgiving, it is in remembering and honoring others that we will find what we truly need.
What Keeps You Going
In this “me-centered” world
it can be hard to start
your motor if connected
to a shriveling heart.
Your energy levels
are waxing and waning
as your to-do lists seem
to always be gaining.
The cure can be found
away from the “me”
in dedicating time
to your community.
Thinking of others
in trouble or pain,
helping someone else
with no thought of gain,
Giving what you can
to neighbors in need,
remembering the lonely
in word or in deed
Brings benefits back,
good vibes overflowing.
You’re sure to discover
WHAT keeps you going!
Monroe follows Benicia’s eighth poet laureate, Mary Susan Gast, who served from 2020 to 2023. To find out more about the First Tuesday Poets and other arts activities at the Benicia Public Library, go to benicialibrary.org
The Benicia Public Library Board of Trustees approved the Poet Laureate Selection Committee’s recommendation of Monroe at its November board meeting. The selection committee, headed by board member Lois Kazakoff, included Allison Angell, Barbara Duvall, Mary Eichbauer and Becky Bishop White.
