We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
In an awards ceremony on September 25, 2025 Governor Gianforte named Allen Morris Jones of Bozeman to serve as Montana's Poet Laureate for 2025–2027. Jones carries on the poet laureate baton from Métis poet and storyteller Chris La Tray. In anticipation of Jones' service, John Knight, the Interim Executive Director of Humanities Montana, announced at the end of November that in January, the organization would launch its next Montana Poet Laureate Program.
Despite experiencing what Knight describes as "an unexpected termination in Congressionally appropriated federal funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities," Humanities Montana, in his words, remains "strong, stable, and vital to the communities that we serve."
In November's Humanities Montana newsletter, Knight stated: "We are committed to the people, stories, and ideas that connect us throughout the state. Programs such as the Democracy Project, the Montana Center for the Book, and the Montana Poet Laureate Program continue to adapt, thrive, and create positive impact throughout the state. [In particular,] the Montana Poet Laureate Program celebrates the voices and creativity that remind us why this work matters."
The in-coming Poet Laureate, Jones is a thirty-year veteran of writing and publishing who has written and published widely across genres and forms. He's the author of three novels, three children's books, a highly regarded exploration of the ethics of hunting, an award-winning collection of poetry, and more than 100 personal essays, profiles, and short stories. His most recent book, a collection of poetry titled Mumblecusser (Drumlumon Institute, 2023) won the High Plains Book Award and was Jones' second book to be named an honor book by the Montana Book Awards.
Jones claims not only to be thrilled to be carrying on the work of previous poets laureate like La Tray but believes that Montana has one of the richest poetry traditions in America. "I've watched as some of the finest writers in the country have sat in this laureate chair and advocated for poetry and literature even while shaping the public dialogue. I'm grateful that I now have the opportunity to continue their work. Going back at least to Richard Hugo, our writers have taught us how to see the landscape and our history and helped us understand our place in both."
Created by the legislature in 2005, the post of Montana Poet Laureate honors a citizen poet of exceptional talent and accomplishment. After submission by citizens and members of the literary world, nominations are reviewed by a committee of governor-appointed Arts Council members who evaluate submitted nominations on the basis of three criteria: 1) artistic excellence and achievement, 2) ongoing contributions to the cultural community, and 3) worthiness of statewide recognition.
From among these nominees, the Poet Laureate of Montana is then selected by the Governor during the summer. Each poet laureate develops a program for his or her term designed to share and support the creation of poetry with the people of Montana, through personal appearances, virtual events, educational outreach, and other venues.
The Montana Arts Council is the agency of state government assigned to develop the creative potential of all Montanans, advance education, spur economic vibrancy, and revitalize communities through involvement in the arts.
About Jones' novel A Bloom of Bones, Kirkus Reviews wrote: "With broad strokes painting an eastern Montana landscape and flashes of insight about the people who cling to its land, Jones rides ... into the hard country populated by the best of Western writers. Jones has written a most American of novels, bristling with hard truths."
The Big Sky Journal published comments about Jones' debut collection of poetry, Mumblecusser: "Novelist Allen Morris Jones reveals himself as a master of the subtle. His ability to discover the extraordinary within the ordinary-the profound with the profane-yet never be tempted to stray into hyperbole, is reminiscent of past pillars of Western poetry: Jim Harrison and Richard Hugo."
In the afterword of his poetry collection, Jones writes: "These poems, as far as I can tell now, are about late-life fatherhood, about aging and mortality; they're about trying to see clearly. They're about trying to discover what I think. They are exercises in self-pity and self-absorption. They are the 4:00 a.m. rants of an insomniac and they are the prissy, curated bonsai trees of a pompous little nitpicker."
