Ruefle named Vermont poet laureate

Vermont has a new poet laureate.

Governor Phil Scott Monday appointed Mary Ruefle to the honorary post after she was recommended by a panel of judges.

The poet laureate serves as Vermont's ambassador for the art of poetry and takes part in official ceremonies and readings here and across the country.

Ruefle succeeds Chard Deniord for the position. She accepted the position, acknowledging the artists who held the position before her..

"I am honored to join the ranks of those who served before me -- two of those are in this room -- and humbled and scared. But I am used to that. That is how I feel in the face of poetry, it is how I feel as a member of that tribe," she said.

Robert Frost was Vermont's first poet laureate in 1961. A poet is chosen every four years.