Eugene Field Elementary School librarian Justin Hamm looked back at his writing career and recalls submitting a short story called “Johnny Bluebird” to his local newspaper when he was in second grade.

Now, many years later, his written works have gained him a state honor - Missouri Poet Laureate for 2025-27. Gov. Mike Kehoe announced the appointment Oct. 1. 

A news release from the governor’s office stated the poet laureate program, created in 2008 and administered by the Missouri Arts Council, “enriches the lives of Missourians by fostering the art of poetry statewide. Through public appearances, readings, workshops, digital and social media, the Poet Laureate helps elevate poetry in schools, communities, and cultural spaces.”

Hamm told the Ledger it was “very exciting” to receive the honor and that he received a number of messages, including from old friends and classmates, after the announcement.

“It’s an awesome opportunity to serve something that’s been really meaningful to me,” he said. “Poetry has been enormous for me in my life. It’s taken me to places that I never thought I’d go, it’s given opportunities, it’s made me some of my best friends. What’s cool about the poet laureateship is you get to go around and have a platform to spread that and kind of pay people back for all the wonderful things they’ve done in poetry itself.”

Hamm, a native of Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, earned a bachelor's degree in English from MacMurray College and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Southern Illinois University. He has been in education for 24 years, with three of those years as a graduate instructor and then 21 years of public school experience. 

He spent 17 years at North Callaway R-I School District - where he worked as an English teacher for eight years and a district librarian for nine years - and is in his fourth year at Eugene Field, where he has served as a librarian the entire time.

Hamm has authored five books of poetry and several individual works, which often draw inspiration from Missouri's people and landscapes and have appeared in journals and anthologies nationwide, the news release stated. He also has a sixth book that is about photography, titled “Midwestern,” and he has published chapbooks, which are very short books of poetry. The news release stated Hamm’s award-winning hybrid poetry and photography exhibit, Midwestern, toured throughout the Midwest between 2018 and 2020.  

He said he had been nominated for poet laureate a few times in the past. His two-year term as Missouri Poet Laureate began Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30, 2027. He succeeds David L. Harrison of Springfield, who served from July 2023 through September 2025.

Governor Kehoe selected Hamm from among public nominations reviewed by the Missouri Poet Laureate Committee, which consists of previous Poets Laureate David L. Harrison, Maryfrances Wagner, Karen Craigo, Aliki Barnstone, William Trowbridge and Walter Bargen, the release stated.

Hamm will tour the state as Poet Laureate, and he plans to hit both the big cities and other communities as well as places where Poets Laureate have not visited in the past, including libraries, schools and venues where it would be an unexpected visit. He has four projects he will work on during his time as poet laureate, including one being Poet Baseball Cards, in which contemporary poets have their own cards, in an effort to get people to pay attention to living poets, including those that don’t get much attention. A second project centers on holding a conference/series of workshops that will occur over a weekend, and the project will be aimed at teen writers that will be free and virtual based.

Hamm discussed his work as a librarian, explaining he feels like a “celebrity” to the students, as he tries to conduct creative ways to teach storytelling.

He has written about a number of subjects in his poetry, such as the Midwest and the people here, as well as the top of music. He explained the importance of poetry.

“I think it’s one of those art forms that can morph in a lot of different ways, and so it can meet people in their needs in a lot of different ways,” he said, noting that in a time of grief, for example, it was powerful for him to read a certain poem.

Mexico educators were excited about Hamm’s honor.

“Everyone at Eugene Field is extremely proud of Mr. Hamm,” Eugene Field Principal Scott Daly said in a news release from Mexico Public Schools. “I believe people will see the same passion and enthusiasm he brings every day to the students of our school, and he will continue to create excitement for poetry.”

Hamm said he hopes Kehoe can visit Mexico for a public ceremony, but it’s unknown yet whether he will be able to attend. There definitely will be a ceremony, Hamm said, with details to be announced.