Most holders of the these titles reach pre-eminence by public competition, and use the office responsibly to further the knowledge and enjoyment of poetry and the written word by citizens of the states in which they hold office.
Sadly, some also bring disrepute by what they do in office [1] [1] and have to be removed [1].
The following list names incumbents of state Poet Laurentships in those states that have a position so named.
| State | Name |
| Alaska | Anne Hanley |
| Alabama | Helen Norris |
| Arkansas | Verna Lee Hinegardner |
| Colorado | Mary Crow |
| California | Vacant |
| Connecticut | Marilyn Nelson |
| District of Columbia | Delores Kendrick |
| Delaware | Fleda Brown |
| Florida | Edmund Skellings |
| Georgia | David Bottoms |
| Idaho | Jim Irons |
| Illinois | Vacant |
| Iowa | Marvin Bell |
| Kentucky | Joe Survant |
| Louisiana | Jean McGivney Boese |
| Maine | Baron Wormser |
| Maryland | Michael Collier |
| Missouri | Vacant |
| Nebraska | William Kloefkorn |
| New Hampshire | Marie Harris |
| New Jersey | Interregnum |
| New York | John Ashbery |
| North Carolina | Vacant |
| North Dakota | Larry Woiwode |
| Oklahoma | Carl Sennhenn |
| Pennsylvania | Samuel Hazo |
| Rhode Island | Tom Chandler |
| South Carolina | Vacant |
| South Dakota | David Allan Evans |
| Tennessee | Maggi Vaughn |
| Utah | Kenneth W. Brewer |
| Vermont | Grace Paley |
| Virginia | George Garrett |
| West Virginia | Irene McKinney |
| Wisconsin | Ellen Kort |
| Wyoming | Robert Roripaugh |
There is no such position in Arizona, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, or Washington. Hawaii has a state writer.