Today, Kay Ryan replaces Charles Simic as the U.S. poet laureate. Ryan, a California native (once rejected by the UCLA poetry club) and self-described "modern hermit," has published six books of poetry and taught English for many years. Of her own work, Ryan says "An almost empty suitcase, that’s what I want my poems to be." We were delighted to read of her proposed poet laureate project: "I thought I might take it upon myself to prevent all bad poetry from being published during my reign."