ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Mark Dayton has picked a poet who teaches creative writing as Minnesota’s chief promoter of poetry.

The first-term governor named Joyce Sutphen to the post of state poet laureate at a Capitol news conference on Tuesday.

Sutphen has published several volumes of poetry and holds a doctorate in Renaissance drama. She teaches literature and creative writing at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter. She grew up on a farm near St. Joseph and now lives in Chaska.

She succeeds Robert Bly, who was picked by former Gov. Tim Pawlenty as the state’s first official poet laureate after the position was created in 2007.

Sutphen says she aims to bring together poets from around the state. She quoted Robert Frost to describe poetry as “a momentary stay against confusion.”

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