Former poet laureate Ada Limón says artists must band together during 'dangerous times'

During her three years as the 24th poet laureate, Ada Limón said her travels around the United States taught her just how many poets the country has.

Limón said people would approach her during appearances to tell her they wrote poems regularly in a journal, or on a full moon or with their children.

“They might not be publishing poems, they might not even be sharing poems, but there are many people that are secret poets,” Limón said.

Limón's term, which ended in April, included writing a poem engraved on a spacecraft on its way to Jupiter's moon Europa and spearheading a program placing poems at seven national parks . Her new book, “Startlement: New and Selected Poems” comes out Sept. 30.

Limon said selecting the works to include in her collection was difficult because she usually