When Vogue Robinson left California to live near her sister in Las Vegas, she used the move as a catalyst for personal transformation. “I decided to come out of hiding,” Robinson says. “You have to take yourself more seriously as an artist—don’t ask permission, just do it.”
Four years later, Robinson is a beloved fixture on the local literary scene and happier than she ever thought possible. The 30-year-old poet (who is a job recruiter by day) uses imagery to reflect upon her family and personal background. She performs regularly around town at poetry slams and open mic nights. She even met her husband and fellow poet A.J. Moyer at an Arts Factory poetry event. He is her favorite local writer.
Robinson is an enthusiastic community connector. She’s the executive director of Poetry Promise, a nonprofit organization that supports the literary arts in Clark County and beyond. “I’m basically the poetry hotline,” says Robinson, who fields countless texts from people wanting to know the location of the next poetry slam.
This unofficial role as literary conduit will soon be formalized. On June 1, Robinson becomes Clark County’s second-ever Poet Laureate. Seeing her two-year term as a “serving position,” Robinson plans to collaborate with other artforms and to bring poetry to unconventional places. She envisions taking poetry into classrooms along with unemployment offices. She’d like to use it to help improve the mental health and resilience of Southern Nevadans, to connect those who might be disconnected.
“I think the arts in Southern Nevada are this huge oasis,” Robinson says. “I look at open mics and poetry slams like different churches. You choose your open mic that feels like home.”
Watch Vogue Robinson participate in the Battle Born Grand Slam April 28 at 7 p.m. at PublicUs ($5 donation).
