San Ramon Poet Laureate and Cal High alumna Jaz Sufi is using poetry to bring people together.
Sufi represents the city by sharing poetry at public events and creating spaces in the community where people of all ages can connect through writing.
The title of poet laureate is appointed by the City of San Ramon to be a literary ambassador, promoting poetry and literacy through public readings, workshops, and community engagement.
Sufi was appointed as poet laureate in October 2024 at the monthly City Council Meeting. She was selected by a panel consisting of members of the Parks & Community Services Commission and the Arts Advisory Committee. Sufi will remain in the role until September.
“What the committee really liked about Sufi is that she brought a lot of enthusiasm,” City Arts Supervisor Adam Chow said. “She has a great background and does a lot of teaching in schools for poetry.”
Sufi, who graduated from Cal in 2009, connected with poetry after discovering slam poetry at the Berkeley Poetry Slam. Slam poetry is a unique type of poetry that focuses on personal experiences, and uses everyday language rather than formal or old-fashioned words.
Before discovering slam poetry, Sufi said she didn’t really like traditional poetry and lacked a connection with it.
“I didn’t care about what some old, dead guy had to say about a flower on a hill in 1862,” Sufi said.
Sufi said traditional poetry wasn’t meaningful to her because it felt irrelevant and unrepeatable to her life.
“It was when I found slam poetry that I realized how poetry could be urgent and exciting [to] talk about things that mattered to me in my life now,” Sufi said.
Sufi said slam poetry helped her see poetry as something that could communicate her personal, relevant struggles and experiences to the world, and she began to see it in a new way.
Sufi’s role as poet laureate involves writing impactful poems and community outreach to connect people with poetry.
She is often invited to write and perform poems at public events, including public poetry readings. She also participates in events where audience members say a single word that Sufi will have to write a poem about.
In her role, Sufi runs a weekly poetry workshop every Wednesday at the San Ramon Library for teens and adults ages 16 and older. The workshop is from 5:30-6:30 p.m. and allows for people to walk up and join anytime.
San Ramon librarian Stacy Hinton said Sufi has been running the poetry workshop program at the library for a year, and people travel from different cities just to attend the events.
“She lets us read [the poem] and have our own thoughts,” said Christopher Lurking, who is a regular attendee at Sufi’s workshops. “Then we write our own poem based on what we’ve written today, but also the prompts Jaz gives us.”
Sufi’s workshops are welcoming for everyone. “She has a combination of free flow and structure,” workshop attendee Erin Lennon said. “It’s a good balance and makes the workshop feel very welcoming.”
Sufi thought being chosen as Poet Laureate was especially meaningful because of her connection to the city.
“I grew up in San Ramon, so it was really exciting to be able to have this position,” Sufi said.
Sufi hopes to give back to the same community that helped shape her and work with more schools in the San Ramon area .
Sufi focuses on making poetry accessible and encourages people to believe their stories matter. She emphasizes that poetry is not just about skill, but about voice.
“Their own voice and experience matter just as much as everyone else’s,” Sufi said.
