The beauty of this place we now call Montana inspires such awe that words frequently fail us. And that's when we call for the poets. The book in your hands is a campfire of sorts, around which eleven poets laureate have gathered. Their legacy joins thousands of years of voices speaking across this landscape. Twenty years is a blip in the reckoning of this place, but in that time Montana's poets laureate have chronicled the scale and shape of its grandeur and its grace, and the hardships and hopes of the people who call it home. This collection is a glimpse into their work and the importance of the spoken word to this best of places. Published by the Montana Arts Council in collaboration with the Montana Historical Society, This Place the Gods Touched Earth collects work from Montana's eleven poets laureate to date, celebrating their responses in words to the people and places of the Big Sky, and commemorating their two decades of service to Montana's literary landscape so far.