Ruelaine Stokes

Welcome!

Ruelaine Stokes is a writer, teacher and performance artist based in Lansing, Michigan. She is a gifted poet, spoken word artist, and arts organizer well-known for bringing innovative and creative poetry programming to the Greater Lansing Area.

Ruelaine has a remarkable ability to bring poetry to life and people to poetry—both on the stage and in classroom settings. From April 2024 to April 2026, she served as Lansing Poet Laureate, with the mission of engaging people in the Tri-County Area (Ingham, Clinton and Eaton Counties) with the literary arts.

For decades, she taught English as a Second Language at Michigan State University and at Lansing Community College, as well as within community ESL programs. Since 2015, she has served as the president of the Lansing Poetry Club. Her most recent collection of poetry is Jar of Plenty (2021), and, along with former Lansing Poet Laureate Laura Apol, she co-edited My Secret Lansing (2023), a collection of poetry and prose about the Greater Lansing Area.

During her tenure as Lansing Poet Laureate, she launched the “We Are Water” Poetry Contest to celebrate Michigan’s freshwater resources. The six winning poems were featured on Poetry Signs along the walking paths in the Tollgate Drain Wetlands in Lansing. See video below for more details.