Suffolk will get a rare opportunity on Saturday to meet and hear from Virginia’s poet laureate.

Tim Seibles will speak at the event beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Suffolk Art Gallery, 118 Bosley Ave. The free event is presented by the Suffolk Art League in cooperation with the gallery.

Seibles joined the English faculty at Old Dominion University in 1995, according to the Old Dominion University website. He graduated from Southern Methodist University with a bachelor’s degree and taught high school English for 10 years before receiving his Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, when it was part of Norwich University.

Seibles was appointed poet laureate by Gov. Terry McAuliffe in 2016. His term lasts for two years. He has won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center and received an Open Voice Award from the National Writers Voice Project.

The renowned poet will read from some of his works, and he will discuss his creative process, along with the things that inspire his poetry.

The event is a move to include more literary art in the forms of art displayed and promoted by the art league and the gallery, according to Suffolk Art League Executive Director Linda Bunch.

Reservations are requested but not required. The free event will include light refreshments and a cash bar.

It seems unlikely that Seibles will compare a poem to a tree during his talk, but folks who attend will surely learn about the roots of his love of poetry and find out how he’s branched into different types within the genre, and they will leave with a new appreciation for what poets do to tell about the world around them.

Sorry. We couldn’t resist.