Should Decatur Inaugurate Its Own Poet Laureate?
Decatur Metro | May 8, 2013I love this idea! FM Fats points to this article in the New York Times about the growing number of growing municipalities that have their own poet laureate. Here’s a blurb…
Fresno joins a rapidly growing list of cities and towns across the nation with their own official bards; in just the past few months, not only have Houston and Los Angeles established poet laureateships but so have Boise, Idaho; Key West, Fla.; McAllen, Tex.; and San Mateo County, near San Francisco.
For many poets, and those in the poetry business, the popularity of poets laureate — those who labor over words to sing a community’s virtues or plumb its psyche in an age defined by Twitter messages — is a pleasant surprise. Why now, though, remains something of a mystery.
Come on. Decatur is home to the current U.S. Poet Laureate. We have a whole dang festival that would serve as the perfect backdrop for the annual announcement.
What do you all think?
Dear Daren Wang…
Yes. Anything Boise has, we should have.
We already have one… Kodac Harrison.
Officially?
Didn’t the US Poet Laureate move to DC?
Only temporarily I believe.
Much like the debate over marijuana legalization, doesn’t this raise thorny questions of local/state/federal jurisdiction? Might we seat our own poet laureate, only to have her unceremoniously superseded by nationally sanctioned couplets from Natasha Trethewey? Do we need to somehow exempt our local poetry by deeming it medicinally necessary?
Forget poet laureate. Let’s do something no other city has.
Personally, I’d like an annual City Brewmaster or Chief Creator (someone who could stimulate the techo-creative energies in our schools and populace)
Those more cultured than me might want:
Distinguished Gardener
Master Chef (and the local restaurants bid to host the person for a month or two at a time)
I’m sure there are other even better ideas out there.
It’s a fair bet that candidates for the Chief Creator position are hanging out here:
http://www.decaturmakerspace.org/
Kodac would be cool as poet laureate.
I nominate J_T for Decatur Town Jester.
there was a young bard from Decatur . . .
Who recycled and wasn’t a hater…
his skilz were sublime . . .
with a joke or a rhyme…
then he moved to Brookhaven, the traitor.
Aaaaannnd…curtain.
You people be silly!
Wow. I go away from this blog for a few hours….and come back to poetry! Take a bow!
That was amazing. Cudos to you all. Will make the Top 10 DM highlight reel for sure.
PLOTUS is only in residence in DC temporarily. She’s still a Decatur resident.
I’m for Bard Laureate, using the classic singer/songwriter/poet/storyteller definition of bard.
(I apologize to Mrs. Riepe, my 11th grade Latin teacher, for the terrible mix of etymologies involved in that title)