… [Missouri] Gov. Jay Nixon doesn’t appear to be interested in choosing a new poet laureate who comes with controversy. His application for the post includes questions asking an applicant whether there’s anything in his or her background that could embarrass the governor.
Nixon’s spokesman, Sam Murphey, said the questions are standard for anyone seeking appointment to a state board or commission.
He did not return follow-up phone calls, nor did he respond to e-mailed questions asking for specific examples of what might embarrass the governor.
Application forms for poets laureate in other states do not ask similar questions.
Walter Bargen, the outgoing poet laureate who was appointed by former Gov. Matt Blunt, said he did not have to fill out an application, but he and his wife did agree to a Missouri State Highway Patrol background check. Blunt’s staff also asked whether there was anything they should know about. Bargen told them, “I grew up in the ’60s,” and that he once used the word “nipple” in a poem…
January 8th, 2010 at 12:18PM
There was quite a kerfuffle around Amiri Baraka, then poet laureate of New Jersey, about his 9/11 poem.