Governor Nixon establishes procedure for selecting new poet laureate, encourages Missourians to submit nominations...(read more)

A Distinguished Beginning      

               By Dr. Thomas Dillingham, MCB Board Member 

        The custom of crowning a poet with laurel leaves began in ancient times, when poets competed for the honor. More recently, in England especially, the Poet Laureate has been beholden to the monarch, expected to write poems in celebration of royal birthdays and marriages; though the post still carries some honor, many poets in England refuse to accept it because of that expectation. In the United States, the post is certainly an honor for the appointed poet, a recognition of her or his excellence, but it is much more a formal recognition of the importance of the art of poetry, an affirmation that in each of the poets honored, the state is recognizing the value of poetry in our culture, asking a working poet to spend some time bringing poetry to everyone.

 
      The people of Missouri have been fortunate during the past two years to have, as their first Poet Laureate, a fine and passionate lyric poet who feels deeply about this state and who lives a life—expressed brilliantly in his poetry—that keeps him close to the experiences and feelings of ordinary citizens. Walter Bargen has worked tirelessly—indeed well beyond the expectations of those involved in creating the position of Poet Laureate. He has traveled more than 5000 miles around the state, making more than 100 appearances where he has read his poems and helped people understand the value of poetry in our society. 

      If poets have anything in common, it is that they are individuals, likely to be as different from one another in personality and style as it is possible for humans to be. Future poets laureate will be different kinds of persons, from other parts of the state; they will write very different poetry from Walter’s, but there will be a common commitment to the art form, to creating the finest poetry they can write, to communicate with as many people as they can—all who are willing to open their eyes, their ears, their minds and hearts, to the experience of poetry. Citizens of Missouri should be grateful to Walter Bargen for his magnificent service to our state and to poetry, and we should look forward with enthusiasm to the revelations to come from our next Poet Laureate.

   Walter Bargen, Missouri's First Poet Laureate

The Missouri Center for the Book is an affiliate of the

Center for the Book  at the Library of Congress.