I would have picked this as an April Fool's joke - if i had seen it first -
it is plainly foolish
----Original Message Follows----
From: Peter Cudmore <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: "Poetryetc: poetry and poetics" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Poetry subsidies proposed
Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2007 17:10:15 +0100
Presumably in some language Narr either means 'first' or 'fool', eh?
P
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jon Corelis
> Sent: 01 April 2007 16:21
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Poetry subsidies proposed
>
> I thought people in this group might be interested in this:
>
>
> ----------------------
>
>
> FEDERAL POETRY SUBSIDIES PROPOSED
>
> Washington, D. C. (CNS) -
>
> In a surprise move, the Bush Administration has announced
> that it will propose legislation in Congress to subsidize the
> production of verse by American poets.
>
> The program, which will be modeled on the longstanding
> federal agricultural price support program, will be designed
> to ensure a market at a basic price support level for the
> nation's poetry output.
>
> According to administration spokeswoman April Narr, a goal of
> the subsidies will be to ensure the continuing production of
> particular types of verse for which the market is currently
> weak. "For instance," she said at a news conference this
> morning, "not too many people write sonnets or heroic
> couplets any more, so those types of verse would be eligible
> for special price supports."
>
> Narr also said in response to questions that although the
> details have yet to be worked out, subject matter may also be
> taken into account to determine the price support levels of
> different types of poems. "There are plenty poems being
> written about having an affair or traveling in Europe or
> watching your child grow up," she said, "so that sort of
> poetry probably needs less subsidy. But poems about junk
> yards or shaving cream or peeling an orange are more rare and
> may be deserving of more price support."
>
> When questioned as to whether the public will accept a
> government program which channels taxpayers' dollars to
> poets, Narr replied, "It's really not such an unusual idea
> when you think of it. After all, if the federal government
> can pay farmers to produce soybeans, why can't it pay poets
> to produce sonnets?"
>
> --
> ===================================
>
> Jon Corelis www.geocities.com/jgcorelis/
>
> ===================================
>
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