I've known of Jon Stallworthy for many years, have read some of his poems
but can't claim to have a critical perspective on him, doubt that I'll have
another chance to witness, and therefore hope he's scheduled at a
convenient time. Anne Stevenson must be one of Dana Gioia's choices since
she's written 2 books on Elizabeth Bishop, with whom DG studied. In fact,
I wouldn't be surprised if Gioia picked all the poets, with perhaps some
imput from Donald Hall. Am willing to bet that no anti-war material will
be officially aired. Have never heard of any invited writers refusing to
participate in the National Book Festival, but I imagine it has occurred,
though suspect Republican media control has limited the circulation of such
information. I enjoyed my interaction with Tony Hillerman a few years
ago. Last year I fell and injured myself rushing to catch someone's act,
and left in disgust. The attendance was supposedly 100000 in 2005, and the
expectation of big crowds keeps me from attending all sorts of events.
My most recent "info" on Laura Bush came from the National Enquirer while I
was waiting in line at a supermarket. Can you imagine their formulation of
the relationship amongst The First Lady, W(orst), Cond . . . , & OH?
Barry
On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 08:27:11 -0600, Douglas Barbour
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>I've heard of Jon Stallworthy, and maybe the Anne Stevenson person (but
>I think there's a Canadian poet by that name too), so once again am
>intrigued by the numbers & the fact that most of us simply cannot know
>all the poets there are out there. Of course, for all the authors, it's
>an honour I guess, but I would hope a writer of integrity would refuse
>to attend something 'hosted by Laura Bush' would refuse....
>
>Or can we not really blame her for her life choices...?
>
>Doug
>On 5-Jul-07, at 10:36 AM, Barry Alpert wrote:
>
>> At least the selection of poets includes two British-based writers I've
>> never had a chance to witness, not that I'll make a special trip and
>> brave
>> the very real crowds in order to see them. Any guesses on who will be
>> the
>> next poet laureate? Extrapolating from previous choices and frequency
>> of
>> appearance at the LC, I'm almost willing to bet real money on it being
>> Frank Bidart, except for the geographic monopoly of New England poets
>> in
>> recent years. One unintentionally-campy reading by FB was enough for
>> me,
>> so I hope it's not him, but the local "grooming" has been quite
>> visible.
>> Watch for the bookmakers' odds! Barry Alpert
>>
>> http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2007/07-133.html
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