Friday, August 1, 2008

New Poet Laureate

A belated congratulations to Kay Ryan for becoming the 16th US Poet Laureate!

I'm just starting now to backtrack and read her work, which I relate to immediately and find to be a breath of fresh air. She is the kind of writer that I can appreciate right away, not just for her wonderful work but for her lack of pretension, the way she can connect with people through her words, her preference for short poems instead of epics, her introspection and tendency to feel like an outsider, and her epiphany around the age of 30 to devote her professional life to poetry and writing. I am at that age, and even though I'm still waiting for that great epiphany to happen, I can certainly relate to her internal struggle with that question.

So, again - congratulations. I look forward to reading much more of your work.


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