[Newspoetry] Lack of poet keeps with Republican tradition

[William Gillespie]

Lack of poet keeps with Republican tradition


by Jon Donenberg
The Daily Illini


When President George W. Bush was sworn in last week, the ceremonies
were missing one notable modern addition — the inaugural poet.

The absence of an inaugural poet angered some of the staff of the
English department.

"First off, Bush probably doesn't even know what a poet is," said
Phillip Graham, an English professor at the University. "I can't
remember any Republicans ever having inaugural poets."

Meagan Melton, member of College Republicans, disagreed with Graham's
assessment.

"I think that one thing that the Democrats and people on the left are
doing wrong is underestimating the intelligence of George W. Bush,"
Melton said.

University English Professor Laurence Lieberman offered a more literary
and historical assessment of the situation.

"To the best of my knowledge, there have only been four inaugural
poets," Lieberman said. "Two of the four were at Clinton's two
inaugurations. The first was Robert Frost at JFK's inauguration, and the
second was James Dickey at Carter's inauguration."

Lieberman, the resident poetry editor for the University of Illinois
Press, offered his thoughts as to why Bush elected not to have an
inaugural poet this time around.

"My guess is, apart from the fact that no Republican has ever asked for
a poet ... I think that in all four cases, the president simply liked to
read poetry."

Lieberman pointed out that Kennedy was most likely an avid fan of the
work of Robert Frost, and that Clinton was known to have an interest in
Maya Angelou, his first inaugural poet.

"Carter even published a book of his own poems," Lieberman said.

In terms of Bush, Lieberman guessed that "he probably doesn't like to
read poetry."

The University has a unique connection to the tradition of inaugural
poets. Lieberman has studied James Dickey, and has published some of the
works of Miller Williams — the last inaugural poet — at the University
of Illinois Press.

The University-published book, which contains Williams' inaugural poem,
"Of History and Hope," is called The Ways We Touch and was published in
1997.