The Official Lightning Rod

I had a crazy dream last night. I was supposed to be reading some of my poems to a classroom of peers who were all science students. Mrs. Joslin, my 7th grade social studies teacher, was running the show (naturally), though the students were in their twenties. Everyone was giving very engrossing presentations and the audience was rapt.

Suddenly it was my turn to read my poetry. Mrs. Joslin cued up an old record player and started helping some of the students with their homework. Nobody was looking at me. Nobody was listening. I'm not sure they could hear.

I was wearing 4-inch heels and a too-tight dress. As I screamed to get everyone's attention, I fell a few times and kept scraping my legs on the concrete floor. The class was watching me now, as I yelled as loudly as possible, "Why don't you stupid fucking assholes care about poetry?! Why doesn't anyone care about poetry?!" I kept ranting about the contributions of poetry to our society, and I vaguely remember feeling like only Walt Whitman would understand. When I realized I was pulling my own hair, Mrs. Joslin turned to the class and said, "Don't worry, she's just going crazy because poetry doesn't matter." Laughter ensues...you get the picture.

This slightly tedious account of my dream was to say that I've been thinking a lot about the role of poetry in society since the announcement last week that the U.S. has a new Poet Laureate. W. S. Merwin replaced Kay Ryan after a two-year stint in the position. I know what you're thinking: What the hell is a Poet Laureate and how is that possibly a job? I wasn't quite sure, so I went to the Library of Congress website, where they describe the position. The Poet Laureate does, in fact, do a lot, but I liked this part of the description best:

"The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress serves as the nation's official lightning rod for the poetic impulse of Americans. During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry."

Who knew the nation had an "official lightning rod." Heh. If I were writing that description (and channeling the madness of last night's dream) I'd say something like, "The Poet Laureate serves as the nation's official defibrillator in order to shock poetic impulses into life within the dying hearts of Americans."

Merwin lives on Maui most of the year, a place he traveled to in the '70s in search of a lifestyle more in tune with his practice of Zen Buddhism. He's not one of my favorite poets, but I do like this one very much. Especially the line, "Young as I am, old as I am."

I'm asking you (not as a madwoman) to try and care about poetry. Start by getting to know W.S. Merwin: