Cooper County Historical Society was honored by a visit from Missouri's first official Poet laureate Sunday afternoon at the Westminster Presbyterian Church.Walter Bargen of Columbia was recently appointed by Gov. Blunt from among 100 nominations to fulfill this honorary position. In all the years of Missouri statehood this is the first formal recognition of the creative talent in our state. All those who attended Mr. Bargens' program enthusiastically approved his selection.
His visit and remarks came during the weekend River Rats performance of "Love Notes" the annual original musical playlet written and perfomed by local talent. "A community that can entertain itself will not fade away", Mr. Bargen pointed out. People will be less inclined to move on to find more excitement elsewhere.
His new appointment has brought almost rock star status as new people have discovered his books and been inspired to create. He explained "creativity" briefly and to the point.
The creative impulse comes "where one's imagination and memory collide with events". As an example of this he read several of his writings inspired by short items
used as filler in newspapers,local happenings,(when a tornado hit a parking lot in Fayette), a pre-historic stone discovered in a patio. By imagining or changing the point of view of who or what is involved he creates another point of view "too probable to be real". And often hilarious, sometimes somber. The writings of Mark Twain though not a poet come to mind.
Any in the audience who may have been indifferent to poetry before Sundays meeting were significantly transformed by the end of his readings.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The First Weeks
For those you interested in how the position of Poet Laureate has taken me by surprise, I will give a few examples.
Tuesday after the Governor's Office published an official news release until Wednesday evening around 9 pm, it felt as if every breath I took was recorded by a reporter, and then for the next six or seven days, I averaged two interviews a day. A coworker complained that over a recent weekend I was on TV news so often that he felt like he was still at work. Of course, there is hyperbole here, but the point is made.
Thursday I checked the count on my website: www.walterbargen.com. For years, the site has pretty much flat-lined until the official announcement. What followed nearly crashed the server that is home to the website. In one 24 hour period, there were 25000 hits from 33 countries.
I was told that radio stations across the state, including rural radio stations, were broadcasting interviews and reading poems that they downloaded from the internet and asking listeners to call in with responses. I was live on a St. Louis station via telephone and interviewed for nearly an hour another station in Columbia. I still have a number interviews yet to be scheduled. the Columbia Tribune is planing a feature in their ovation section before the February 13 ceremony in the rotunda.
I would humbly conclude that the position of Poet Laureate has already achieved a great deal by bringing poetry and literature into the public eye and mind.
Tuesday after the Governor's Office published an official news release until Wednesday evening around 9 pm, it felt as if every breath I took was recorded by a reporter, and then for the next six or seven days, I averaged two interviews a day. A coworker complained that over a recent weekend I was on TV news so often that he felt like he was still at work. Of course, there is hyperbole here, but the point is made.
Thursday I checked the count on my website: www.walterbargen.com. For years, the site has pretty much flat-lined until the official announcement. What followed nearly crashed the server that is home to the website. In one 24 hour period, there were 25000 hits from 33 countries.
I was told that radio stations across the state, including rural radio stations, were broadcasting interviews and reading poems that they downloaded from the internet and asking listeners to call in with responses. I was live on a St. Louis station via telephone and interviewed for nearly an hour another station in Columbia. I still have a number interviews yet to be scheduled. the Columbia Tribune is planing a feature in their ovation section before the February 13 ceremony in the rotunda.
I would humbly conclude that the position of Poet Laureate has already achieved a great deal by bringing poetry and literature into the public eye and mind.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)