The poets of the Granite State

From top gun down to not-so-great

Are clucking like a brood of hens,

They seek a Poet Laureate.

Let’s hope those folks will take up pens

Who write verse no one comprehends,

(For clarity is worse than rhyme)

And nominate themselves - or friends.

For those who grasp the paradigm,

And are in versifying prime,

Who know enigma wins the day,

This is indeed a heady time.

You’ll sense those poets by their ways,

They’ve not quite shaken all clichés,

With sandals, flowery dress or beard,

Or strutting round in French berets.

Soon one will be e’en more revered,

Raised aloft, with fame veneered

With ancient Greek-style laurels crowned,

In shopping malls and classrooms cheered.

Will our next Laureate be found

Like Dalai Lama, unrenowned,

In humble, rural trailer park,

And academia confound?

Or will it be a hierarch,

Who has already left a mark

Within the corridors of fame,

With rhymeless verse, obscure and stark?

New Hampshire poets seek a name,

It matters not if Knight or Dame,

A hayseed or a city dwellah,

To fill the vacant throne’s the aim.

Please help them find their Cinderella

That poetess or poet fellah

Think – who could be the Laureate?

Now mail that choice to Pat Frisella.

For a nomination form and guidelines, send a request to the Poetry Society of New Hampshire, c/o Pat Frisella, 282 Meaderboro Road, Farmington, NH 03835. The postmark deadline for the nominations is Aug. 1.Applications will not be accepted by fax or electronically. Special consideration will be given to those people who wear berets while making the trip to the Post Office.

Nomination guidelines (no rhyming, etc.) and forms will also be available for downloading at the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts website at http://www.state.nh.us.nharts/

(Editor’s note: John Nolan of Farmington, although he has never been named poet laureate, is ineligible for nomination having been found guilty on multiple counts of rhyming and clarity. He is also deeply suspected of satire.)

Farmington

June 15, 2003

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