Kay Ryan to be U.S. Laureate

Photo of Kay Ryan from the Library of Congress.

Today, being as I was off work, I searched on "poetry" at Google News. Lamentably, poetry is more of a metaphor than an actuality in the news, as the list, sorted by relevance for the top three entries was:

1. "Dylan Thomas pure poetry," a story in The Australian about " Encosta de Lago, Coolmore Stud's busiest stallion"
2. "Poetry in motion," (already a dead link) Stephen Ripley's story in the Winnipeg Sun about Ashley Harkleroad, the 72nd-ranked player on the WTA; and
3. "Finding poetry in animal migrations," Tom Henry's review in the Toledo Blade, of Princeton University ecologist David S. Wilcove's new book out from Island Press.
   

It is only on the fourth entry that we read that Kay Ryan has been named Poet Laureate. (
Heidi Benson's July 18 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, "POET LAUREATE OF THE UNITED STATES: Kay Ryan, Poems that turn ordinary things grand.")

In checking out what might be available online, I enjoyed reading Richard Halstead (email) "Kay Ryan rises to the top despite her refusal to compromise" from the 9/27/07 Marin Independent Journal. There's already a good piece up at Wikipedia that Eric Schiff (email), a physics professor started in September 2006. And of course, there's the exhibit at the Library of Congress and at the Academy of American Poets.