Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
The United States has one, California does, too. Now, the city of Los Angeles opening its arms to and accepting applications for its first ever poet laureate.
Patt Morrison spoke to Dana Gioia, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts who heads the panel that will choose the first L.A. poet laureate.
Dana Gioia on why L.A. needs a Poet Laureate:
"I don’t know if L.A. needs a poet laureate, but it deserves one. You know, Los Angeles is one of the world centers for culture, for creativity, for the imagination, I tend to think Los Angeles is the capital of the 21st century art. So it’s fitting that as part of the civic identity of this is we have a symbolic artist, a poet laureate. And artists in our society get very little honor, poets get virtually none. And I really believe the United States does not do enough to honor our artists. And so this is, on a local level, a wonderful way of doing it."
Gioia on what the Poet Laureate will have to do:
"One is to visit schools, visit cultural organizations, and basically have an active way of promoting literature and literacy and poetry in Los Angeles. Secondly, a kind of symbolic role, to raise the awareness generally of the power of literature, of poetry, of language for the community of Los Angeles, which is a community that is driven by creative industries. And thirdly is to play a role in public ceremonies. We hope that the poet laureate will, you know, not on a regular basis, but will write a few poems during that are fitting at public occasions, and at civic events."
Gioia on who should apply:
"First and foremost, we want somebody whose work has literary excellence. That does not mean we’re going to get a bunch of poets and say ‘this is the best poet,’ we really want to feel there's a level of literary excellence in their work. Secondly, we want someone who has a disposition for public service. If Emily Dickinson sent us her poems, but said ‘I don’t really want to leave my house,’ she would not really be a good choice for poet laureate. And thirdly, someone with a real connection to Los Angeles. he or she does not have to be a native Angeleno, if we found somebody who was a tremendous Spanish language poet we would be open to that too, but it’s gotta be someone that’s a long term resident of Los Angeles, somebody who’s decided to become part of Los Angeles."
The deadline to apply is Wednesday, will you be throwing your hat into the ring?