The following article from The Progressive left me shaking my head and wondering what rhymes with ignorant and intolerant:
Long Island Poet Deprived of Being Named Laureate Because of his Anti-Bush Writings
Monday, June 4, was supposed to be Maxwell Corydon Wheat’s big day. The 80-year-old poet, who lives in Nassau County, New York, was to be announced as the county’s first poet laureate.
But the announcement never came. Instead, he saw his name sullied, and then his nomination shot down.
All because he’s written some poems critical of Bush and the Iraq War.
In Wheat’s book, “Iraq and Other Killing Fields: Poetry for Peace,â€? he has a powerful poem entitled “Coming Home.â€? The poem…recounts the biographical details of several soldiers killed in the war, with the refrain:
“All lidded down inside casket
carefully, caringly covered with the American flag.�
In his poem “Iraq,� he writes about the “Less-than-Elected-Vice-President Cheney� and the “Less-than-Elected-President Bush� who are contemplating the best time to launch a strike against Iraq to further their imperial desires.
He also minces no words in his poem about the desecration of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, “Oilman George W. Bush’s Hollow Eye Sockets.� (Those eye sockets “vent black liquid.�)
A birdwatcher and nature lover, Wheat writes most of his poems on more bucolic topics that have nothing to do with politics.
But it’s his political poems that got him into trouble.
A year ago, the Nassau County board voted to have a poet laureate.
Wheat says he was one of 14 who applied. He was among six finalists, and he interviewed before the selection committee the county had appointed. “I felt I did a good job,� he says. “I enjoyed it.�
A couple of weeks later, Wheat received the good news. “I got the word that they had made their choice and the choice was I,� he says. “Get that grammar right. I’m an old English teacher.�
He was told to show up on June 4 for the announcement, and he had prepared a statement of acceptance. “I’m going to make Nassau County an open classroom for poetry,� the statement said.
But he never was able to deliver it.
“I got a call from a legislative aide who told me it had been taken off the calendar,� he says. The aide explained that a couple of legislators had complained about his book “Iraq and Other Killing Fields,� though Wheat believes they only saw it that morning. [full text]
Kmareka.com 
Once again I have not been disappointed. Like the Mountain Men of old, who dispaired of the sterile world of the “civilized,” seeking the America’s rift valley, the Rio Grande, and disavowing either the left or right coasts was the good thing to do. The utter smugness of politicians and the other “civilized” folks, whatever their political leanings, makes them afraid of the words of a poet. Poets tell us about the world in a way we do not or cannot see. Poets tell us of the anguish and pain of others that we “regular” people cannot feel until that anguish enters our lives. Poets tell us what we do not want to hear in ways that we would never hear left to our own devices. The smug politicians who would not listen to Mr. Wheat have done us an unintentional service. They have made us aware of the man and the poet, not a likely circumstance, and they have made us aware of his words, despite thier desire to hide those from us.
It is about time poets re-claim the mantle of unacknowledged legislators of the world. Thanks for letting me know about this David.
I never cry…but I am crying.