The Office of Poet Laureate is now open again, L. I'll see if there's an application process. Maybe it's a matter of sending Jenny Granholm a letter stating what you'll do with the post and a copy of your poems.
This gubernatorial appointment was phased out in 1952 after Eddie Guest’s term in office. Your grandmothers probably read Eddie Guest in the Detroit papers, no doubt. The Detroit upper crust at the Detroit Athletic Club loved Eddie Guest, and the club invited him often to read commissioned poems at dinners there. Academic and so-called authentic poets love to poke funny at Eddie Guest’s poem, "It takes a heap of living to make a home" is often given as an example of doggerel in works of prosody.
Edgar Guest Article in Wikipedia
A possible reason for the sea change in Michigan's government outlook toward poetry: Poetry has become a billion dollar business. The Poetry Foundation in Chicago, Illinois is spending the interest of a bequest of 100 million dollars from a daughter of the Lilly pharmaceutical family. She got a rejection letter back from Poetry Magazine, and you can see she took it like a sport. Moral of the story: cultivate everyone who shows up for an audition, try-out or interview?
One of the best signs that the Poetry Foundation is spending the money well is Garrison Keillor's Writer Almanac, underwritten by the Poetry Foundation. Here's the web page where you can sign up for Garrison's daily email, which features a great current poem and birthday announcements for accomplished writers, such as William Stryon or David Lehman, who has read in Detroit at the Scarab Club. So as Garrison likes to say at the end of his daily almanac: Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.
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