Missouri’s first poet laureate, Walter Bargen of Ashland, will read from his work and speak about “the power of silence” at 11 a.m. Sunday, June 29,  at the Ethical Society, 9001 Clayton Road.

Bargen has a new book coming out, “Theban Traffic.” He says “Thebes” can easily be seen as a town in the Midwest, although he ties it to Greece and Egypt. Bargen became Missouri’s first official poetry advocate in January, recommended by the Missouri Center for the Book and appointed by Gov. Matt Blunt.

 By Walter Bargen

I think I was surprised and therefore not prepared for the amount of attention that the appointment as the first poet laureate of Missouri garnered - not only the attention but the requests for appearances.  

My goal was and is to be as accomdating as possible, and I’ve tried my best to not say no, but I have had to suggest different dates for appearances that are much further away then the date originally requested.  I now know that I need to pace myself in terms of accepting appearances.

  Here is an example of one day in April, National Poetry Month, that got out of control for me, and I must admit that it’s my fault for trying to fit too much into that one day in part because of the high cost of travel and not wanting to disappoint people who would like the poet laureate to appear at their venue/school. 

 I left my house at 5:30 a.m. in order to arrive at a middle school in St. Louis at 8:20, where I was scheduled to share some poems and talk a little about poetry to two groups of 50 students.  At 10:30 there was a car waiting to take me to the KWMU radio station for an hour-long interview at 11 pm.  The interveiw included Kris Kleindeinst, owner of Left Bank Books, and Mark Tiedemann, president of the Missouri Center for the Book. 

About 12:15, I appeared for a television interview.  After that I was driven back to my car in Kirkwood, then had to make my way downtown for a 3:30 p.m. meeting with the Missouri Arts Council staff.  At 6 p.m., there was a reception at the St. Louis Central Library and at 7 p.m. I gave a reading of my work. 

About 9 p.m. I drove home, which took a little over two hours.  The next morning I  went to work. Two evenings later I read at a nearby library and the day after that made a short appearance at another school.  Perhaps that explains why I need to pace my fun. 
 
I can’t believe how much demand there continues to be for the poet laureate.  It makes me feel that, at least in part, I am fulfilling the role that was envisioned for the poet laureate, that of helping bring a public focus on literature and poetry, specifically.
 
Walter Bargen, June 2008