Silicon Valley is searching
for a poet laureate to memorialize the area's culture in poetry. The position pays a stipend of $4,000.
For the princely sum of $4,000, the poet appointed to the newly created post will be expected to "elevate poetry in the consciousness" of the area's residents, who include the hundreds of thousands of employees of some of the world's major high-tech companies.
The lucky incumbent will also be asked to "create, over time, a body of work that commemorates the rich and varied culture" of the county. A local wag raised a note of cynicism at the prospect, proposing the lines: "I think that I shall never see / A county lovely as a tree. / Indeed with all these shopping malls / trees are barely seen at all."
Unfortunately for the likes of Andrew Motion, who steps down from his position as the UK's poet laureate later this year, the role is only open to poets who have lived in sunny Santa Clara county for five years. For all those poets who do inhabit the area, applications, which are now open, must be received by 17 February, with the term of office to last from April 2009 to April 2011.
Robert Hass, former US poet laureate, welcomed the news. "Having poets around who are thinking about language, especially in places that have to do with communication and also with invention is a terrific idea," he told the Associated Press. "Poets are always trying to invent in all forms of language."
We all know that poetry writing doesn't pay a lot, but hey, poet larueate positions in the 21st century aren't easy to come by.
Potential poets laureate can find out more about the post at the Arts Council's website.
