Kein Gedicht für Condoleezza Rice

31 „gekrönte“ oder auch Staatsdichter amtieren zur Zeit in US-Bundesstaaten, und 14 davon plus 2 Emeriti trafen sich in Manchester, New Hampshire, zu einem Treffen über Poesie und Politik, berichtet die New York Times am 28.4.03:

„I’m finding this event curiously nonpolitical,“ [one] woman said. „Martin Luther King didn’t just spout poetry and racism was finished.“

Mr. Woiwode countered that poetry was crucially inspirational. The American Indians living near him in North Dakota „get stirred up when Martin Luther King is heard,“ he said. Another questioner wondered, „I want to know how to get a poem to Condoleezza Rice?“ No one had an answer.