Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Nevada's Poet Laureate?

When I bought groceries today, the cashier said to a person ahead of me, "One of our customers keeps winning scratch [lottery] games. He said he's not a compulsive gambler. I told him, 'Neither am I. Do you want to bet on it?'" --Waggish humor as one purchases victuals: a good thing.

But it made me wonder if the State of Nevada has a Poet Laureate. Answer: no. The position is vacant. In case anyone from Nevada happens to be reading this, I'm available. My qualifications are that I'm a poet and that I grew up not far (as the crow flies) from Nevada. One of my favorite towns is Reno. I'd be glad to write poems about Nevada, which put the "Nevada" in Sierra Nevada, or something like that.

Apparently the last Poet Laureate from Nevada served for over a decade but left office in 1976 (?). His name is Norman Kaye. What I found on amazon.com by Mr. Kaye is The Nevada Songbook, published by Vic Vegas Publishing. How great is that publisher's name?

Goodnight, Vic Vegas, wherever you are.

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