A new Poet Laureate
17/11/15 05:35
If you were to poll the citizens of South Dakota, I suspect that not many of us would be able to tell you much about David Allan Evans. I don’t know much. Evans is an English professor at South Dakota State University. His collegiate career began by his distinguishing himself at football. He earned football scholarships to Morningside College and the University of Iowa. The University of Iowa is a good place for writers of English to develop their skills and Evans developed a talent for creative writing. Later he earned a M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Arkansas.
I don’t expect my fellow citizens to know all of the professors in our university system, but in addition to his other accomplishments, Evans served as our state’s poet laureate from 2002 through September this year. He could have continued to serve, but offered his resignation in order to provide an opportunity for other poets to serve in the position.
David Allan Evans was preceded in the post by Audrae Visser, who served as our state’s Pot Laureate from 1974 to 2001. It seems to be a position that people keep for a number of years.
Ask a South Dakotan about the position of Poet Laureate, and they are unlikely to be able to name a single person who has served in that position. Those who can, are most likely to name Badger Clark. Clark, the son of a minister born in 1883, wrote “A Cowboy’s Prayer.” It has to be one of the most famous cowboy poems. I’ve been asked to read it at a number of funerals.
Badger Clark served as South Dakota Poet Laureate for only one year, 1937.
That’s it. From 1939 to 1973 there were two others who served in the position of Poet Laureate, but they are little remembered by the folks here. Maybe those were lean years for poets in our state. More likely, because the Poet Laureate is appointed by the governor and serves at the pleasure of the governor, we had a run of governors for whom poetry wasn’t a priority.
That gives us reason to celebrate because in July we got a new Poet Laureate, our fourth.
Lee Ann Roripaugh is Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at the University of South Dakota. She is author of four volumes of poetry, the most recent of which, “Dandarians,” was published just over a year ago.
Roripaugh is the daughter of poet Robert Roripaugh, so grew up with an appreciation for language and the power of words. In her young adult years, however, the Wyoming native pursued a music career, earning her BM in piano performance and her MM in music history. Her studies at Indiana University in Bloomington formed the foundation of her career in English and poetry.
Her book, “Beyond Heart Mountain,” published in 1999 and finalist for the 2000 Asian American Literary Awards, Roripaugh explores her Asian-American roots. A second-generation Asian American, she knows how the history of our country shapes lives in the present.
Located between Cody and Powell, Wyoming, the Hart Mountain War Relocation Center was one of ten concentration camps used for the internment of Japanese Americans evicted from the West Coast Exclusion Zone during World War II. At its peak, the camp had a population of 10,767 Japanese Americans, making it the state’s third largest city. A total of nearly 14,000 people spent some time at the camp in its three-year history. The site of the camp is now home to a museum that is dedicated to preserving the history of the Center. The museum and its exhibits stands as a powerful reminder of the tragic consequences of wartime over reaction to fear. The website for the Hart Mountain Interpretive Center speaks of the continuing effort “to remind the Nation about the importance of tolerance and the need to balance our concern for national security with a commitment to protect the basic rights of all of our citizens.”
It is a lesson we need to continue to learn.
The selection of Roripaugh as our state’s sixth Poet Laureate is important in several ways. It is important because she is one of the voices that reminds us not to forget our past as a nation and as a state. A life-long resident of our region, she understands the west from a perspective that is not often recognized. More importantly, her appointment is important because it speaks of our future as a complex culture with many different participants and perspectives.
We are the state of Badger Clark, even though he learned much of his cowboy skills and much of the language of herding cattle from his experiences on the U.S. Mexico border. We are also the state of Lee Ann Roripaugh.
I came to poetry as an element in my personal reading rather late in life. When I was a student, I didn’t read much creative writing at all. One of the things that began to open my attention to a broader range of literature was reading the novels of Elie Wiesel. His ability to craft stories that wrestled with deep truth and a part of the human story that must never be forgotten, demonstrated to me how important words are as tools not only for listing facts, but for exploring deeper realities of life.
Still, I read very little poetry in those days. I think that the pace of my living and my reading was a bit too intense for poetry. It takes time to read and appreciate poetry. Rushing through a book of poetry just to reach the end invites one to miss the meaning that lies in each individual offering. Maturing and learning to slow down were required of me before I began to acquire the skills of appreciating poetry.
Just as I have grown up, it seems that the appointment of our new Poet Laureate is a sign that our state is growing in maturity as well.
Perhaps, if we read enough poetry together, we will mature as a state and as a people.
I don’t expect my fellow citizens to know all of the professors in our university system, but in addition to his other accomplishments, Evans served as our state’s poet laureate from 2002 through September this year. He could have continued to serve, but offered his resignation in order to provide an opportunity for other poets to serve in the position.
David Allan Evans was preceded in the post by Audrae Visser, who served as our state’s Pot Laureate from 1974 to 2001. It seems to be a position that people keep for a number of years.
Ask a South Dakotan about the position of Poet Laureate, and they are unlikely to be able to name a single person who has served in that position. Those who can, are most likely to name Badger Clark. Clark, the son of a minister born in 1883, wrote “A Cowboy’s Prayer.” It has to be one of the most famous cowboy poems. I’ve been asked to read it at a number of funerals.
Badger Clark served as South Dakota Poet Laureate for only one year, 1937.
That’s it. From 1939 to 1973 there were two others who served in the position of Poet Laureate, but they are little remembered by the folks here. Maybe those were lean years for poets in our state. More likely, because the Poet Laureate is appointed by the governor and serves at the pleasure of the governor, we had a run of governors for whom poetry wasn’t a priority.
That gives us reason to celebrate because in July we got a new Poet Laureate, our fourth.
Lee Ann Roripaugh is Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at the University of South Dakota. She is author of four volumes of poetry, the most recent of which, “Dandarians,” was published just over a year ago.
Roripaugh is the daughter of poet Robert Roripaugh, so grew up with an appreciation for language and the power of words. In her young adult years, however, the Wyoming native pursued a music career, earning her BM in piano performance and her MM in music history. Her studies at Indiana University in Bloomington formed the foundation of her career in English and poetry.
Her book, “Beyond Heart Mountain,” published in 1999 and finalist for the 2000 Asian American Literary Awards, Roripaugh explores her Asian-American roots. A second-generation Asian American, she knows how the history of our country shapes lives in the present.
Located between Cody and Powell, Wyoming, the Hart Mountain War Relocation Center was one of ten concentration camps used for the internment of Japanese Americans evicted from the West Coast Exclusion Zone during World War II. At its peak, the camp had a population of 10,767 Japanese Americans, making it the state’s third largest city. A total of nearly 14,000 people spent some time at the camp in its three-year history. The site of the camp is now home to a museum that is dedicated to preserving the history of the Center. The museum and its exhibits stands as a powerful reminder of the tragic consequences of wartime over reaction to fear. The website for the Hart Mountain Interpretive Center speaks of the continuing effort “to remind the Nation about the importance of tolerance and the need to balance our concern for national security with a commitment to protect the basic rights of all of our citizens.”
It is a lesson we need to continue to learn.
The selection of Roripaugh as our state’s sixth Poet Laureate is important in several ways. It is important because she is one of the voices that reminds us not to forget our past as a nation and as a state. A life-long resident of our region, she understands the west from a perspective that is not often recognized. More importantly, her appointment is important because it speaks of our future as a complex culture with many different participants and perspectives.
We are the state of Badger Clark, even though he learned much of his cowboy skills and much of the language of herding cattle from his experiences on the U.S. Mexico border. We are also the state of Lee Ann Roripaugh.
I came to poetry as an element in my personal reading rather late in life. When I was a student, I didn’t read much creative writing at all. One of the things that began to open my attention to a broader range of literature was reading the novels of Elie Wiesel. His ability to craft stories that wrestled with deep truth and a part of the human story that must never be forgotten, demonstrated to me how important words are as tools not only for listing facts, but for exploring deeper realities of life.
Still, I read very little poetry in those days. I think that the pace of my living and my reading was a bit too intense for poetry. It takes time to read and appreciate poetry. Rushing through a book of poetry just to reach the end invites one to miss the meaning that lies in each individual offering. Maturing and learning to slow down were required of me before I began to acquire the skills of appreciating poetry.
Just as I have grown up, it seems that the appointment of our new Poet Laureate is a sign that our state is growing in maturity as well.
Perhaps, if we read enough poetry together, we will mature as a state and as a people.