Home to a poem.

• Position: TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS

Blessings be with them, and eternal praise, Who gave us nobler loves, and nobler cares! The Poets, who on earth have made us heirs Of truth and pure delight by heavenly lays. --WILLIAM WORDS WORTH (ENGLAND' POET LAUREATE 1843-1850) A poet laureate is officially appointed by a government and often expected to compose poems for government events. Thirty-eight states currently have one.

State Poet Laureate Alabama Sue Walker Alaska Jerah Chadwick Arizona No position Arkansas Peggy Vining California Al Young Colorado Mary Crow Connecticut Marilyn Nelson Delaware Fleda Brown Florida Edmund Skellings Georgia David Bottoms Hawaii No position Idaho Kim Barnes Illinois Kevin Stein Indiana Unofficial: Carol Ogdon Floyd Official: Joyce Brinkman Iowa Robert Dana Kansas Jonathan Holden Kentucky Jane Gentry Vance Louisiana Brenda Marie Osbey Maine Betsy Sholl Maryland Michael S. Glaser Massachusetts No position Michigan No position...