Poet Charles Wright, 79, delivered his inaugural reading at the Library of Congress Thursday night, launching his year as U.S. poet laureate. He was appointed to the loosely defined position by Librarian of Congress James Billington. Born in Pickwick Dam, Tenn., Wright, a retired professor at the University of Virginia, has won about every honor given to poets, from the Pulitzer Prize to the National Book Award. Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Some of your predecessors as poet laureate have pushed projects during their one-year tenure. Do you have a plan?
A: I’m not a project-meister. I probably don’t have a project except to do what I’m asked to do as well as I can, and then to sit still and let the old people be admired.
Q: Did any of your predecessors give you advice?
Robert Pinsky wrote me a little card and the last line was, ‘Charles, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.’ … Rita (Dove) was the first of that group of really active poet laureates who were so good, Rita and Billy Collins and Pinsky and all those people. But they were all young and vibrant, and I’m old and vibrant. So I’m just going to sit here and vibrate and not do a thing.
Click here for more information.
Links:
