Outrageous: Missouri and its search for a genteel poet

This is utterly ridiculous!  Check out this article about Missouri's Governor and his "application for the post [of poet laureate, which] includes questions asking an applicant whether there’s anything in his or her background that could embarrass the governor." 

Um....if you're a poet who hasn't written ANYTHING at some point that's able to embarrass a Missouri governor, then you've probably not written anything all that worth reading.
 
Carl Phillips declined to apply!  Good for him!  Puh-lease.  He was nicer than most would have been, I suspect.

I refuse to be considered as a candidate because I believe in being completely open,” he said. “I’m open about being gay, and I’ve no interest in anything that compromises that kind of honesty. My work is known for being quite controversial in terms of writing about sex and morality, and I would imagine that would not be palatable to the governor.”

The part of the article I most love is a former poet laureate who did NOT have to fill out a similar application but did have to reveal if there 'was anything the governor [at that time] should know about.'  His repsonse: "Bargen told them, “I grew up in the ’60s,” and that he once used the word “nipple” in a poem. "  Call the police!  He said "nipple"!

More...

"I don’t think I’m in any position to judge anybody when it comes to personal life,” said Kevin Prufer of Warrensburg, a poet and editor of Pleiades: A Journal of New Writing. Kris Kleindienst, co-owner of Left Bank Books in St. Louis, said she understands the purpose of the application questions but admitted it seemed “funny when applying them to a poet.”


Literary history is laced with controversial poets, including Missouri-born writers Samuel Clemens and Maya Angelou, both of whom have had books banned in libraries and schools.