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Well, we've finally crowned a new poet laureate. Gov. Kathleen Blanco apparently made the appointment back in November, but I've only been aware of the announcement since late March when the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities formally recognized it. You'd think they'd make a bigger deal about something that unites the state in promoting literacy and education, but who am I to say?

A laureate, by definition is a person honored for achieving distinction in a particular field. So who is this distinguished person so lauded in the local landscape of poetry, you ask? His name is Dr. Darrell Bourque, and he succeeds Brenda Marie Osbey, who served this state in that stead with dignity and grace. I will never forget her words of remembrance as we looked back in 2006 on the year that brought Katrina to our shores.

Dr. Bourque will present a reading of his poetry at the Louisiana State Library tonight, April 30 at 6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested. RSVP to registration@state.lib.la.us.

I'm not particularly fond of reading poetry. I prefer to escape with a good biography or Victorian classic, perhaps even a gossip magazine now and then. I do have several collections of poetry that find their way into my hands. I'm particularly fond of Walt Whitman, Shel Silverstein, John Keats and Edgar Allan Poe, but other than The Southern Review or the random poems cleverly placed among the articles in The New Yorker, I don't read much by modern poets.

It's not that I'm old-fashioned. I just don't understand the approach. The words seem like jumbled amalgamations on the page. Many fail to exercise the rules of classic poetry using forms and conventions to expound on meaning and applying simile and metaphor to make connections. Call me a nerd, but I get all geeked out by the use of literary devices like alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia. Don't even get me started on iambic pentameter. Beyond the sonnets and rhyming couplets I studied in high school English, I have a lot to learn about poetry, I guess.

Imagine my surprise when I read an e-mail in my inbox this morning from LSU Press claiming this to be National Poetry Month. In honor of this distinction they are offering a 20% discount on your entire order. Check out their new and recent poetry section here. Use the code 04POET081 when checking out. I think I'm going to hit them up and check it out. Maybe I can even get a slightly bruised copy of Claudia Emerson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Late Wife at the Hurt Book Sale next Friday and Saturday. Check out details here. It's a pretty sweet deal.