Derbyshire on New Jersey’s official poet

Sent by reader Paul Henri, here is John Derbyshire’s 2002 article on New Jersey’s new poet laureate of that year, Amiri Baraka, a.k.a. Leroi Jones.

A sample:

The cultural panjandrums of New Jersey are not, I hasten to add, the only people in awe of Mr. Baraka’s shimmering talent. The American Academy of Arts and Letters described him as “one of the most important African-American poets since Langston Hughes” when they inducted him last year. Never to be caught napping on any matter of high cultural import, the New York Times chimed in with an editorial calling him “a powerful and respected poet.”

What kind of verses does he turn out for his ten grand, this Trenton troubadour, this Hackensack Homer, this companion-in-arms of Chaucer, Milton, Poe, and Longfellow? Read and savor.

Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed
Who told 4000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers
To stay home that day
Why did Sharon stay away?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 08, 2012 10:35 PM | Send