Poet Laureate

Former state poet laureate Lucille Clifton, a National Book Award winner whose work was lauded for its "moral quality," died Saturday at Johns Hopkins Hospital after a long battle with cancer and other illnesses. She was 73. With a mix of profundity, earthiness and humor - amply evident in her 11 books of poetry - Ms. Clifton often defied conventional notions of poetic expression, but in many ways her themes were traditional, Wallace R. Peppers wrote in the Dictionary of Literary Biography.

A new book celebrates the career of former Maryland poet laureate Lucille Clifton , including her thoughts on topics from Sunday dinner to cancer, her hips to racism. In the Baltimore Sun, Mary McCauley highlights “The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton, 1965-2010,” which includes a foreword by Toni Morrison. McCauley offers a Q&A with poet Michael Glaser, who co-edited the book with Kevin Young, curator of the Emory University archives where Clifton's papers are held.

Americans have an ambivalent relationship to their poets. We revere our native bards for their seriousness of purpose and depth of expression. Yet most people would rather listen to Top 40s hits than an evening's recital of verse. Poetry isn't the stuff of pop idols and media celebrities.Rita Dove, the 40-year-old University of Virginia poetry professor named national poet laureate Tuesday, hopes to make a difference in how her fellow Americans view her art. Ms. Dove, who won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for "Thomas and Beulah," recently said too many young people today view success solely in materialistic terms, ignoring artistic and intellectual achievement.

Former Maryland poet laureate Lucille Clifton was a former "Jeopardy" champion who used a Ouija board to communicate with her dead mother. She was a survivor of childhood sexual abuse who as an adult unabashedly celebrated her physical self. And in the newly released, 720-page volume of her collected poems, Clifton writes about cancer and racism and motherhood and her hips. "The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton, 1965-2010" includes a foreword by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison.

After five years of bringing poetry to all corners of the state, Roland Flint will step down on Wednesday from his position as Maryland state poet laureate. "As I said in my letter to the governor, when I took the position, I agreed to visit public schools in all 23 counties and in Baltimore City, and I've done that," he says. (Flint hasn't yet received a response from the governor's office.) Flint, 66, taught poetry at Georgetown University for 29 years. He spent much of his tenure as poet laureate working with Maryland public school students.

Michael Collier, a Catonsville poet who directs the creative writing program at the University of Maryland, College Park, has been named the state's poet laureate. In making the selection, Gov. Parris N. Glendening called Collier "one of Maryland's treasures, a distinguished scholar who is respected by his peers, his students, and the public for the richness of his craft." Collier, 47, has headed the acclaimed Bread Loaf Writers Conference in Ripton, Vt., since 1994. His latest collection of poems, "The Ledge," is a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Growing up in rural Iowa, Mona Van Duyn wrote her poetry in secret, never showing it to parents, friends or teachers."I wished to be a normal child; I didn't want to be thought of as some kind of oddity," Ms. Van Duyn, 71, the current poet laureate of the United States, said last night.Although she's never shown those early poems to anyone, her other works have brought her international acclaim and nearly every major literary prize, including a Pulitzer in 1991 for her book of poems "Near Changes."

SELECTED POEMS. By Rita Dove. Random House. 210 pages, paperback. $12.THROUGH THE IVORY GATE. By Rita Dove. Random House. 278 pages, paperback. $11.MAYBE I don't understand the concept of "selected poems." I went through the table of contents of "Selected Poems," by U.S. poet laureate Rita Dove (the first African American and, at 41, youngest to be named to the position), and I was confused. I saw the poems from "The Yellow House on the Corner," her first collection published in 1980. I saw the poems from "Museum," published in 1983.

Dr. Roland Flint, the former Maryland poet laureate whose lyrical reminiscences of ordinary events - such as the taste of a salty oyster - earned him wide acclaim, died Tuesday of cancer at his Kensington home. He was 66. Dr. Flint was appointed poet laureate in 1995 and resigned in October because of health problems. "The real reason is, I just thought I had served long enough. It's an honorary post, and why not let someone else have a chance?" he told The Sun at the time. From 1968 until he retired in 1997, he taught creative writing and literature at Georgetown University in Washington.

Loretta Jean Skibbe, former Baltimore Poet Laureate who was an internationally recognized poet and writer, died Sunday of cancer at a hospital in Naples, Fla. The former Towson resident was 67.Mrs. Skibbe, who had lived in Marco Island, Fla., for the past five years, was honored as the International Woman of 1975 with Laureate Honors in connection with the International Women's Year.She received the honor, given by Imelda Marcos and presented by then-Mayor William Donald Schaefer, for her role in modern society and her ability to lead the life of a woman, wife, mother and professional woman.

As admirers and friends of Lucille Clifton, a former poet laureate of Maryland, continued to mourn her passing, plans were completed Tuesday for a pair of memorial services in her honor - one for family and close friends, the other for the public. The first gathering will be held at noon Thursday at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center in Columbia, the town that Clifton, a native of upstate New York, had adopted as her home many years ago. The public memorial is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. April 10 in Montgomery Hall on the campus of St. Mary's College of Maryland on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, where Clifton had been a member of the faculty from 1989 until she retired in 2007.

As admirers and friends of the late Lucille Clifton, a former poet laureate of Maryland, continued to mourn her passing, plans were finalized Tuesday for a pair of memorial services in her honor -- one for family and close friends, the other for the public. The first gathering will be held at noon Thursday at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center in Columbia, the town that Clifton, a native of upstate New York, had adopted as her home many years ago. The public memorial is scheduled for April 10, at 7:30 p.m., in Montgomery Hall on the campus of St. Mary's College of Maryland on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, where Clifton had been a member of the faculty from 1989 until she retired in 2007.

Former state poet laureate Lucille Clifton, a National Book Award winner whose work was lauded for its "moral quality," died Saturday at Johns Hopkins Hospital after a long battle with cancer and other illnesses. She was 73. With a mix of profundity, earthiness and humor - amply evident in her 11 books of poetry - Ms. Clifton often defied conventional notions of poetic expression, but in many ways her themes were traditional, Wallace R. Peppers wrote in the Dictionary of Literary Biography.

Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Thursday the appointment of Stanley Plumly to be Maryland's ninth poet laureate, an honorary position that entails staging public readings around the state. Plumly, 70, founded the master of fine arts program in creative writing at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he's a professor. He is the author of nine books of poetry, including "Old Heart," which won the Los Angeles Times Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Most recently, he wrote "Posthumous Keats," a "personal biography" of poet John Keats.

The poet laureate of Maryland, scheduled to attend a launch party for the third issue of Little Patuxent Review, had to cancel because of a collapsed lung. But the party will go on. From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Howard County Conservancy, poets will read their works as they appear in the magazine, and refreshments will be served. "It's a lovely and spirited magazine," said Michael S. Glaser, the state's poet laureate since 2004, who said he was disappointed that he will not be able to attend.

The Glenelg High School Jazz Ensemble will perform at 7 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Glenwood Community Center, 2400 Route 97, Cooksville. The ensemble has received more than 60 awards over the past 10 years, including the highest rating at the Maryland State Jazz Festival, and has performed with guests such as Maynard Ferguson, the Count Basie Orchestra, Carl Fischer, Chris Vadala, Deanna Bogart and others. Admission is free (tickets are not required), but donations are welcomed. Information: 410-313-4840.

According to Mona Van Duyn, love and art hold and keep things, while time takes them away. Art, she says, is beautifully patient. Time, however, is full of urgency. ''Dear reader,'' time insists, there is nothing immortal about us. ''We must move. . . . We must care right away!''Winner of all the major literary prizes, including the Bollingen Prize, the National Book Award and the 1991 Pulitzer Prize, Mona Van Duyn has been named Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for the Library of Congress.

An alien with an infectious form of tuberculosis shows that border control is not merely an economic or national security issue. It's a medical emergency bringing new meaning to the phrase "yearning to breathe free." Francisco Santos, 17, an alien of undetermined status, walked into the emergency room of the Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, Ga., last Friday with symptoms of what was diagnosed as a case of active, contagious tuberculosis. At first, Mr. Santos, who listed his birthplace as Mexico, refused treatment and threatened to walk out and head back to his home country.