Every country needs a poet laureate

Can only see a country burned into the shape of words both beautiful and terrible - beautiful being the harmony of voices that are people and places -terrible being the dissonant roar that is the call of wild fire.

More than any other poet, the late Les Murray brought Australia to the world: a "whipcrack country of white cedar / and ruined tennis courts," home to "passionflower and beige-bellied wonga vine." However, as former American poet laureate, Joseph Brodsky, put it: "It would be as myopic to regard Mr Murray as an Australian poet as to call Yeats an Irishman. He is, quite simply, the one by whom the language lives."

No stranger to politics, Murray received an abundant array of honours, and his name was raised in connection with the Nobel Prize. Murray's many admirers deemed him to be Australia's ungarlanded poet laureate. However, an official poet laureate can do much more than an unofficial one.

Joseph Brodsky raised funds to place poetry in airports, supermarkets and hotel rooms. Andrew Motion worked with education authorities to ensure that poetry was prominent in British schools. Robert Pinsky created the "Favourite Poem" project, and Maxine Kumin ran poetry workshops for politicians. It's difficult to imagine any Australian politician attending a poetry workshop; familiarity with poetry is unlikely to help them win elections. Still, we might all be better off if our politicians were required to read Shelley's "Ozymandias;" they may gain some well-earned humility.

How?

There are many ways to select a poet laureate. In Britain, the Lord Chamberlain makes the appointment on behalf of the Queen, but everyone knows it's the prime minister that makes the choice. In contrast, the Librarian of Congress selects the American Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry (the official title). In making a choice, the librarian consults the staff of the library, former laureates, and distinguished poets. Members of the public can also offer nominations.

The American selection method provides a better model. It minimises political influence and allows anyone to be involved in the process. One-year terms permit many poets to serve, and the remuneration for the American poet laureate comes from a private donation, another way to ensure political independence.

Who?

In Shelley's words, the poet laureate should be one who can "measure the circumference and sound the depths of human nature with a comprehensive and all-penetrating spirit." An appointee has many constituencies, but the poet laureate's first loyalty must be to poetry itself. In "First Draft, Poet Laureate Oath of Office," Diane DiPrima, former poet laureate of San Francisco, put it this way:

It is the poem I serve
luminous through time
that celebration
of human breath.

In the age of money, when universities, museums, and orchestras routinely assess their worth in dollars and cents, poetry stands apart. For hundreds of years, a "floral" poetry contest has taken place in Barcelona. There are three prizes. The third-place poem receives a violet made of silver while the second is awarded a gold rose. The winner receives the Prize of Honour-a natural rose. Awarding a flower to the winner is a salutary reminder of Robert Graves' famous quip, "There's no money in poetry, but there's no poetry in money, either."

Les Murray once said that Aboriginal Australia "was ruled by poetry for tens of thousands of years." It's time for poetry to return to public life. Every country needs a poet laureate.