Poet Laureate

Librarian of Congress Appoints Charles Simic Poet Laureate

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has announced the appointment of Charles Simic to be the Library’s 15th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. Simic will take up his duties in the fall, opening the Library’s annual literary series on Oct. 17 with a reading of his work. He also will be a featured speaker at the Library of Congress National Book Festival in the Poetry pavilion on Saturday, Sept. 29, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

He has written essays; critical reviews; a biography on surrealist sculptor and artist Joseph Cornell, Dime-Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell; and 13 translations from Eastern European works.

. . . from L A Times: Aug 3, 2007
"I am especially touched and honored to be selected because I am an immigrant boy who didn't speak English until I was 15," he said.

Simic's first collection, "What the Grass Says," was published in 1967. It was noted for its surrealist poems.Simic is known for short, clear poems.

His poem "Stone" often appears in anthologies. It begins: "Go inside a stone / That would be my way. / Let somebody else become a dove / Or gnash with a tiger's tooth. / I am happy to be a stone. . . .

. . . an interview in the Courtland Review

@ Your Local Library: CalCat or WorldCat

The Voice at 3:00 a.m.: selected late & new poems
Harcourt, 2003
ISBN: 0151008426

Memory Piano
Univ of Michigan Press, 2006
ISBN: 047209940X