A welcome challenge for Drury’s Poet Laureate

Hi everyone,

At the invitation of JOHN BEUERLEIN, Interim President of Drury University, I have agreed to write and present a poem on May 11 dedicated to the graduating class of 2024. The Honorable Roy Blunt, former U.S. Senator from Missouri (2011-2023, U.S. Congressman from Missouri (1997-2011), President of Southwest Baptist University (1992-1996, and Missouri Secretary of State (1985-1993) will give the commencement address. Blunt’s son, Governor MATT BLUNT (2005-2009, created the post of Missouri Poet Laureate.

The only other commencement ceremony I’ve participated in (other than my own in 1959) was in 2008, when I gave the commencement talk and received an honorary doctorate of letters. This Drury class is graduating during the university’s 150th anniversary celebration, a distinction they can remember with pride. I must do my best to do them, and the occasion, the honor they deserve.

I’m in the Drury Magazine

NOTE: Su Hutchens asked if I could post a link to this issue of Drury Magazine. I asked Rex Ybanez and he provided the following.

“This is what you want: https://www.drury.edu/mc/drury-magazine/ It’s going to show up at the top left-hand corner of the past issues further down the page.” Click on the picture and it takes you to the whole issue. You can scroll through by clicking on the arrows to right and left of the pages.

Hi everyone,

Over the weekend my alum copy of Drury Magazine arrived and I was delighted to see a 4-page article about me in it. The magazine is published for alumni and friends of the university twice each year. The title of this issue is “Drury University, Grand Be Thy Destiny” to mark the ongoing celebration of Drury’s 150th anniversary (1873–2023).

I’m grateful to Drury’s Writer & Editor, REX YBANEZ for proposing the article and writing it. He includes the poem I wrote 40 years ago for then-president, JOHN MOORE that prompted Dr. Moore to create the university’s first poet laureate post and name me to it. The article also includes the Missouri poem that I wrote as one of my duties as Missouri’s poet laureate. I was honored to read the poem recently in Drury’s famed Stone Chapel at another celebratory event.

More recently, as I have written here, it was my pleasure to accept Drury’s Interim President, JOHN BEUERLEIN, to remain at my post as Drury University Poet Laureate.

A terrific day

Hi everyone,

Today from noon – 1:00 p.m. I’ll be at Drury University in the Harwood Room in the Olin Library. The event is being hosted by Professor JO VAN ARKEL and her Poetry I and II students. An invitation was extended to the Drury community so perhaps others will attend. I would like that.

This is my first opportunity to do something since I accepted President JOHN BEUERLEIN’s invitation to resume duties as the university’s poet laureate. Today I will be reading from my work and answering questions about my writing life. Students will read poems for children from their semester’s work. I expect the hour to pass easily.

Later in the afternoon, SANDY and I will drive to Mansfield, Missouri to meet with our friend and noted author BILL ANDERSON. This evening Bill is receiving the Laura Ingalls Wilder Children’s Literature Award and I’ll have the honor and pleasure of introducing him.

I don’t expect to get much writing done today, but it’s going to be a terrific day.

Drury Poet Laureate

Hi everyone,

I’ve received a letter from Interim President of Drury University, JOHN BEUERLEIN, asking me to resume my post of Drury Poet Laureate. I was first appointed to that position in 1983 by then president JOHN MOORE (1983-2004). With each incoming president who followed, I tendered my resignation but was asked to continue to serve. That included presidents JOHN SELLERS (2005-2007), TODD PARNELL (2007-2013), and DAVID MANUEL (2013-2016). TIMOTHY CLOYD, (2016-2023) found no use for my services but never accepted my letter of resignation.

At the request of John Beuerlein, I will resume the post and there will be no recorded break in service since 1983. I’m delighted to accept this invitation and look forward to becoming more active again in the Drury community. I look forward to an upcoming meeting to take a re-energized look at the position and discuss ways in which I can serve my alma mater.

In the past, I’ve given presentations to visiting elementary, middle school, and high school students who were brought to campus for the programs, co-written a book about writing (which included a series of CDs and a teacher workbook) with Drury Professor of Education, LAUEN EDMONDSON, visited Drury English classes, conducted a two-day workshop on writing for children, created and hosted a program called Family Voices to encourage early literacy, was listed as an adjunct faculty member, and listed my affiliation with Drury in at least a dozen professional books and a number of presentations given at national conferences for teachers and librarians. There once was a spot about me on the Drury web. I don’t know if it’s still there.

Reading Missouri

Hi everyone,

I loved being part of Drury’s 150th anniversary activities yesterday. My thanks again to President JOHN BEUERLEIN and former president TODD PARNELL for inviting me to participate by reading my poem, “Missouri,” for the first time in public, a tradition of incoming state poet laureates. My thanks to KATHLEEN O’DELL for taking this picture.

Missouri
By David L Harrison

They asked a child,
“Why do you like Missouri?”
The child answered,
“I live here.
My friends live here.
I love Missouri.
It’s my home.”
It was a good answer.

They asked a student,
“Why do you like Missouri?”
The student answered,
“In school I learned,
the first people canoed Missouri waters,
cupped their hands at its springs,
drew bows in deer-high grass,
lived well off the land.”

The teacher said,
“Explorers came, wagons followed,
packed with bibles, fiddles, cooking pots.
Folks built cabins, churches, schools,
outposts, the seeds of towns.”

The farmer, voice soft as tilled soil,
said, “Missouri is dogwood trees,
front porches, barns, lakes.
It’s rows of corn whispering in river-rich earth,
cows in rolling pastures,
frogs at night singing to the moon.”

The business person said,
“Missouri is the heartbeat of many nations,
the confluence of cultures, 
sharing visions, growing together.”

The writer said, “It is original thinkers –
Truman, Carver, Benton, Twain.
It is serious fishermen, rabid fans,
the Show Me State, Missouri . . .”

They asked an older person,
“Why do you like Missouri?”
The older person answered,
“I live here.
My friends live here.
I love Missouri.
It’s my home.”
It was a very good answer.

(c) 2023 David L Harrison, all rights reserved