Fun_People Archive
2 Nov
WhiteBoardness - 11/1/96

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Sat,  2 Nov 96 13:25:20 -0800
To: Fun_People
Subject: WhiteBoardness - 11/1/96

Excerpted-from: WhiteBoard News for Friday, November 01, 1996

London, England:

A British student said he had been appointed poet laureate to a group of
South Pacific islanders after spotting their idyllic homeland in a magazine
at a dentist's waiting room.

Daniel Wilson wrote to the government of the Republic of Kiribati, a former
British protectorate of 33 islands used in the film "Mutiny on the Bounty,"
and was astonished to be offered the poetic post.

"The letter said they would be delighted to appoint me their national poet
as they do not have many of their own on the island. It also said they could
arrange to have a hut built for me when I arrive," he told the London Times.

His salary for penning odes to the islanders has still to be negotiated but
Wilson said: "Nothing will keep me from going there. I am already saving
for the fare."

He won over the islanders by penning a poem for them:

"I'd like to live in Kiribati
"I feel it is the country for me
"Writing poems for all the people
"Underneath a coconut tree."

© 1996 Peter Langston