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Keeping Up with Iowa’s Poet Laureate: Robert Dana
Recent
months have been busy for Robert Dana, Iowa’s Poet Laureate since 2003.
In early October, the Oak Hill Jackson neighborhood on Cedar Rapids’ southeast
side celebrated the new Poet’s Park, which features the Dana poem Lines
Written Between Dream and Sleep carved into a one-ton limestone welcome sign
at its entrance. Dana participated in the park dedication.
“I’m very honored,” Dana said. “Like any park, it’s green space. In this case, in a formerly blighted area. Like any park, it’s a place to sit and read or think or picnic or watch the passing parade, I suppose. Or in the afternoon or evening, to meet your lover, who knows?”
The park was designed as an oasis in the middle of an urban area, according
to Blair Gauntt, one of a group of residents who worked to 
create
the park. Four limestone benches, each bearing the name of an individual or organization
important to the neighborhood, serve as seating for visitors.
Dana has also recently produced a Poet Laureate seal as a marketing tool for use on his own publications and those produced by future state poets laureate.
“I thought the state should have a seal that the state laureates could place on the cover of their most recent book,” Dana said. “It’s would be a way to make the laureateship visible in the marketplace, as well as an advertising boost for the book.”
Although the elegant golden seal in its present form reflects the state of Iowa, Dana said the image can be altered to accommodate any state. His daughter, a former Iowan who works as a graphic designer in Chicago, designed the seal.
“This is a wonderfully simple way to bring attention to the importance poets laureate play for the states they represent,” said Mary Sundet Jones, IAC division administrator. “We’re pleased Robert has taken the initiative to produce these seals which will honor his contributions, and the contributions of those who follow.”
Robert Dana was born in 1929 and recently retired after 40 years as Poet-in-Residence
and Professor of English at Cornell College. Dana’s work has been awarded
two national Endowment Fellowships for poetry, one in 1985 and another in 1993.
He received the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Award from New York University
in 1989. His latest books are Summer and Yes, Everything, which,
he points out, are now available in the Coralville Mall Barnes & Noble for
the first time ever.
