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Senior Coordinator at MU's Assessment Resource CenterMeet Missouri’s Poet Laureate
College of Ed alum spends his free time as a wordsmith
By day, Walter Bargen is a senior account coordinator at the College of Education’s Assessment Resource Center. He spends much of his time in contact with Missouri school administrators who purchase standardized tests or grading services from ARC, particularly in the spring when schools go through end-of-course testing. His busy schedule got even busier when Governor Blunt appointed him as the state’s first official poet laureate in early January 2008.The Ashland resident received nominations from several different sources, including Today’s Farmer magazine, for which he has written short poems for two decades. Bargen has been writing poetry for 40 years and has published a dozen books of his work. His latest is due out in a few weeks.
Bargen graduated from Mizzou in 1970 with an undergraduate degree in philosophy and received earned a Master’s in English Education from MU’s College of Education in 1990.
When he began, he made a point of writing every single day. That standard has loosened over the years, but he still likes to write at least once a week or more.
“I think there’s a point where you develop a certain confidence in your writing, but I’m also fueled by doubt,” he says. “I can’t relax too regularly.”
Public Speaking
Gov. Blunt created the position through executive order to help promote the arts in Missouri and to encourage Missourians to learn more about the many cultural opportunities available in the state.
One of the original duties of the appointment was to speak at six public events each year. Blue ink covers the calendar on his office wall and shows just how easily he met that obligation. April was particularly busy because it is National Poetry Month.
“In the past two months, I’ve probably read at 25 presentations,” Bargen says. “And that doesn’t include interviews or photo shoots.”
Many of Bargen’s public appearances include readings of his own work. He also recently spoke to the Boone and Cooper County Historical Societies, on separate occasions, about poetry as a means of conveying historical events. Ancient Greece and Greek mythology are two topics he has used in the past; his poems focus on personal stories rather than the numbers and dry chronologies found in most historical accounts.
Last month, Bargen gave a video conference on poetry that was broadcast through MoreNet and available to any high school in the state. After a short talk, Bargen answered questions from students at the 12 schools that participated.
The publicity that comes with the two-year appointment keeps him busy, but Missouri’s Poet Laureate is enjoying the chance to highlight his chosen genre.
“There’s a quote I’ve used fairly frequently from Octavio Paz, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, that says that in the past, poetry was in the center of society, and as it got pushed to the outside, the best of humanity was also exiled,” Bargen says.
“I hope this brings poetry back to centrality in society.”
To read samples of Bargen’s poetry, visit his website.