George Bowering became Canada's poet laureate in November 2002.

"Get as lucky as I was to have someone who loves you and can do your scheduling," he says with a laugh, referring to his partner, Jean Baird.

"The most surprising part was how much attention people paid to (the position)."

In November, Bowering will finish his two-year term as Parliamentary Poet Laureate, a position that has involved a steady stream of poetry readings and other official engagements — with precious little time to write poetry.

After he steps down, the 68-year-old says, "I've got a lot of books to finish writing."

On March 24, Parliament began the search to find a new poet laureate. The job comes with a $12,000 stipend, and a $10,000 budget for travel and living expenses.

"Do you think I should run?" Bowering jokes. "I could tell them I got experience that nobody else has."

Bowering, who hails from the West Coast, has written more than 60 books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. He won the Governor General's Award twice. He's also been a professor at several Canadian universities, including Simon Fraser from 1972 to 2001.

But Bowering is unilingual and, this time around, the poet laureate will be someone who can write in French.

When the position was created in 2001 — the result of a private member's bill — the Speakers of the House of Commons and the Senate added a stipulation that it would alternate between poets who write in English and French.

At the time, there was also a debate about whether Canada even needed a poet laureate.

The role of a poet laureate

Jim Abbott, heritage critic for the Conservative Party, isn't sold on the idea.

"The jury is out," he says. "I am not opposed to there being a poet laureate. I am not convinced that there should be a poet laureate."

Abbott says he isn't aware of what Bowering has done as poet laureate, and adds that when it comes to his successor, "I would hope that the individual and their musings would be more visible."

Otherwise, he adds, "I'd be inclined to say, why are we bothering?"

To the question of why we need a poet laureate in Canada, Bowering quickly replies: "We don't need one."

There aren't many countries that have poets laureate, he points out.

"I think the main reason that it's good to have one is that we signal to other countries that we're a civilized place."

"The main thing is that it makes the country look good."

A history of state poets

England and the United States have a long history of having poet laureates on the payroll, and the British tradition, in particular, has seen poets writing verse for important occasions.

Robert Frost, who at one time was the American poet laureate, read a poem at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961. More recently, British poet laureate Andrew Motion wrote a rap poem on the occasion of Prince William's 21st birthday.

There is a long history of British and American poet laureates.

Brenda Carr Vellino, an associate professor in Carleton University's English department, says there is a certain official role for a poet laureate. For example, in the U.S., Maya Angelou read a poem at Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993.

"I certainly don't think George Bowering is interested in fulfilling that sort of official role," she says.

"My sense of him in general is that he would be more of a dissident voice, a gadfly — you know, poking at elements in the state, in the nation, and raising them up for questioning.

"I think that's potentially a role that the poet laureate can play — in being a kind of voice of conscience in the nation."

However, she adds, "historically, the poet laureate has been about not rocking the boat of the nation state."

Official poems

A few months after Bowering became the poet laureate, he drew media attention for contributing to an anthology of poems by other writers opposed to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

So far, Bowering has written a handful of poems for official purposes. Canada's poet laureate is not required to write poems on demand, but may do so if the spirit moves him or her.

The first poem Bowering ever wrote in his official capacity was for a class of Grade 4 students in Port Colborne, Ont., where he lives.

"They said, 'Will you write a poem on our school?' So I took out a piece of chalk and did," he says with a laugh.

He has also written freelance poems and introductions to books during his time in office. He is working on a book of prose about baseball.

Bowering says his main undertaking has been to put a "poem of the week" on his official website.

He has chosen 71 poems by lesser known Canadian authors to display on the site ("Poems that I liked," he says) and paid each author $100.

Bowering says there were other things he wanted to accomplish, notably a book of high school student's poetry. But arranging things through the government has been slow, he says, and he doesn't have a big budget to work with.

The search for a poet

His position falls under the auspices of the Library of Parliament. In the week following the open call to find a new poet, Guylaine Rondeau, the library's executive assistant, says she received three nominations by e-mail. In the original call for a Canadian poet laureate, a total of 35 nominations were received.

The deadline for nominations is June 14, and prospective poets will be reviewed by a five-member selection committee that includes author Roch Carrier, the National Librarian. The list of nominees will be narrowed to a shortlist of three.

From there, the final decision will be made by the Speaker of the House and the Speaker of the Senate, likely in the early fall, before Bowering's term expires.

Bowering says he hopes his successor will continue the "poem of the week" initiative.

"I'm hoping that he or she will keep it going, because there's a lot of poets in the country. I'm sure willing to leave a list of suggestions, that's for sure."

Senator Jerry Grafstein introduced the bill that established the position of the Parliamentary Poet Laureate.

"Poetry, in my view, is the true historian of the ages," he says. "I think we've lost sight of the core canon that kept us together."

He says he created the bill as a millennium project. "I thought the most dire need in Parliament was to elevate the public dialogue."

Grafstein says that Bowering, on the whole, has been very well received as poet laureate. But he adds the true test of the position will be what the collage of Parliamentary Poet Laureates looks like in years to come.

"Each will have their own style and way of promoting poetry in Parliament and in Canada."

Related Links Official website of Canada's poet laureate United States poet laureate Poem by British poet laureate Andrew Motion