You may not know we lucky Cyberians can lay claim to our very own Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere thanks entirely to Billy Jones (a.k.a. Poet Laureate Of North America™); but, now that you do, Billy genuinely hopes as many Canadians as possible — and other nationalities, too, natch — will park their browsers at the 'site he maintains for the competition he oversees, The Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere (until the nomination period ends April 15).

Then? The voting commences (but concludes on the 29th for the grand announcement of this year's Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere the following day)! I already nominated *my choice* (and I heartily encourage all interested parties to likewise participate in this exciting event). The complete set of rules and regs, prominently displayed on the Official Nomination Page, provides the guidelines for *your choice*; but, most importantly, IMO? The Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere must actually publish their own poetry on (or in) their blog; thus, someone such as yours truly, for example, cannot be nominated since publishing my poetry here ain't part of the job descrip; I just deliver all the po-news that stays news :).

Still, when I visited Billy's going concern, the sheer scope and reach of his several many enterprises intrigued me to the point I looked him up and tracked him down at his "day job" — He's the GM of a recycling centre, Salvage America (which also includes a recycling search engine since, as he tells me, "When I'm not writing poetry, I'm trying to green the Earth and feed the hungry from our gardens as well as donating 100% of my book sales to green causes" — to do what I do best: Get nosey to bring you, Dear IOWers, all the aforementioned Po-Newz Fitz-to-Print, of course. To that end, I dived right in and asked him right off the top about this terrific versificator-regis venture which has featured some of the finest poets in both the virtual and real worlds, Ron Silliman, Amy King, Tony Brown and Jilly Dybka among them:

"I have no life — no wife, no steady gal; and, sometimes, I answer e-mail and blog. When I first considered the idea, I had thousands of readers and many were telling me I was the only blogging poet; but, I knew better and thought I should take the time to tell my readers who they were. It also bothered me that none of our national poet laureates is appointed with any input from the millions of poetry lovers in our respective nations. It's my hope these laureates will use their 15 minutes to make other blogging poets become better known. So far, they've made good use of their fame. And, if it gets them a book deal or some publicity then I hope they'll buy me a cup of coffee when their book tours bring them to Greensboro, NC. Stipend? Haha. Well, I'll buy their lunch when they hitchhike through town; but, that's basically it or, to put it plainly (which I prefer), I decided to take matters into my own hands as I so often do."

Hrm . . . Yes, I can see that from the fabulous pic of you holding them weapons, Billy; what exactly are they and why do you so proudly display them?

"The rifle is a Marlin 30-30 lever action that has never been fired and goes up in value every day I keep it virgin. Being that I won it on a $2 raffle ticket over 20 years ago, I'd say it was one of the best investments I've ever made. The revolver in my belt is a replica hog leg .44 black-powder pistol that is lots of fun to shoot but really out-dated as far as weapons go. If some of your readers don't like guns I sympathize but living where I do or even working in a huge cash business requires I carry a weapon all the time. These crack-heads and thugs around here will happily kill you after you give up the cash. I do have a permit to carry a concealed weapon so I guess that makes me rather anomalous because . . . I am a Liberal."

A Liberal with a virgin Marlin 30-30 lever action, eh? And, single? And, you've lost weight and grown your gorgeous grey hair even longer and you used to ride a raked-back '78.5 Harley-Davidson Superglide . . . (Swoon.) . . . Never mind. (Nope. This ain't about "mind" at all.) . . . Where were we? Right! Hey, I read on your 'site your mom kinda worries about you and what you do, writing and blogging and such. Now you're gainfully employed, has her opinion changed?

"Momma has learned her oldest boy is a little off his rocker; but, I keep the thugs chased away from her home so she puts up with me. I've been living with my mother since Daddy died almost six years ago — not because I can't do better but because, in our neighbourhood, little old ladies living alone become targets quite quickly. America, land of the free-to-be-a-prisoner in your own home. Besides, my brothers all still have children and grandchildren still living at home."

I'm truly sorry about your father, Billy; and, I hear you, I lost both my parents within five years of each other in the first half of this decade. Grief's a bitch. Ain't no two ways about it. Interesting, too, you describe America the way you do. Here, in Canada, I have coined a variation on your notion, BION: We are free to do as we are told. I think we're copacetic. If I ever hitchhike through Greensboro, NC, I hope you'll take yours truly for a coffee, too, even though I will never be yer Yoko Ono, er, eligible to become one highly prized Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere. And? Even if you decline my invitation, I hope you will accept my grateful thanks which include, as I said (bribing you earlier to participate), the rare designation of being named an Honourary FitzCanadian™ (IOW Division).

"Oh, being an Honourary FitzCanadian™ sounds cool! I've been to Canada many times . . . was once featured on the Discovery Canada Channel along with my streetplane and my rooster, Gus, because the PTB saw this video . . . Oh, back to the day job . . . but, thanks!"

<*BEAM*>

p.s. Billy (born on Canada Day, BTW) later sent me a link to show me the machine he's currently riding, explaining "they're not as cool as a Superglide but they do get 180-200 miles per gallon." Sigh . . . Sorry, gotta go check this out to see how many miles to the gallon to Babylon; but, NOT before I encourage you to nominate and vote for the Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere (and convince Billy he's the catz jammies or not off his rocker at all, whichever comes first to um, er, ah, mind :))

(Hat tips, PetSco and PoLo!)

FWIW: The Bloor/Gladstone Public Library opens its doors this afternoon @ 5:30 for the launch of the inaugural issue of Roots to Branches from Sister Writes, a unique workshop for disadvantaged dames led by Lauren Kirshner (Where We Have to Go).

KUDOS! According to The Associated Press, "Harryette Mullen has won a $50,000 Jackson Poetry Prize for being a poet of 'exceptional talent who deserves wider recognition.'" (Could not have said it more succinctly myself.) Yay! Way! (Bet you dollars to doowaps Susan Holbrook is jes' over the moon about this grand news!)

COMIN' 'N' COHEN: "For the first time in Montréal, the Galerie Lounge TD has the great privilege of presenting the visual artworks of Leonard Cohen [until May 9]. Poet, novelist and singer-songwriter, for four decades this Montréal prodigy has been captivating the world over with his powerful lyrics, timeless melodies and enveloping voice. . . ."