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The scholarship, established in memory of the late actor David Coleman Dukes, is awarded annually to a third-year Theater Arts student working toward a career in stage acting. A bronze plaque commemorating the scholarship benefit held in David Coleman Dukes' name can be seen in the lobby of the Bing Theater, off Queen's Court on the USC campus.
— Madeline Puzo, Dean, USC School of Theatre
• Prose Ode to My Friend the Poet Laureate (LA Times Blog: Opinion L.A.)
November 18, 2008
by Patt Morrison This doggerel no doubt would make her blush; I should therefore zip up my lip and hush And not resort to fortune-cookie verse To praise a friend whose work’s both lush and terse.
Okay, I’ll better stop right there and render the rest of this in prose.
• Governor Schwarzenegger Appoints Carol Muske-Dukes Poet Laureate (Office of the CA Governor)
November 13, 2008
PRESS RELEASE
Continuing his support of California's rich literary tradition, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today appointed Carol Muske-Dukes California's poet laureate. The poet laureate is charged with educating Californians about the many literary icons who have come from California and added to its cultural heritage. She is also charged with encouraging a new generation of poets to take up the mantle of creative expression and bringing poetry to students who otherwise would have little opportunity to be exposed to it.
Could there be an honorific less American-sounding than poet laureate? The title conjures images of a laurel wreath askew on the pale brow of a loitering bard – scribbling couplets beside a throne (“I am his Highness’ dog at Kew; / Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?”) British poets laureate write occasional verse to celebrate royal birthdays, ship christenings and Tube station openings. As California’s new poet laureate, I haven’t been asked to write a sonnet or triolet in honor of Gov. Schwarzenegger, who appointed me last month, nor a pantoum in honor of Maria Shriver – and I don’t expect to have to honor such a request. The governor and first lady clearly admire the idea of the poet laureate without insisting on a job description or the odd panegyric.
• Sunday Book Review "Good Golly" (New York Times)
April 29, 2007
by Carol Muske-Dukes
The cover of “The House on Boulevard St.” is a Roy Lichtenstein-style cartoon, a portrait of the poet David Kirby with a furrowed brow, above which floats a word balloon: “Need a subtitle ... No wait I got it ... New and Selected Poems.”
The poem in my head goes something like this: Sunset and evening star/And one clear call for me! /O Captain my Captain!/Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers/I'm nobody! Who are you?
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