Sculpture garden would honor Nebraska’s first poet laureate

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By NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star

Lincoln Sen. Chris Beutler would like to honor Nebraska poet Ted Kooser, now serving his second year as U.S. poet laureate, with a $2 million sculpture garden along Centennial Mall.  More Legislature coverage

Kooser, a retired insurance executive who lives near Garland, was named poet laureate in October 2004, the first from Nebraska and the Great Plains. In April 2005, he won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

Beutler envisions the memorial as a quiet, beautiful place where people “like Ted Kooser could come and talk about poetry and literature and be in a setting that encourages that.”

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Ted Kooser

Ted Kooser

The sculpture garden would be a memorial to all Nebraska poets and writers but specifically honor Kooser for his work, his awards and “his service on behalf of the power of language.”

Beutler’s bill (LB1235) would provide $1 million in state tax dollars that would be combined with $1 million from other sources, including donations.

The Nebraska Arts Council would be responsible for designing and building the “outdoor sculpture area suitable for poetry readings and other public speech events and quiet meditation.”

Although the concept would be left to the Arts Council, city and Capitol Environs Commission, Beutler says he can envision a setting near the Lincoln Children’s Museum, “where people could read poetry to children, where people could sit among the sculptures.”

Kooser said Wednesday he told Beutler he “was happy and honored … but I didn’t want to be at the center of the whole thing.”

So he’s glad the garden would honor other Nebraska writers.

While the mall areas are the city’s financial responsibility, Beutler said he thinks the state would be interested in contributing to improvements intended to promote the state as a whole.

“It sounds like a great idea,” said Bob Ripley, Capitol administrator.

In fact, a plan for the Capitol area says the north mall should be dedicated to people and events significant at a national level.

As the U.S. poet laureate, Kooser’s accomplishments fit that criteria, Ripley said.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.