THE POWER OF AN AWARD

If -- and that is an if -- there is a problem with the Nobel being awarded to Pres. Obama, the problem is not in the giving of it. The problem would be in the accepting of it. One need not be the brilliant articulator that he is to be able to say something that begins, "I am honored to receive this award and thank the Nobel Committee blah blah blah ....However, I must respectfully decline as [words to this effect:] I haven't (yet) done diddly to deserve it et al."

In not declining this award, the Prez reminds me of many, ahem, very many poets.

Which seems like a nice way for me to lobby, please, for an award I'd love to receive:

                  The Ig Nobel Prize Winner for Poetry

I notice from the link there's no category for Poetry -- I detest how "Literature" categories often subsume/ignore "Poetry"; one of my books once received "Honorable Mention" in some award I didn't enter but was tossed at me while the top and only other winner was, if memory serves correctly, a work of nonfiction. So can someone inaugurate this ignoble category by giving Moi the Nekkid Bird Attempting To Swallow The Egg sculpture? My citation can run along the lines of:

Poetry: Eileen Tabios, Galatea, California. After writing 102 poetry books, many of which received honors and critical acclaim in addition to wreaking ecological devastation on much of the planet's forests, the poet concedes, "I've failed. I have yet to write a Great Poem."

Vote for Moi, please.

Oh, wait. Apparently, this Ig Noble Prize is only determined by "genuine Nobel Laureates." No vote for the common tao? There go the 9 billion votes moi peeps were going to relay. But, hey, I should at least get Pres. Obama's vote. After all, his Nobel also fits the Ig Nobel's goal: "first make people laugh and then make them think."