W.S. Merwin and a poem for the year to come

As an atheist with a concern for poetry I was glad to hear the Tucson evening end with a poem by W.S. Merwin.  But I did not like the choice of poem.

To my surprise, I find this morning that I had left a bookmark for that poem in my copy of "Present Company" (from that lovely bookstore at Venice Beach.)

The problem was in the reading.  Perhaps just anyone can read from the Old Testament, but the President of U AZ, Tucson could not read that poem.

Given that a real native opened the ceremony, why not invite a real poet to read the closing poem?  A poet who reads aloud.

When I read my own work aloud, I try to start by reading first from work which I admire, work which someone in the audience may know and appreciate, work which someone may later turn to even if they do not turn to my own.

It is not an ecumenical evening if the priest does not read from what the Buddha is believed to have said, if the rabbi cannot find some wise words in a letter from Saul ofTarsus, if the evangelical pastor cannot find some words in some address by a pope of the church they so demonize.  This I believe.