Monday Muse Asks Did You Know...?

Today I'm introducing the first in a series of occasional posts that will present something about poems, poets, or poetry that you might not know.

Did You Know. . . 

✦ If you're looking for a poem submitted to a contest and included in a poetry anthology printed by a vanity press, you might want to start with The Library of Congress's online Guide to Finding Your Published Poems. The LOC resource includes, if known, the amateur publisher's name and aliases, years of operation, Website or archived version of Website, sample advertisements, and titles.

✦ The first African American woman to publish a book was Phillis Wheatley whose Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was printed in 1773.

✦ More than 131,000 items make up the collected papers of poet and psychiatrist Merrill Moore in the LOC's Manuscript Division. Also found there are the papers of poets Edna St. Vincent Millay (more than 32,000 items) and Muriel Rukeyser (30,000 items). 

✦ John Quincy Adams is considered the first American president to have written a book of poetry, Poems of Religion and Society (1848), collected and published after Adams's death. Only four poets — Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, Miller Williams, Elizabeth Alexander — have had the honor of reading or reciting a poem at the inauguration of a president.

✦ President Barack Obama is a published poet. Read his "Pop" and "Underground" here.

✦ The premier poetry index is The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, comprising 250,000 poems in full text and 450,000 citations. The online database includes entries from 1985 to the present. The Website features poems, biographies, commentaries, history and criticism, poetry sources, a listening "room", and more. You can find it on FaceBook and Twitter, too.

✦ In an audio series titled "The Change Interviews", Pushcart poetry prize nominees and winners answer poet Alice Shapiro's question, "What changed after your nomination/win?"

✦ The Angels Without Wings Foundation sponsors a yearly Senior Poets Laureate Competition (winners are selected for each state), which is not to be confused with the nomination and selection process for state Poets Laureate positions.