Letter of the day (Feb. 16): State poem

State Sen. Bruce Anderson, R-Buffalo, has proposed that "Minnesota Blue" become the official state poem ("State poems: It rhymes, but is there reason?" Feb. 14). St. Paul poet laureate Carol Connolly's comments in opposition struck me as shallow. She said a state poem "should not be about missing the state, but about celebrating it." As a native Kentuckian, our state song, "My Old Kentucky Home," is about a man pining for his faraway bluegrass home, where the birds make music and the sun shines bright. It's the most moving example of state-sponsored poetry I've ever heard. Connolly's alternate proposal to issue a new state poem for each day is cute, but I'll eat my horseshoes if it has the same enriching effect as one simple, elegant and universally known poem has had in Kentucky.

TOM JOHNSON, MINNEAPOLIS