News at Eleven: It's not that Philip Levine isn't appreciative

of being named United States Poet Laureate. It's just that he sometimes questions how meaningful the title is.

"If there were one different judge, I wouldn't have gotten it," he explained on Oct. 19 at an informal reading in the Rosenthal Library at Queens College.

"If you're going to judge yourself by the awards you get, you're an idiot," he said, adding, "I will enjoy it."

from Queens Chronicle: U.S. poet laureate reads at Queens College

~~~~~~~~~~~