The man whose nomination to become New Hampshire’s next poet laureate was withdrawn amid growing criticism of a sexually suggestive poem about former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says he doubts people have even read it.
Daniel Thomas Moran said Saturday via email that the 2005 poem is the “imagined musings of an adolescent crush.”
He says the idea that the poem is “sexually laced or misogynistic is nothing less than silly.”
The 62-year-old Moran is a retired dentist and former poet laureate of Suffolk County, New York. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said he chose Moran as laureate based on the entirety of his work.
Sununu abandoned his pick Friday when he learned of the poem. He asked the Poetry Society of New Hampshire to submit a new recommendation.
