The Chuck Calabreze, uh, Issue

It's no secret that I often appear as Chuck Calabreze, a character I created at least partly to lampoon myself. A number of people have asked about Chuck's role in the laureateship. Understandable. The dude's fun to have around. But I, Jon Davis, am the Poet Laureate. And I have assured the folks at the Arts Commission that Chuck would not, for example, show up at the Mayor's Inauguration, shambling onstage with crumpled poems tucked into his mismatched boots.Though even as I made the promise, I became fascinated by the idea of Chuck as court jester . . . But, no, Chuck won't be reading at any public events. He'll be around. He's always around. But he's not, as he likes to think, the co-Poet Laureate. He's the Poète maudit of Santa Fe.