Nick Licata's a good guy. Obviously he's a good guy. You're looking for a good guy, look no further.

As Seattle's City Council prez, he can be counted on to advocate a populist approach, which is why he's the chief supporter of Seattle's Poet Populist. Each year, arts organizations great and small, mostly small, nominate somebody, and the people vote online for the winner.

The lucky duck gets $500. For that princely sum, he/she is expected to pop up at various official events and read poems.

Licata is undoubtedly the only City Council member to insist that poets read at his committee meetings. Why they would want to is a mystery.

Follow the above link, and you can cast your e-vote, due Aug. 15.

Here's my problem. I go the site and read about the life experiences of these poets. What I can't do is read a poem. Oh, by following a maze of links, I can uncover a few poems, but mostly I uncover more information about the poets and the organizations that sponsored them.

Why? Because this feel-good event is not about poetry.

It's about using poets to well-wish the government. It's about poetry as PR for political functionaries.

Nick: Instead of shaking hands with poets and paying them a pittance, why not support the organizations that support them? Instead of an e-vote for a meaningless position, why not have experts (yes, I mean celebrated leaders in the field) chose one and write that person a real check?

Poetry is not a populist enterprise. When it matters at all, it's the opposite of populist. It starts with talent given to a precious few and denied to the multitude.

As a reminder that not all the best Seattle poets are dead, here's a poem from one of the living.