(Editor's Note: This letter was originally sent to members of the Nassau County Legislature and is being printed here at the author's request.)

By now, I am sure that you have received hundreds of angry letters from outraged citizens. I am not angry nor am I outraged. I am saddened, truly saddened, that you have, after unofficially voting Maxwell Corydon Wheat, Jr. Nassau County's Poet Laureate, decided to change your minds and officially deny him a position for which he is perfectly suited.

As a friend and former student of Max's I am disheartened that you can view one poem or group of poems as the definition of this man.

When asked by Joye Brown of Newsday what the duties of Poet Laureate are, and if Max could step up to the plate, I told her that he would not need to "step up," he is already there. If Max were voted in as Poet Laureate of Nassau County nothing would change for him except that he would now have a title to go with the job that he is already doing, and has been doing, for so many years.

Who is this man? Max is the man who has been known to quote Wordsworh and Longfellow in lieu of quoting his own writings. This is the man. The man who recently asked me for permission to use a line from one of my poems in his "acceptance" speech. A man so humble, so modest, and so generous as to speak the words of other poets rather than his own. This is the man. The man who, when asked to be a feature reader at an event that I will host, became so excited when he discovered it would take place at the end of October so that he can have a Halloween theme "for the children." This is the man. The man who, during a nature/poetry workshop, stopped everything to try fervently to save the life of a dying bird. This is the man. There is no hidden political agenda here, just the poet, the naturalist, the teacher, the humanitarian. This is the man.

Can Max do this job as it requires without bringing his politics into it? Absolutely. In the classroom, where it is required of him to teach poetry, I have never known Max to be anything less than "professional." When doing the job of the teacher, he is the teacher, and I have never known him to bring his politics into his classroom. Some of Max's students didn't even know about the book, or the poems, in question (until now).

I have always thought myself a very open-minded and empathetic person. I can sit in the chair of the patriot who is disturbed and angered by some (a very small part) of Max's poetry, and I can stand in the place of those who fear a government that will condemn a man for his writings, and I can walk in my own shoes, the shoes of someone who truly knows the man, someone who truly knows that Max is the only person to fill the position of Nassau County's Poet Laureate.

The real issue here is that the public needs and deserves someone to fit the bill regardless of his politics, and Max is the person to fill this position. I urge you, on behalf of the poetry community (present and future), to reconsider your decision. Thank you for your consideration of my request.

Yolanda Coulaz