[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 14, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E142-E143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       IN HONOR OF JOSEPH STROUD

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 14, 2006

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Joseph Stroud, a 
Californian poet that has received the prestigious Witter Bynner 
fellowship award. The fellowship, funded by the Witter Bynner 
Foundation for Poetry, was developed in 1972 to promote the art of 
poetry and encourage grants that illuminate the positive effects that 
poetry has on society. As part of the fellowship, the two recipients 
are asked to organize a local poetry event as well as attend a poetry 
reading at the Library of Congress. Stroud has contributed tremendously 
to the art, and it is fitting that we mention him today.
  He began his distinguished career as a professor of poetry and 
English at Cabrillo College in 1969 and for 35 years inspired the minds 
of many young and eager writers. Yet

[[Page E143]]

it was not until late that his literary prowess exploded on the 
cultural scene with the publication of his third book of poetry Below 
Cold Mountain. Stroud, who resides in Santa Cruz, California and Shay 
Creek in the Sierra Nevada, has also been active in the social 
diffusion of poetry locally while co-hosting KUSP's ``Poetry Show''.
  Stroud's work encompasses various typologies of poetry from short-
line form to lyrical prose and rhymes. His work takes readers with him 
on his travels and describes topics ranging from landscapes to 
commonplace objects in the finest detail or the greatest abstraction.
  Stroud has completed works of great social and cultural importance 
and it is important that we recognize him for his contribution to the 
arts. Together with the Witter Bynner Foundation and members of the 
United States Congress, I welcome Mr. Stroud to our nation's capital 
and join in congratulating him for his success and thank him for his 
contributions to American literature.

                          ____________________