Poet-in-chief

While it might seem extreme to credit Gioia with single-handedly turning around the NEA, the extent of his involvement is undeniable. He works seven days a week, often attending evening functions. One night not long ago found him at Washington's Folger Shakespeare Library, at the regional finals of an NEA-sponsored national poetry recitation contest for high school students. Endearingly gawky teenagers dressed in their best clothes stood on stage interpreting works by Langston Hughes and Lewis Carroll, and Gioia's presence -- in person, he comes off as elegantly erudite without being stuffy -- affirmed that they were doing something important. Gioia himself spontaneously recited Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay"; he estimates he has memorized "a couple hundred poems."

So strong is Gioia's love of language that he insists on writing everything that appears over his name, which he admits is both an annoyance to his staff and a breach of protocol in Washington. Yet, inconvenient as it might be for those around him, this passion is part of what gives him credibility: How many bureaucrats stay up regularly until four in the morning reading novels? "I have not slept since I arrived in Washington two and a half years ago," Gioia jokes.

In fact, what he really hasn't done is work on his own poetry and other creative writing -- which is why he says he won't stay in D.C. for very long. (Gioia turned down the job when it was first offered, happy with his family in northern California and protective of his time as a writer.) In the mean time, he's motivated by the knowledge that his work matters -- that in ways both pragmatic and less so, art matters. "The arts," Gioia says, "are ways of knowing the world and becoming fully human."