One last word on Jimmy Carter

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Is there room for still one more tribute to Jimmy Carter, the greatest past president in our history?

I think so, because I was witness to a facet of his personality that I don’t think has been mentioned.

Carter came to Minneapolis in 1988 as part of a tour to publicize a book he’d written (one of many in his post-presidency), “An Outdoor Journal,” a memoir of hunting, fishing and the meaning of nature.

I was the Star Tribune’s designated reporter/interviewer for book-writing celebrities, although on this occasion I thought our outdoors columnist might want to do the interview. He declined, so the opportunity fell to me. I was not necessarily a nature aficionado, so I discussed interview possibilities with the editors. One noted that Carter was interested in poetry.

We met at Minneapolis’ beautiful Theodore Wirth Park, so I suppose the president expected some nature questions. Instead I asked him, “Who is your favorite poet?” I don’t think he’d ever been asked that by a journalist, but he instantly replied “Dylan Thomas.”

Wow — a lyrical but notoriously difficult Welshman.

Carter proceeded to recite, from memory, one of Thomas’ most difficult poems, all 20 lines of “A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London.”

It made such an impression on me that when Carter neared death, I vowed to read the poem again as a tribute to him. And I did.

Bob Lundegaard is a retired Star Tribune reporter.