[Dave Lull]

“. . . Dennis O’Driscoll, a contemporary poet who served in Ireland’s Office of Revenue Commissioners for 40 years, does not (cannot?) keep his office out of some of his poems:

Look around this narrow retreat:
You cannot miss my two steel presses,
One seething with memos, the other hoarding forms;
And a cabinet with deckled piles of correspondence
From banks, corporations, accountancy firms.
I am undisputed Lord of the Files.

(‘Serving Time’)”

From the introduction to the “Poets in Federal Government” issue of Beltway Poetry:

http://www.beltwaypoetry.com/poets-i...al-government/

[RCL]

Wiki says of EA Robinson:

Impressed by the poems and aware of Robinson's straits, Roosevelt in 1905 secured the writer a job at the New York Customs Office.

[Allen Tice]

Though not a bureaucrat, Simonides prevented a war in Sicily.

[Maryann Corbett]

Continuing thanks, everybody. I've been having computer trouble and could only look in fleetingly in the past couple of days. I'm going to print this thread now, but don't let that stop you from making more suggestions if you have them.

[Mark Blaeuer]

In the 1950s Snyder did trail work for the Park Service. He, Whalen, and Kerouac also were fire lookouts in the Pacific Northwest for the Forest Service around that time.

[Roger Slater]

Originally Posted by RCL

Wiki says of EA Robinson:

Impressed by the poems and aware of Robinson's straits, Roosevelt in 1905 secured the writer a job at the New York Customs Office.

Yes, and also helped him get his next book published. Robinson was in a pretty bad way at the time, to say the least, and was rescued by Teddy Roosevelt and Teddy's son, Kermit Roosevelt, after Kermit gave his father a copy of The Children of the Night. The government job paid Robinson $2000 a year, and Teddy gave it to him under the condition that he dedicate himself solely to writing poetry and not to government duties. Robinson later dedicated a collection to Teddy.

[Allen Tice]

It is not known whether Kongzi (aka Confucius) wrote any poetry, though it seems highly probable that he did do some and that they are unpreserved, but there is a strong tradition that he selected a great many traditional songs for a "Confucian Classic" of poetry. He did teach literacy to the sons of feudal aristocrats (a kind of goverment job), and worked as a magistrate for a while. Taking the "Analects" at face value, he is recorded as discussing poetry and music.

[Jim Moonan]

#34, Jennifer: "I think of the poet laureate position as a political one, and a government job. So, in my opinion, every poet laureate who ever served in England or the United States held a government job."

I agree -- though it may be too far afield for what you're looking for here.

U.S. poet laureates serve an important role in nurturing poetry’s presence in our cultural psyche. Current U.S. poet laureate is Juan Felipe Herrera. He is compensated $35,000 annually for carrying out duties of poet laureate - though look out - Trump's budget cuts could use that kind of money for something more useful like, say, a self-portrait of the man who “knows words – I have the best words”.

Send lawyers, guns and money the shit has hit the fan. (from “Lawyers, Guns and Money”, Warren Zevon R.I.P)