[Kevin J MacLellan]

I had a thought about poetry in praise of the captain of flight 1589, who safely landed a jumbo jet in the Hudson river on January 15th. (An interview with the hero, broadcast on '60 Minutes', tells all we need to know about the man and the inadequacy of the media in facing a true hero.)
I'm thinking of "Public Poetry" as a species of poetry, something different from published-and, thereby, made public-poetry, or poetry written as a personal testament inspired by some public occasion or other. Rather, a species of poem which speaks in praise of some person or group as if for the public . The question begins with the obvious: Is there such a bird? and, Will it fly?
I'm curious as to what others think of this.