BOB DOUGHTY: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

This is Bob Doughty. On our show this week: Music from Usher, anda question from a listener about Labor Day in the United States. Butfirst, a report about a writer who has at least a year of work aheadof him as America's new poet laureate.

New Poet Laureate

Each year, the Library of Congresschooses a national poet -- the poet laureate of the United States.Ted Kooser will become the country's thirteenth poet laureate inOctober. He will replace Louise Gluck who served one term. FaithLapidus tells us about the new poet laureate.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Librarian of Congress James Billington calls TedKooser a major poetic voice for small town America.

Mister Kooser is the first poet laureate from the Great Plains,in the middle of the country. Farmers of European ancestry weregrowing crops on this huge area of grasslands by the late eighteenhundreds.

Ted Kooser was born in Iowa in nineteen thirty-nine. Today, thesixty-five-year-old poet is retired from the insurance business. Helives on a farm in Nebraska. He is a visiting English professor atthe University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

As the new poet laureate, Mister Kooser will give a speech andread from his poetry in October. He will also help decide whichpoets read their works at the Library of Congress in the comingyear. And he will help organize other poetry events.

Ted Kooser says he has spent his life trying to write the kind ofpoetry that people can easily understand. He says he has some ideasabout how to increase public interest in poetry, but he is keepingthem to himself for now.

Ted Kooser has written ten books of poetry. His most recentcollection was published this year. It is called "Delights andShadows." Here is a poem from that book. Gwen Outen reads "At theCancer Clinic."

GWEN OUTEN: She is being helped toward the open door

that leads to the examining rooms

by two young women I take to be her sisters.

Each bends to the weight of an arm

and steps with the straight, tough bearing

of courage. At what must seem to be

a great distance, a nurse holds the door,

smiling and calling encouragement.

How patient she is in the crisp white sails

of her clothes. The sick woman

peers from under her funny knit cap

to watch each foot swing scuffing forward

And take its turn under her weight.

There is no restlessness or impatience

or anger anywhere in sight. Grace

fills the clean mold of this moment

and all the shuffling magazines grow still.

Labor Day

BOB DOUGHTY: Our VOA listener question this week comes from theKano State, Nigeria. Ibrahim Umar Abdulkarim asks why the UnitedStates observes Labor Day in September and not in May.

Since ancient times, May first has been a traditional day tocelebrate spring. In modern times, May Day also became a traditionalday for countries to honor workers.

In eighteen eighty-nine, Socialists held an internationalcongress in Paris. They chose May first as a workers holiday and aday for demonstrations. Since then, the first of May has beenobserved as International Labor Day.

The United States, however, had already settled on another day.Peter McGuire was a New York labor leader. He is said to havesuggested the first Monday in September as a holiday to honor labor.He said it was a nice time of the year for a celebration. Hesuggested parades to show the strength of labor organizations. Andhe urged people to end the day with outdoor parties.

The first Labor Day celebration in the United States took placein New York City on September fifth, eighteen eighty-two. About tenthousand workers marched through the streets. Then everyone went toa park to eat a meal and hear speeches and music. The idea quicklyspread throughout the country. In eighteen ninety-four, Congressapproved a bill to declare Labor Day a national holiday.

For years, the first Monday in September was a day when Americanworkers demonstrated for better conditions and pay. Today, the LaborDay weekend is mostly observed as a time to enjoy the last warm daysof summer.

Listen Sunday at this time for PEOPLE IN AMERICA, and learn aboutfive important labor leaders in the nation's history.

Usher

He began singing in church at agesix. He was discovered by a record company at seventeen. This singeris twenty-five now, and popular enough that people know him by onename: Usher. And this week, Usher won two MTV awards, for best malevideo and best dance video, for his song "Yeah!" Shep O'Neal hasmore.

SHEP O'NEAL: His full name is Usher Raymond. His most recentalbum sold more than one million copies in its first week of releaseearlier this year. The album is called "Confessions." The first bighit was "Yeah!"

(MUSIC)

"Confessions" is the fourth album by Usher. It has sold more thanfive million copies. It is the top selling album in the country sofar this year.

Another hit single from the album describes the feelings at theend of a relationship. This song, partly written by Usher, is called"Burn."

(MUSIC)

Usher is now performing around the country.We leave you with thethird hit from "Confessions." This one is called "Confessions, Part2."

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BOB DOUGHTY: This is Bob Doughty. Our program was written by JillMoss and Nancy Steinbach. Paul Thompson was our producer. And ourengineer was Jim Sleeman.

Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com. Orwrite to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C.,two-zero-two-three-seven, USA.

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I hope you enjoyed AMERICAN MOSAIC. Join us again next week forVOA's radio magazine in Special English