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Illinois' new poet laureate is Kevin Stein, a professor at Peoria's Bradley University who views words as musical instruments and keeps a dried toad near his writing desk to remind himself of his own mortality.

While his resume is crowded with poetry accolades, he finds comfort in the mundane: He has fruit trees around his house, coaches his young son's basketball team and confines his writing to a cluttered office in the garage, where he came across the dead toad.

With his appointment in Springfield Thursday by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Stein became Illinois' first poet laureate since Pulitzer Prize-winner Gwendolyn Brooks died with a pen in her hand one Sunday night three years ago.

The announcement ended a search that took months. Panelists reviewing nominations said they considered sentimental favorites from Chicago and within Illinois' insular literary circles, but also stressed the importance of including poets from across the state.

But the decision ultimately hinged on two factors: whether the poet was readable and whether he was eager to seek readers among those indifferent to poetry's allure.

During Stein's introduction in the Gwendolyn Brooks State Library, Blagojevich singled out his work in a box factory as a youth as a reason he could foster poetry as much "on the factory floor as ... in the lecture hall."

"We can all appreciate his thoughts and his vision and his wisdom," Blagojevich said. "It's also nice to have a poet laureate who can write poetry that I can understand."

Stein feels he has a tough task ahead. Mere mention of a poetry reading is enough to send some listeners scattering, he said. His strategy, he said, will be "to try to catch kids before they learn to hate poetry."

Among the things Stein said he would tackle first is the formation of a Web site to feature Illinois poets. After that, he said he would like to explore radio as a forum for poetry readings, then establish a statewide poetry contest for youths.

"He's not just a poet shut up in his library somewhere writing poetry and can't get out and communicate," said Patti Blagojevich, the governor's wife and organizer of the panel that recommended potential laureates to the governor.

Some academics worry that Blagojevich has politicized the post by making it a four-year appointment instead of a lifetime term, as was the case with Stein's three predecessors.

"Good poets have to be able to resist other people's opinions," said author Danielle Allen, a University of Chicago professor and recipient of a MacArthur Foundation genius grant. "That's hard when you have a job that's really a political appointment."

Others argue that term limit will promote a diversity of styles over the years.

"I think we're better off with more poet laureates over the next hundred years than less," said Kenneth Clarke, executive director of the Poetry Center of Chicago. "You can have more diversity of voices, more diversity of ethnicity, more diversity within the state."

Stein, who is director of Bradley's Creative Writing Program, has compiled essays on contemporary poetry and written several volumes of his own, including "Chance Ransom," "Bruised Paradise" and "A Circus of Want," which received the 1992 Devins Award.

His work has appeared in several national poetry magazines and has won the Stanley Hanks Award, the Frederick Bock Prize, the Indiana Review Poetry Prize and two Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards.

Stein, 49, and his wife, Deb, have been married for 24 years. They live north of Peoria in Dunlap with their two children, Kirsten, 16, and Joseph, 10.

In addition to teaching--which he will continue--Stein is working on a new compilation of his poems, tentatively titled "American Ghost Roses." (He said he was drawn to the long "o" sounds in "ghost" and "roses," and liked the rose petal imagery in the film "American Beauty.")

Though Stein has received public acclaim, many poets privately appraise his work as overly sentimental and unpolished. But most agree his affability and drive to form new programs qualify him well for the laureate post, which is unpaid.

Illinois has had three poets laureate. The first, Springfield resident Howard B. Austin, served from 1936 until 1962, after which former Chicago newspaperman and 1940 Pulitzer Prize-winner Carl Sandburg served until he died in 1967.

Brooks held the position from 1968, arriving with her own 1949 Pulitzer as well as a national reputation. Brooks used her long tenure to focus on urban voices during a period that coincided with renewal in the city.

"Stein faces the challenge and opportunity of being a poet laureate who can bridge the rural and urban worlds," Allen said.

The search committee reviewed more than two dozen nominees and named two finalists. The other was Rodney Jones of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Looking at photos of Austin, Sandburg and Brooks on Thursday, Stein said he felt like the Chicago Bulls player who was told, "`You know what? Michael Jordan's going to retire, and you're the guy who's taking his place.' If this doesn't quake my knees, then I'm not human."

Unlike his predecessors, Stein will be required to do four public poetry readings a year, establish programs promoting literary arts and make visits around the state.

Stein also will be expected to continue writing, said Joseph Parisi, former editor of Poetry magazine and a member of the eight-person selection panel that included Brooks' daughter, playwright Nora Blakely.

Parisi said Stein's work and ideas made him a good choice.

"Whoever is going to be following Gwendolyn Brooks had better be someone that we can be proud of as a literary personage, had better be in that league," Parisi said.

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