A poem by experimental poet Ronald Johnson.

Your daily dose of news, notes and links from around Kansas University.

• I remember once sitting in a crowded room when someone asked then-Chancellor Robert Hemenway why the university focused much attention on sports, or some similar question.

He liked poetry, he said, but the Journal-World didn’t have a poetry page, in pointing out that an awful lot of people connected to the university through sports, even though some people don’t like it.

So, Chancellor Bob, this blurb’s for you.

On Friday, I heard from Sonnet L’Abbe, a Ph.D. student from the University of British Columbia in Canada. She said she was in Lawrence studying the experimental poet Ronald Johnson.

He’s becoming more well-known, and a treasure trove of his work is available at the Spencer Research Library, she said.

His work includes a poem featuring nothing but the word “earth,” a photo of which I’ve included here.

The poem, as L’Abbe told me, sort of makes you see all the other different words found in the word “earth,” like “heart” and “art.” So in a way, she said, Johnson found the heart and the art in the earth.

• Twenty-three KU law students have received public interest stipends to complete summer volunteer work to benefit communities in Kansas and beyond.

Students are serving vulnerable and underrepresented populations in several different states and the District of Columbia.

The law school awarded stipends totaling more than $30,800, which is a record for the school.

Last year, the school awarded similar stipends totaling about $25,000.

The school also has a public interest society, whose members has done a number of different projects on their own.

In one such example, last fall, students helped low-income families in Sedgwick County obtain guardianship papers for dependent family members, saving thousands in legal bills.

Good stuff.

• Here’s a story and some photos recapping two KU celebrity alumni, Paul Rudd and Rob Riggle, who were in town over the weekend.

They played some Wiffle ball at Kauffman Stadium (in the Little K out behind the big field).

They also participated in the Second Annual Big Stick Poker Tournament and Party at Harrah’s Casino, after raising $120,000-plus for Children’s Mercy Hospital last year.

• I’m wondering if we should have some kind of Heard on the Hill wiffle ball game somewhere. Who’s in? I’m looking at you, Jim Carothers. While I’m setting that up, you keep sending me tips for Heard on the Hill at ahyland@ljworld.com.