Southeast Misouri State University received a rare and priceless gift this past week: an original manuscript of an unpublished poem by the famous American poet William Carlos Williams. Michael Lund, an English professor at Longwood University in Virginia and the author of the Route 66 Novel series, donated the poem to the university. Williams wrote the poem, entitled "About a Little Girl," in 1921 for Lund's mother who was believed to be suffering from a fatal illness.

Dr. Robert Hamblin, director of the university's Faulkner Center, interviewed Lund about the poem and his series of novels.