Poet Laureate's Book Sales Soar.

-Here's a rare literary phenomenon: Americans are rushing to read poetry. One day after Philip Levine was named the next poet laureate, his books have quickly sold out in bookstores and online retailers, making it nearly impossible to immediately acquire copies of some collections of his poems. On the Amazon.com ''Movers and Shakers'' list, which tracks books that are growing the most quickly in popularity, two by Mr. Levine were at the top of the list: ''What Work Is,'' a collection of poems that won a National Book Award, and ''The Simple Truth,'' a collection that won a Pulitzer Prize. Both books are backordered and not available to ship for at least six days. Other books are backordered for at least one to three weeks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]