Today’s challenge to the poet Elizabeth Alexander was even greater than previous poets who’d been asked to write verse for an inaugural day. After all, Barack Obama has written some pretty good poems himself, one of which can be read here.
Alexander’s poem proved to be a sturdy one, a steady march of free verse iambic pentameter that spoke of national resolve through the metaphor of “repairing the things in need of repair” and, in a nice image, confronting our current problems as “the figuring it out at kitchen tables.” Her one dip into sentimentality — “What if the mightiest word is love?” — was balanced by many other attractive turns of phrase, such as rendering this sunny, snowy Washington D.C., afternoon as “today’s sharp sparkle.”
What did you think of the inaugural poem, and President Obama’s speech itself?
Obama’s speech gets an A+.
Elizabeth Alexander gets a D-.
Kinda spelled our president’s name wrong there. Nice copy editing, EW.
Worst poem reading ever. It seemed like a decent poem but the delivery was beyond horrible.
I have no idea what the poem was about, or if it was even decent, because her reading of it was god awful.
The speech was good.
I thought the poem was amazing–it covered everything. I want a copy. It made me very emotional.
I’m sure the poem was probably decent, but it was hard to pay attention with that awful delivery.
I loved it. I want to re-read it. The best line: What if the mightiest word was Love?
The poem was probably remarkable but was indecipherable due to Alexander’s decision to choose enunciation over duende.
“sharp sparkle” ?? really?
Strong, beautiful, enlightening! A+
While I enjoyed the poem’s content I felt as if I was being read to in a first grade classroom. There was no rise and fall to her voice, no inflection of emotion, there was just this monotone that kept saying words and syllables as if the idea that they should be linked together to form phrases and sentences was preposterous. President Obama on the other hand, gave a wonderful speech filled with passion, character, and such genuine belief in what he was saying that I have no doubt he will move this country forward as promised. His speech earns an A and Ms. Alexander earns a D.
Loved the poem and the delivery. It was on the mark for today’s time and the current environment in our country.
Part 2 of Alexander’s Poem
We need to find a place
where we are safe.
We walk into that
which we cannot yet see.
Say it plain,
that many
have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead
who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks,
raised the bridges,
picked the cotton and the lettuce,
built brick by brick
the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean
and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle.
Praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring it out at kitchen tables.
Some live by
“Love thy neighbor as thy self.”
Others by “first do no harm”,
or “take no more than you need”.
What if the mightiest word is love,
love beyond marital, filial, national.
Love that casts a widening pool of light.
Love with no need to preempt grievance.
In today’s sharp sparkle,
this winter air,
anything can be made,
any sentence begun.
On the brink,
on the brim,
on the cusp –
praise song
for walking forward in that light.
Excellent, excellent, excellent.
Excellent poem, excellent reading, excellently thought provoking. Selah
Thank you Elizabeth.
Praise song for the day
By Elizabeth Alexander
Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other,
catching each others’ eyes or not,
about to speak or speaking.
All about us is noise.
All about us is noise and bramble,
thorn and din,
each one of our ancestors on our tongues.
Someone is stitching up a hem,
darning a hole in a uniform,
patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere
with a pair of wooden spoons
on an oil drum with cello,
boom box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, “Take out your pencils. Begin.”
We encounter each other in words,
words spiny or smooth,
whispered or declaimed;
words to consider, reconsider.
We cross dirt roads and highways
that mark the will of someone
and then others who said,
“I need to see
what’s on the other side;
I know there’s something better
down the road.”