Elizabeth Alexander's Inaugural poem....

[Michelle in AL]

I thought the poem was beautiful and plan to use it in my Literature class, but couldn't find it online anywhere. You can purchase it here (limited to 100,000)

http://www.graywolfpress.org/component/page,shop.flypage/product_id,276/category_id,0485aa93fa0558fb1f755721e776984d/option,com_phpshop/

if anyone else is interested.

[WTMCassandra]

My children are still steamed because it didn't rhyme ; ). I tried to tell them that much of modern poetry does not, but they will have NONE of it ; ).

[Big Buckin' Longhorn]

It seemed longer when I heard it at the inauguration, but I believe this is it. Free!

[sagira]

I thought it was very beautiful too -- together with the music by John Williams. And I did like our First Lady's outfit -- the cut could have been slimmer, as she seemed to appear larger than she is, but it was elegant and fitting for such an occasion, but not pretentious.

 

I do like that poem very much.

[MIch elle]

It seemed longer when I heard it at the inauguration, but I believe this is it. Free!

 

:001_smile:

[jamnkats]

We read the Writer's Almanac daily and I was reallly disappointed with the EA poem found in the WA today. When I googled her poem for the innaguration, I found this site and fell in LOVE with the poem.

 

We weren't able to watch any coverage (I'm hoping to download the speech tonight) but we read her poem today. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-poem.html?ref=books

 

(for dictation this month we've been working through the MLK "I Have a Dream" speech)

[muffinmom]

I wasn't so fond of the poem but perhaps it was because of the delivery. I felt like the author was reading it to us as if we were all severely mentally disabled...too slow, too deliberate, and with no cadence at all. I expected more...I don't know...beauty...for a presidential inauguration.

 

Maybe I would have been more impressed with a more powerful delivery.

[Ginger]

I agree with you muffinmom. I thought the delivery seemed very elementary.

[Kathleen in VA]

I liked the poem when she read it and I looked it up online and read it again. I liked it even more then. I just got home from the library with a book of her poems entitled, "Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies & Little Misses of Color." It's based on a true story of racism in Canterbury, CT in the 1830s. I have only read the flap (had to get dinner started so haven't had to chance to sit down and really read it), but it looks very interesting.

 

Oh, and I loved the John Williams arrangement of "Simple Things." Yo-yo Ma was particularly cute.:)

[Christy B]

I wasn't so fond of the poem but perhaps it was because of the delivery. I felt like the author was reading it to us as if we were all severely mentally disabled...too slow, too deliberate, and with no cadence at all. I expected more...I don't know...beauty...for a presidential inauguration.

 

Maybe I would have been more impressed with a more powerful delivery.

 

You know, I am NOT a poetry expert, but I love to listen to poetry read aloud, and I thought the delivery was very typical of the way a lot of modern African-American poetry is read, at least here in the south. I thought I heard a very obvious cadence. Isn't it funny, how subjective poetry is? (That's why I love it as a casual observer but HATED it in college!)

 

NOW -- I heard the poem read but I had my back to the TV the entire time. Was the author African-American? I assumed, based on the reading, and the fact that it reminded me of my (limited) exposure to modern black American poetry.

[jamnkats]

I wasn't so fond of the poem but perhaps it was because of the delivery. I felt like the author was reading it to us as if we were all severely mentally disabled...too slow, too deliberate, and with no cadence at all. I expected more...I don't know...beauty...for a presidential inauguration.

 

Maybe I would have been more impressed with a more powerful delivery.

 

ah! that's the difference! We have had no live coverage - we're waiting until 1am to download the videos - and I've just been reading to the kids, so they got my cadence and delivery. And I LOVED the poem. :)

[LibraryLover]

It was very 'I Hear America Singing', and I liked it. My kids didn't.

[samba]

I heard the first 12-15 words and decided I didn't like it. It sounded very elementary. Maybe it got better after I left the room.

 

That was the only part of the inauguration I deliberately avoided.

 

Now I'm more determined than ever to find a quality poetry program to use with my children.

[Caroline]

She sounded like Gwendolyn Brooks, whom I had the pleasure of hearing live at my high school many years ago. I loved it. (But I liked the First Lady's dress, too, so what do I know?)

[A.J. at J.A.]

I wasn't so fond of the poem but perhaps it was because of the delivery. I felt like the author was reading it to us as if we were all severely mentally disabled...too slow, too deliberate, and with no cadence at all. I expected more...I don't know...beauty...for a presidential inauguration.

 

Maybe I would have been more impressed with a more powerful delivery.

 

:iagree: I was very disappointed in the delivery. I'm sure the poem would have been much more powerful if delivered with more meaning & passion. Glad to know I'm not the only one who thought that.

 

Angela

[A.J. at J.A.]

You know, I am NOT a poetry expert, but I love to listen to poetry read aloud, and I thought the delivery was very typical of the way a lot of modern African-American poetry is read, at least here in the south.

 

Interesting...I honestly didn't know. :)

 

Angela

[prairiegirl]

I loved the poem but I had problems with the delivery. Some of the words were so over-pronounced. It didn't flow very well, imo.

[Michelle in AL]

I felt the same about the delivery being unemotional or flat and slow, but when I heard the poem, I immediately started analyzing it in my head (I teach a literature co-op and I love analysis). So when it opened with talking about noise, I was questioning whether she meant we were all too busy to care or was the noise from everyone making a difference?

Then she goes on to talk about what everyone is doing, so maybe she meant we're all making a difference in our own way, especially the reference to mending.

When she refers to the teacher saying, "take out your pencils and let's begin," I wondered if she was saying that that was the beginning of a fresh start.

 

For some reason I really liked the possibilities of what it meant and thought it would be great to discuss in class.

[Jennifer in NH]

I love the poetry of people like Dylan Thomas, Longfellow, Robert Service, Burns and many more....

I just did not "get" this poem at all...neither listening to her, nor reading it for myself. it is probably just because of her style, but to me it sounded like incoherant thoughts- strung together.

 

I guess it is just not really the type of poetry that I am drawn too. I will now, exit this thread and go gently into this goodnight.

[JoyfulMama]

I think this is a wonderful, powerful, evocative poem - but I would prefer to read it myself, with my own cadence, than the one the author prefers, which, yes, is more of a traditional AA style.

But that is just my preference. I'm sure if the author heard me read it, she would cringe, too!

My favorite part, though, was before she started her reading - as she was looking at the crowd. It looked as though she could start writing something new about the awesomeness of the crowd in front of her.

[CLHCO]

Ok, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say what I hope a few more are thinking but haven't the guts to say for fear of being non-intellectual.

 

I didn't like the poem. It sounded like something a 2nd grader would write. I admit I'm a knuckle dragging barbarian for not being able to appreciate it and I admit I think a lot of modern art looks like 2nd grade work too. So be it.

:tongue_smilie:

[Jennifer in NH]

Ok, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say what I hope a few more are thinking but haven't the guts to say for fear of being non-intellectual.

 

I didn't like the poem. It sounded like something a 2nd grader would write. I admit I'm a knuckle dragging barbarian for not being able to appreciate it and I admit I think a lot of modern art looks like 2nd grade work too. So be it.

:tongue_smilie:

 

That is about how I thought of it...if I can write it, or more aptly, if my 6 year old can write it, it isn't poetry.

YMMV

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

That is about how I thought of it...if I can write it, or more aptly, if my 6 year old can write it, it isn't poetry.

YMMV

 

I was listening to it on the radio and I almost turned it off -- it just seems to drone on and on...

 

 

K

(Another knuckle dragging barbarian..)

[beansprouts]

"A husband snores.

A child asks for another drink of water, then goes back to bed, again.

A toddler tortures a cat.

While a woman sits... still typing..."

 

How am I doing so far??? :lol:

[Jennifer in NH]

"A husband snores.

A child asks for another drink of water, then goes back to bed, again.

A toddler tortures a cat.

While a woman sits... still typing..."

 

How am I doing so far??? :lol:

great, just great...if only I that kind of talent..but alas.. hey, wait...how did you know what my evening has been like???? Although it was a glass of orange juice and not water...but same evening....

[CLHCO]

"A husband snores.

A child asks for another drink of water, then goes back to bed, again.

A toddler tortures a cat.

While a woman sits... still typing..."

 

How am I doing so far??? :lol:

 

:w00t::smilielol5:

 

Oh, my. I almost ruined my clothing. Barbarian.

[Zelda]

"A husband snores.

A child asks for another drink of water, then goes back to bed, again.

A toddler tortures a cat.

While a woman sits... still typing..."

 

How am I doing so far??? :lol:

 

*SNORT*

 

*HONK*

 

Stop.

[Soph the vet]

"A husband snores.

A child asks for another drink of water, then goes back to bed, again.

A toddler tortures a cat.

While a woman sits... still typing..."

 

How am I doing so far??? :lol:

Quick, somebody, get a publisher for this girl!:lol:

[beansprouts]

Quick, somebody, get a publisher for this girl!:lol:

 

 

"The woman sips her coffee, and considers writing another line."

 

:lol:

[learning2gether]

I loved the poem and yes it was given in a style of alot of modern AA poetry. My niece does alot of spoken word (poetry) so I go to alot of shows where this type of poetry is being read. While I did love the poem I do admit that I was hoping that Maya Angelou was going to do the poem.

[Erica in PA]

Ok, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say what I hope a few more are thinking but haven't the guts to say for fear of being non-intellectual.

 

I didn't like the poem. It sounded like something a 2nd grader would write. I admit I'm a knuckle dragging barbarian for not being able to appreciate it and I admit I think a lot of modern art looks like 2nd grade work too. So be it.

:tongue_smilie:

 

Yeah. While listening to the poem yesterday, The Emperor's New Clothes came to mind, for some reason.... :tongue_smilie:

[Gretchen in NJ]

My children are still steamed because it didn't rhyme ; ). I tried to tell them that much of modern poetry does not, but they will have NONE of it ; ).

:lol:My girls said the same thing.:lol:

[Michelle in AL]

I guess I really like the simpleness of the poem and I do think it has deeper meaning and depth, more than an average second grader could generate. Poetry that is so encrypted that I can't fathom it's meaning without a dictionary of symbolism, I don't care for.

 

I think a poem is art painted with words, and like a photograph this one catches a moment in time.

 

Cindy, I even liked your stab at poetry. If it was meant to show the chaos of a mom's life, I would certainly call it poetry, and not second grade poetry at that.

 

I guess everyone's taste is different.

[abbeyej]

I really couldn't tell. The delivery was so *painfully* awful. As one friend said, "This is taking so long, I can't remember what she said three words ago!"

 

Some poets do a fantastic job of reading their own work. Some, apparently, do *not*.

 

In reading the poem on its own terms, I can actually see merit in it. Hearing it. Ugh. No wonder so many people think they dislike poetry!

[Jennifer in NH]

I think a poem is art painted with words, and like a photograph this one catches a moment in time.

 

 

I guess everyone's taste is different.

I totally agree! Poetry, art music...are all so subjective. I didn't like this poem ( I know I already said that), but I don't like any modern poetry I have heard or read.....just not my cup of tea. and, i have to admit...I like a good rhyme in my poetry...it doen't have to be simple, but I love memorizing poems, even very long ones......The rhymes don't have to be childish, I just don't Haiku (did I even spell that correctly).

 

ETA: FWIW I don't think I was the target audience of that poem anyway. Middle aged conservative white woman, was probably not the main target audience yesterday! lol

[cillakat]

My children are still steamed because it didn't rhyme ; ). I tried to tell them that much of modern poetry does not, but they will have NONE of it ; ).

 

 

I was shocked by how poorly it was read. The complete lack of fluency and prosody made it difficult to follow.

 

K

[Susan in KY]

My children are still steamed because it didn't rhyme ; ). I tried to tell them that much of modern poetry does not, but they will have NONE of it ; ).

 

Over here, too. DS said, "She's not a very good poet. It doesn't rhyme."

 

Then when the reverend got up to give the benediction with his "Red Man, get ahead man," etc., he said "See? He's a better poet than she is."

 

BWAHAHAHAHA:lol::lol:

[pqr]

I am a fairly simple individual, and make no claim to towering intellect or deep understanding of momentous issues. I like art, I love poetry and I read voraciously. In my time I have come up with a fairly simple set of rules by which I judge other’s works.

 

If I could paint it….it is not art

If I could write it ….it is not literature

If I could pen it…. it is not a poem.

 

Those more intelligent than me will prattle on about inner meanings, seeing beyond mere brush strokes, hearing beyond the words etc. There is some truth to this, but in most cases there needs to be some substance to these stokes or words before one can move beyond them to appreciate a work on a higher level.

 

In the case of the Alexander poem, I must say that it is tripe, unadulterated and pure (if tripe can be such). It has no merit. Given that it was supposed to be written for the American people, as a whole (it was OUR inauguration), I would argue that it is beyond the comprehension of all but those few who seem to have lost touch with reality in a desperate search for greater meaning, or those (probably on this board) who can find the best in the worst, and finally those who are so dull in their intellect that they, like lemmings, accept that a poem is good simply because they are told so.

 

I am not arguing for rhyme, but rather for a piece of work that generates pride in one’s nation, love of the land, anything….

 

With the exception of the lines

 

"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."

 

 

There is little if anything to recommend this piece.

 

Of course when compared to the blatantly racist poem of Lowery

 

"we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right."

 

...maybe there is something to recommend Alexander.

 

Shakespeare, Kipling, Longfellow, Frost, Byron et al must be spinning in their graves that we have sunk so far as to call what Alexander produced "a great poem."

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

I am a fairly simple individual, and make no claim to towering intellect or deep understanding of momentous issues. I like art, I love poetry and I read voraciously. In my time I have come up with a fairly simple set of rules by which I judge other’s works.

 

If I could paint it….it is not art

If I could write it ….it is not literature

If I could pen it…. it is not a poem.

 

Those more intelligent than me will prattle on about inner meanings, seeing beyond mere brush strokes, hearing beyond the words etc. There is some truth to this, but in most cases there needs to be some substance to these stokes or words before one can move beyond them to appreciate a work on a higher level.

 

In the case of the Alexander poem, I must say that it is tripe, unadulterated and pure (if tripe can be such). It has no merit. Given that it was supposed to be written for the American people, as a whole (it was OUR inauguration), I would argue that it is beyond the comprehension of all but those few who seem to have lost touch with reality in a desperate search for greater meaning, or those (probably on this board) who can find the best in the worst, and finally those who are so dull in their intellect that they, like lemmings, accept that a poem is good simply because they are told so.

 

I am not arguing for rhyme, but rather for a piece of work that generates pride in one’s nation, love of the land, anything….

 

With the exception of the lines

 

"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."

 

 

There is little if anything to recommend this piece.

 

Of course when compared to the blatantly racist poem of Lowery

 

"we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right."

 

...maybe there is something to recommend Alexander.

 

Shakespeare, Kipling, Longfellow, Frost, Byron et al must be spinning in their graves that we have sunk so far as to call what Alexander produced "a great poem."

 

:iagree:

[jejily]

I am a fairly simple individual, and make no claim to towering intellect or deep understanding of momentous issues. I like art, I love poetry and I read voraciously. In my time I have come up with a fairly simple set of rules by which I judge other’s works.

 

If I could paint it….it is not art

If I could write it ….it is not literature

If I could pen it…. it is not a poem.

 

Those more intelligent than me will prattle on about inner meanings, seeing beyond mere brush strokes, hearing beyond the words etc. There is some truth to this, but in most cases there needs to be some substance to these stokes or words before one can move beyond them to appreciate a work on a higher level.

 

In the case of the Alexander poem, I must say that it is tripe, unadulterated and pure (if tripe can be such). It has no merit. Given that it was supposed to be written for the American people, as a whole (it was OUR inauguration), I would argue that it is beyond the comprehension of all but those few who seem to have lost touch with reality in a desperate search for greater meaning, or those (probably on this board) who can find the best in the worst, and finally those who are so dull in their intellect that they, like lemmings, accept that a poem is good simply because they are told so.

 

I am not arguing for rhyme, but rather for a piece of work that generates pride in one’s nation, love of the land, anything….

 

With the exception of the lines

 

"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."

 

 

There is little if anything to recommend this piece.

 

Of course when compared to the blatantly racist poem of Lowery

 

"we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right."

 

...maybe there is something to recommend Alexander.

 

Shakespeare, Kipling, Longfellow, Frost, Byron et al must be spinning in their graves that we have sunk so far as to call what Alexander produced "a great poem."

 

 

:iagree:

 

Very well put. Count me among the knuckle-dragging barbarians; I thought it was awful.

[Laura in VA]

I am a fairly simple individual, and make no claim to towering intellect or deep understanding of momentous issues. I like art, I love poetry and I read voraciously. In my time I have come up with a fairly simple set of rules by which I judge other’s works.

 

If I could paint it….it is not art

If I could write it ….it is not literature

If I could pen it…. it is not a poem.

 

Those more intelligent than me will prattle on about inner meanings, seeing beyond mere brush strokes, hearing beyond the words etc. There is some truth to this, but in most cases there needs to be some substance to these stokes or words before one can move beyond them to appreciate a work on a higher level.

 

In the case of the Alexander poem, I must say that it is tripe, unadulterated and pure (if tripe can be such). It has no merit. Given that it was supposed to be written for the American people, as a whole (it was OUR inauguration), I would argue that it is beyond the comprehension of all but those few who seem to have lost touch with reality in a desperate search for greater meaning, or those (probably on this board) who can find the best in the worst, and finally those who are so dull in their intellect that they, like lemmings, accept that a poem is good simply because they are told so.

 

I am not arguing for rhyme, but rather for a piece of work that generates pride in one’s nation, love of the land, anything….

 

With the exception of the lines

 

"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."

 

 

There is little if anything to recommend this piece.

 

Of course when compared to the blatantly racist poem of Lowery

 

"we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right."

 

...maybe there is something to recommend Alexander.

 

Shakespeare, Kipling, Longfellow, Frost, Byron et al must be spinning in their graves that we have sunk so far as to call what Alexander produced "a great poem."

 

You rock, pqr. ;)

[unsinkable]

Am I automatically a knuckle-dragging barbarian if I don't like the poem?

 

It makes me feel a bit uncomfortable to think I have to call myself names because I don't like a poem.

[lovemyboys]

She sounded like Gwendolyn Brooks, whom I had the pleasure of hearing live at my high school many years ago. I loved it. (But I liked the First Lady's dress, too, so what do I know?)

 

 

But I've heard Gwendolyn Brooks too, and both her words and her delivery resonate.

 

 

 

(I liked the daytime dress, really didn't like the gown.:001_smile:)

[lovemyboys]

Some poets do a fantastic job of reading their own work. Some, apparently, do *not*.

 

This goes for authors who think they should read their books for audio too. Some are wonderful and some are just so dreadful that they ruin the experience.

[WTMCassandra]

:lol::lol::lol:

[dragons in the flower bed]

Neither a poet nor a critic here, and I occupied the grumpy 3yo elsewhere when the poet came on so my professional published poet partner could watch. He said there was a line or two that had potential, but it's not his kind of poetry. He's a slam poet. I noticed on his Facebook account that all of his slam poet friends tore into it viciously. Lowery, at least, was engaging.

 

But last night my partner was reciting some TS Eliot he has memorized, and I was thinking was a sad, sad time we live in, for poetry. Every little syllable in real poetry rocks a person's soul, so you want to swim in it, bury yourself in it. That is so not true of the inaugural poem. The inaugural speech was better.

[hornblower]

Here is one with proper line breaks & stanzas:

 

http://markdoty.blogspot.com/2009/01/elizabeths-poem.html

 

I was only lukewarm about her reading of it but I love it on the page. It's the sum of the everyday things, the normal things done by normal people that charts the course of a nation to greatness or abyss.

 

My only quibble is that there were a couple phrases which I thought were a bit too familiar - not quite cliche but I think a bit too predictable or pat.

 

I got a kick out of Lowery as well. We watched the benediction twice to get the full effect.

[OnTheBrink]

Neither a poet nor a critic here, and I occupied the grumpy 3yo elsewhere when the poet came on so my professional published poet partner could watch. He said there was a line or two that had potential, but it's not his kind of poetry. He's a slam poet. I noticed on his Facebook account that all of his slam poet friends tore into it viciously. Lowery, at least, was engaging.

 

But last night my partner was reciting some TS Eliot he has memorized, and I was thinking was a sad, sad time we live in, for poetry. Every little syllable in real poetry rocks a person's soul, so you want to swim in it, bury yourself in it. That is so not true of the inaugural poem. The inaugural speech was better.

 

If you don't mind my asking, what is slam poetry?

[Jumping In Puddles]

I didn't like the poem at all but curiously enough, I really liked Beansprouts poem.

 

I'll join the others to say that I think pqr summed it up.

[dragons in the flower bed]

If you don't mind my asking, what is slam poetry?

 

From poets.org:

One of the most vital and energetic movements in poetry during the 1990s, slam has revitalized interest in poetry in performance. Poetry began as part of an oral tradition, and movements like the Beats and the poets of Negritude were devoted to the spoken and performed aspects of their poems. This interest was reborn through the rise of poetry slams across America; while many poets in academia found fault with the movement, slam was well received among young poets and poets of diverse backgrounds as a democratizing force. This generation of spoken word poetry is often highly politicized, drawing upon racial, economic, and gender injustices as well as current events for subject manner.

 

A slam itself is simply a poetry competition in which poets perform original work alone or in teams before an audience, which serves as judge. The work is judged as much on the manner and enthusiasm of its performance as its content or style, and many slam poems are not intended to be read silently from the page. The structure of the traditional slam was started by construction worker and poet Marc Smith in 1986 at a reading series in a Chicago jazz club. The competition quickly spread across the country, finding a notable home in New York City at the Nuyorican Poets Café.

 

I usually recommend Like Lilly Like Wilson to homeschool parents who ask after slam. It's a pretty good example of the genre.

is good too. If you can't understand that, try Marty McConnell. These are *not* safe for kids. Edited January 22, 2009 by dragons in the flower bed