The Inaugural Speech,and then, the poem....
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What a powerful Inaugural speech, so beautifully delivered! What a disappointing Inaugural poem, so poorly delivered! People began walking away in the middle of it. I don't blame them. American Poetry doesn't need to have such a bland performance as this. Think of the poets Obama could have asked to write and recite a poem for this occasion! I suggest you go to ncpoetlaureate.blogspot.com to read the poems by Albany State University students to read some poetry with life in it, with the kind of rhythm Aretha brought to "My Country 'Tis of Thee..." If only Obama had chosen Cassandra Starr, or Shawn, or "Geno" or any of the others whose poems brought a real voice to me. Or doris davenport, their teacher.
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Susan Brown says:
Exactly! I wasn't expecting
Exactly! I wasn't expecting Maya Angelou, but I could barely tell it was poetry; if it hadn't been announced as such, I wouldn't have guessed. It was quite a flat note after that wonderful inaugural speech. Susan
Marilyn Kallet says:
I disagree--there were a couple of lines that bombed, but
For the most part, I thought the poem was Whitmanesque and elegant, and the poet was elegant.
She was very poised. She didn't pretend to do a performance.
I'd like to see the poem on the page to pick out the lines I like and those few that were "soft" or sentimental. The transcript of the poem that's circulating from the news agencies is in prose (typical, unfortunately, of press that doesn't know that lines are important.)
All cheers, poetry is a big tent like America--there's lots of room for everyone! Marilyn
Kathryn Stripling Byer says:
No Way
Marilyn, pedestrian is not poetry. Sorry. This was a HUGE disappointment. Whitmanesque? Lord. She had no rhythm, so sense of phrasing or turn of phrase. There is too much of this in American poetry now. If you can call it poetry. A big tent can house a lot of work that lessens the language that should be sustaining us all. This was such a big, important day for poetry. A performance wasn[t called for, just a good poem, with language that was memorable. Memorable speech, that's what Wordsworth called it. Enchanted utterance, what S. Spender called it. Please, go to my laureate site and you will see what 19 year old African-American students can do. E. Alexander needs to get back in touch with the rhythm of the language. Too many American poets have lost their sheer passionate love of the language.
Sorry to be at odds, but......K
Mary Wilkinson says:
It sounded like America to
It sounded like America to me, clear message, no disguise...what you see is what you get
Kathryn Stripling Byer says:
P.S
Mayb the reason the news agencies don't have lineation is that there's not any real sense of it in the poem? It seemed more like prose to me.
Sue Glasco says:
To each her own
I liked the speech (tremendous!) and I liked the poem.
Jodi Thompson says:
disappointing poem
I really can't tell you anything about the poem - we watched the inauguration at work and everyone got up to leave during the poem. The delivery had no "listen to me" sense. I really don't care to read it - it was intended to be delivered and should have had power at delivery.
I remember being spellbound during Maya Angelou's delivery of her inauguration poem. This was dull at best.
The benediction, while too long, was more interesting than the poem.
The speech, however. Oh, the speech. Spectacular, truthful and powerful - in substance and delivery!
Alex Grant says:
Inaugural poem
I agree about the poem, Kathryn. I thought the delivery was William Shatner-ish - all. that. pausing. after. almost. every. word. for. effect. That's the kind of thing I expect to hear in an open-mic.
Coupled with that occasionally slightly sing-songy delivery when she wasn't doing that(to let you know it's poetry - instead of relying on the language), it did little for me - except to re-affirm why poetry is such a tough sell to non-poets - it's so often badly done - I think this was a huge missed opportunity.
Great speech from President Obama, though...
Gregory Roensch says:
The Poem
"All about us is noise."
I don't know jack about poetry, but I liked this line.
Christina Pacosz says:
Elizabeth Alexander's Inaugural Poem
Can't agree with you about the quality of Alexander's poem. I watched from home mesmerized by her poem from the moment it spoke of the noise that surrounds us in our human world and what it said about who creates that world and how they do it - take out your pencils, begin! - and the memories of my paternal grandmother who worked as a "janitress" in pre-war Detroit and registered as an immigrant alien each year. My mother was also a janitor. The whole family approved really, or at least they did in spirit. As a working-class Polish American poet/writer, I felt very included by Alexander's scope and imagery and believed she was echoing some of what Obama spoke in his speech. She was speaking clearly and slowly due to the nature of the event. Her poem should have been before his speech, I think, so people wouldn't have walked out on her.
wendybabiak (not verified) says:
I agree
I think any of us might have had trouble "performing" in front of such a global crowd. I said elsewhere that I'd have puked on my shoes with nerves. People are quick to criticize, apparently relcutant to listen.
"What if the word is 'love'?" Indeed, what if.
Eileen Moeller says:
I liked the poem. I felt it
I liked the poem. I felt it leaned more heavily in the direction of Williams then Sandburg, and toward imagism in general, relying on the vividness of its pictures, rather than on rhythm to invite the reader in. Williams wasn't particularly musical either. He was also dedicated to memorializing the American vernacular, and the events of ordinary life; mixing them with larger, more philosophical ideas. The poem does use repetition toward the end as a means of picking up momentum, but Alexander's delivery flattened that somewhat rather than enhancing it (Williams' readings were rather flat also, though his were often so concise as to defy picking up rhythm). The imagists were also writing as much for the page (visuals) as for the ear. Comparing her to Angelou is apples and oranges. But that does bring up a question: have we developed a stereotype of what African-American poetry should look and sound like? Is this a factor in why Alexander seems to fall short? I think that being "untypical" is what makes Obama special, and for that reason, I think I understand why he chose her
Eileen Moeller
Jeanie Thompson says:
I agree that Obama knew
I agree that Obama knew exactly what to expect with her poetry. His speech ws not poetic - the dissectors from Stanley Fish to Frank Rich have all established it's rhetoric and have commented that it was not his usual style. He wanted serious langauge and admonishment. He didn't want the speech upstaged (and I meant this positively) by a poem that would move in a very different cadence. Her poem mirrored the speech. Dr. Lowery gave us what we needed at the end.
Abdelwahab Hammoudi says:
Here is an alternate one
Here is an alternate one.
http://www.redroom.com/blog/abdelwahab-hammoudi/moonlightto-obamaa-poem-...
Kathryn Stripling Byer says:
Inaugural poem
Thank you all for responding. I appreciate the exchange. I've been criticized elsewhere for speaking out about my diappointment. I guess I've gotten a little gun-shy, but ......maybe I've just been isolated too long atop my hillside. I send you all a warm wish and, yes, more poetry!
Jeanie Thompson says:
Kathryn, the very best thing
Kathryn, the very best thing about the poem is that it has gotten peole talkinga about poetry, gotten news stories running about poetry, and given poetry some cache. We can't discount that even as we wrangle over the pottage...
Thank you for doing this! So now let's keep it going, with talk about other poets and other poems, and what poetry might do to continue to give us the news.
jeffery mcnary says:
INAUGURAL POETRY
robert pinsky wrote, "the art of poetry has many of its roots in hierarchical, pre-democratic culture:the flirtations and imperial visions of european courts; the monkisk preservations of scholars, the wistful, stylized perception of asian officials and monks, the folk-narratives, charms and ballads of peasants. poetry's place in the united states - often presented, i think inaccurately, as no place - presents a node of anxieties about culture itself and about the idea of democracy." i'd like to agree. we witnessed a 'false choice', and equally hollow and centrist. why not billy collins or jorie graham or even bob dylan? no. ms. alexander is at best a mediocre writer, and were she not the daughter of a washington lawyer who happend to be former secretary of the army, it's doubtful she would have been reading there at all. a wasted effort.
Jodi Thompson says:
Comparing Angelou's and
Comparing Angelou's and Alexander's inaugural poems is quite fair in my eyes/ears, and nothing to do with skin color. They are the ONLY inaugural poems in my experience. I didn't experience Robert Frost's inaugural poem and don't recall that there have been any others.
Have I developed a sterotype of what INAUGURAL poems should be? After only two? Perhaps. I rewatched/listened to Elizabeth Alexander's poem. Still not impressed. So be it.
Victoria Zackheim says:
The Inaugural poem
I got so caught up (actually, down) in the reading of the poem that I missed much of the content. It might have been brilliant, but I've no way of knowing...the droning got in the way. This happened once before, listening to a 'droning' poet. When I read her work later, I was astonished by its beauty and depth. Alas, someone singing off-key will ruin a song...the same can be said about poetry.
Alethea D Eason says:
Poem
I saw Elizabeth Alexander on Colbert. What a contrast. I loved listening to her on the show as she described the poem as a "praise song" modeled after West African tribal poetry. But poem itself failed to interest me much.
Dave Rosenthal says:
inaugural poem
I can't recall when a poem generated this much discussion among Americans. On The Baltimore Sun's book blog (www.baltimoresun.com/readstreet), the dozens of comments were split, but negative views predominated. We also interviewed the president of the Poetry Foundation, which publishes Poetry magazine, and he was more forgiving, noting that the limitations of any ceremonial poem.
Jeanie Thompson says:
the poem's lines
Ed Bryne at Valpariso Poetry Review has posted a very considered discussion and also the complete poem in text. It's in tercets. I see VPR on FACEBOOK. Lots of commenting going on there, too. Jeanie
Bob Kalsey says:
Inaugural poem
Elizabeth Alexander's poem was not helped by her recitation of it at the inauguration, but in retrospect it seems to me her words themselves were, while clumsy in part, appropriate for the day.
It was an occasion of plain speaking and common language. Mr. Obama's widely anticipated speech was itself not one of rhetorical delights and poetic flourishes; no lines he spoke are destined to be carved in granite on a monument or cast in bronze for the ages. But if they were to be, they would be set in bland Helvetica, the font chosen by those of whom it has been said, "they want to fit in and look normal. They use Helvetica because they want to be a member of the efficiency club."
What Obama said, beyond the words he spoke, was "See? I'm no elitist after all." That was something that needed saying to move the conversation from personality and ideological rhetoric to the hard work that needs doing and the hard choices we collectively face.
The most telling phrase in Alexander's poem was "Say it plain." And that she did and that may be part of the reason for disappointment among those of us who found her poem wanting. More at issue for me, though, was her delivery which, owing to its pomposity and self-importance, undermined her message of respect, esteem, and appreciation for the everyday experiences of common folk. She placed an artificial emphasis on words and phrases, making cumbersome what might have been elegant. She imposed white space around those words, seemingly to give them exaggerated weight. She made precious the little things she meant to declare only noteworthy. Perhaps she felt too much the historic significance of the day or worried that her words might seem, were they left unadorned by affectation, trivial.
I don't think she listened well to what her words had to say. Her expressions hadn't the brawn and sinew of Sandberg, yet she tried to stretch them tight and bulk them up with muscle they were far too frail to carry. They were as simple, though not as effortless, as the American colloquialism of Frost, but her plodding reading gave their realism a resonance of insincerity.
Poets ought never read aloud their own work – they've too much invested in it.
I nearly fell out of my chair on hearing Alexander orate so solemnly: "Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself, / Others by first, do no harm or take no more / than you need." All I could think of was the cheesy sign at the King's Table Smorgasbord all-you-can-eat joint I frequented in college: "Take all you want, but eat all you take." That level, the ham-fisted inelegance of a cheap eatery's admonition against wasting its money, was unfortunately the low plane of much of "Praise Song for the Day."
Others have mentioned Robert Frost here. I recall his reading at JFK's 1961 inauguration. Blinded by the glare of the sun and TelePrompTers not available, he could not read the poem ("Dedication") that he had written for the event, but recited his "The Gift Outright" from memory instead. It is a short poem, less than a third the length of Alexander's. It speaks about surrendering ourselves to the country, "Such as she was, such as she would become." It was a moving moment: an elderly, world-renowned and well-loved literary figure honoring a young man of "a new generation" who offered the nation new hope and vigor. Frost honored the nation, too, with humility and humanness and honesty.
Frost's "Dedication" might have been a good choice for Obama's inauguration. In it, he speaks of "A turning point in modern history," and concludes declaring the start of "A golden age of poetry and power/Of which this noonday's the beginning hour."
Yeah; it even rhymed.
Dave Rosenthal says:
Interview with Alexander
I got a chance today to interview Alexander, whose poem at the Obama inauguration has sparked lots of debate on The Baltimore Sun's Read Street blog -- as it has here. She discusses her preparation, the reading and the sometimes harsh reaction. You can read excerpts at www.baltimoresun.com/readstreet, and link to the complete, 15-minute interview.
enoch john says:
inaugural poem
Well,I'm not disappointed in the least.If I were asked to encapsulate the substance of Ms Alexander's poem in one word I might be tempted to offer''pedestrian''.It brings me back to what I usually say in my circle when we discuss poetry.Not because someone is an acedemic or a profoundly learnt person must we expect him/her to be a great poet.A great poet is a great poet.[period]I humbly submit that if people want to be regarded as poets of merit they should read people like Derek Walcott or his good friend Seamus Heaney.But ,coming back to the inaugural poem.''Praise song for the day''speaks to a particular flatness and the unrhythmic nature of its syntactic structure possibly did injustice to President Barack Obama's image that he might have wanted to project.I hope that he and his advisers are cognizant of the fact that this poem might very well come to be associated with his presidency and the mundaneness that the poet attempted to convey might very well become the underpinning characteristic that brands America for the next four years.
Kevin Simmonds says:
Delivery vs. Substance
Elizabeth's poem was strong and clear. She didn't "perform" it and, as a musician, I wanted more music in her voice. Let's be grateful that she wrote a poem that could touch millions, not just a few of the "in" crowd. Indeed, she did "Say it plain."