Derek Walcott and Barack Obama together
Barack Obama with Derek's Collected Poems
Here, I hope, is the photograph that tipped me off. I'd love to know your thoughts on who will write President-Elect Obama's inaugural poem. They have less than three months to get it perfected...
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Matthew Biberman says:
neat catch
Walcott would be a great choice. Pinsky is probably too obvious. I bet you are right.
Susan Rich says:
Walcott or ?
There must be some other serious contenders. Patricia Smith is getting a fair bit of attention these days and comes from Chicago; Maya Angelou could make a comeback. I would love to see Adrienne Rich (no relation). I wonder if there are other bloggers sending out suggestions.... Have you heard any others? Often the tradition is for the poet to come from the same state as the President-Elect. Certainly not required ...
Clem Cook says:
Inaugural poem
Can an inaugural poem be an already published poem? If so, it has surely been written and perfected, and possibly explains the Walcott poetry volume held by Obama a couple of days after his election in the above photo.
'Forty Acres (to Barack Obama)' was written exclusively for 'The Times' (UK) by Derek Walcott to mark Obama's election, and was published the day after:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5088429.ece
Is that not 'perfected'?
How could any other poem or poet improve on that?