The Poet's Corner

What a tough crowd. The left and the right have criticized the inaugural poem by Elizabeth Alexander. Too academic. Not patriotic enough. Should have used the rhythms of Hip Hop. Some of us remember an old Robert Frost blinded by the light at the inaugural of JFK, wind swept his new poem away and he had to recite an old favorite from memory. Who could forget Maya Angelou at Bill Clinton's 1993 inaugural? Poor Elizabeth Alexander. She had to follow Barack Obama's speech--an impossible task. Besides, Americans don't read poetry anymore.

Here it is:
Praise Song for the Day
Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each ohers' 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 the 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."

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 cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for the 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 they 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. Lover 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 the light.

End.

Not Frank O'Hara's urgent "Lana Turner Fainted Today" I know but strong enough. But then who could ever surpass Maya Angelou's "On The Pulse of Morning" ? By popular demand here are the first two verses.

A Rock,A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Marked the mastodon.

The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
Of their sojourn here
On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

Dinosaurs are a hard act to follow. So maybe we should give Elizabeth Alexander a break.