The inauguration poem was exactly the kind of poetry I don't like.

[Odin2005]

It seemed incoherent, awkward, and jerky. Poetry often breaks the grammatical rules of speech and prose, but that was an example of what happens when you break too many grammar rules, you get incomprehensible word salad. I couldn't understand at least half of what Mrs. Alexander was saying.

[tigereye]

1. I liked it - I didn't think it was incoherent at all, maybe somewhat expression-

istic. It made perfect sense for this day, and the sense of history.

[kayakjohnny]

4. Whew, thank goodness for your reply. I was beginning to think I was a complete freak

for liking it. Cheers!

[lildreamer316]

2. I just think it should have been read in a different meter.

Of course she wrote it; so she knows how it should be read; but it's kinda like music..sometimes other's interpretations of what you have written are better. Go figure.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. Agreed........

It was clunky. Nothing resonated, the imagery fell flat, no coherent rhythm, nothing sang.

But at least it wasn't Maya Angelou, for which I was thankful.

I remember Robert Frost at JFK's inaugural. The sun was so bright, the old poet couldn't see his pages, which were also whipping around in a stiff wind, so LBJ got up and used his hat to shade the pages for Frost, but he still couldn't see the poem he had written for the occasion.

So he just stood there and recited "The Gift Outright." It was a stunning, beautiful moment, and I fear it spoiled me for inaugural poetry forever more.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. It was absolutely awful. It sounded exactly like the empty, shitty, bullshit poetry

that liberals in the 1990s were supposed to love because of its African-American womanist progeny, done by a woman with VERY FUCKING SERIOUS "Look, I'm serious about this inclusive enculturation deconstructionist modern-era sensitive organic womynyst literati-ness agenda; you can tell by my geometric haircut and the serious with which I. Pronounce. Every. Word. Like. It. Has. A. Period. After. It."

It was pure crap. Seriously.

I was embarrassed listening to it.



In all absolute seriousness, California Peggy's poetry - done by a total amateur - not only has more artistry, it actually IS artistic, meaningful, and wondrously literate.

[Odin2005]

11. I agree completely.

Post-Modern anything sucks by definition. I stink at poetry, but even I could do a better job then that drivel.

[tigereye]

19. listen to her NPR interview - I think it gives a different perspective

yes, she seems to have that deconstructionist-look, but there are all kinds of poets - and it seems reasonable for Obama - a very thoughtful guy - to choose a very thoughtful poet. I seem to remember she was a lawyer or academic perhaps, prior to her becoming a poet.


I've heard so much poetry over the years that I am rarely embarrassed by any of em. :shrug:

[Critters2]

26. I worry about you Rabrrrrrrr. It's not healthy to keep your feelings all bottled up like that. nt

[Lucian]

28. I totally agree with everything you have said.

:thumbsup:

[LeftyMom]

6. It was dreadful.

The delivery was bad, the poem itself was choppy and disjointed to the point where it sounded like the product of a random word generator.

That sort of choppy poem doesn't work nearly as well for reading aloud as something with a nice even meter, and the occasion called for a more ceremonial use of language. In short, it was a terrible fit for the day, and would have been a clanger even with a greatly improved delivery.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Especially given that Obama is a literate president, a literate poem would have been appropriate

[LeftyMom]

9. I would have been happy with a mediocre poem delivered reasonably well.

I'm not a student of poetry, but I take public speaking very seriously. The poor woman looked like she was about to faint, vomit or piss herself, if not all three, when she got to the podium. I don't know if it was because of that nervousness or because of a lack or preparation, but she read that poem like she'd never seen it before and was not familiar enough with the language in which it was written to get more than a vague sense of its' meaning.

She didn't especially punch any words, or vary her pacing. As you said above, it was the ponderous delivery of a person who needs to emphasize the seriousness of their words. That is unfortunately common in some academic circles and is unfortunately an effective cover for works that really don't merit that degree of seriousness on their own. I would argue that is the case here.

I found a link to the poem. It's no less incoherent in print, but at least there isn't a pregnant pause after each and every word. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-poem.html?ref=books

[tigereye]

20. I'm pretty sure she had been writing and preparing for a while per the inter=

view I heard on NPR.

Yes, it had a very academic feel, but I think there was a historical bent and AA cadence behind the word and images. Poets tend to read like that, with a lot of pauses - it can be annoying, but it's quite typical.

[Rabrrrrrr]

38. It didn't have an academic feel - it had a CRAP feel

Pauses can be very powerful when used properly. A dramatic pause can make or break a line of dialogue, a poetry reading, or a speech. Absolutely, pauses are good.

But like all things, just because it's good, doesn't mean more is better, or that it can't be used for wrong.

Her pauses were an attempt to make something CRAP sound like it was the most profound fucking thing that any human has ever written and. so. you. all. better. be. aware. that. this. is. the. most. incredible. poem. ever. and. really. look. at. the. hair. again. you. can. tell. i'm. really. fucking. serious. about. this.

[Odin2005]

12. I agree. Ceremonial events are NOT the time for trying out some innovative stuff.

[1gobluedem]

8. I thought it was terrible

Rambling, incoherent, and dated. I couldn't follow it at all.

[Orrex]

10. For one thing, it didn't rhyme. What kind of poem doesn't rhyme?!?

:evilgrin:

Seriously, I thought that it was utterly lifeless and wholly overshadowed by everything else that when on today.

At best it's a mediocre poem, but if it had been read in an effective manner then perhaps it would have seemed stronger.


But it wasn't.

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. But on the other hand, it helped the benediction shine even all the more brightly

[Fire Walk With Me]

14. "Art cut a fart, and blew the car apart."

No, not appropriate, and not up to the general standards of dignity we hope to resurrect in the coming days.

[eirteacher]

15. Bush time

I used the occasion to take a Bush.

[no name no slogan]

16. The only kind of poetry I like goes like this: there once was a man from Nantucket, ...

[Arugula Latte]

17. She should have read:

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Get the fuck out, Bush
Your time is through.

[pokerfan]

18. my thoughts exactly

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Bush is gone for good
And Cheney too!

[bullwinkle428]

40. Alternate version...a poem for my Republican friends -

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Obama's the 44th President,
Sucks to be you!!!!

[Critters2]

27. That's beautiful!

:cry:

[Lyric]

21. I loved it. I don't care about the delivery, to be honest.

To me, poetry is not about performance, it's about literature. I'd like to see her original copy of the poem, though--I'd guess that the line breaks would make it significantly better. Not every poet is a good "reader."

YMMV, of course.

[Redbear]

22. I liked it.

But, I don't know as much about poetry as you folks. I thought it fit the understated theme of the event.

[RadiationTherapy]

23. I am very averse to "rules" when it comes to creating, but prose is not poetry.

I am unwilling to define any further, but prose is different from poetry. We had inaugural prose.

[Shakespeare]

24. Agree. It tried way too hard to be in the Rita Dove/Sharon Olds mold.

And I'm not wild about those, either.

I wish Amy Clampitt had lived long enough to be called on by a democratic president to write a poem (she died in '94, and would've been a better choice in 93 than Maya Angelou). I think she's one of the most underrated poets of the last half of the 20th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Clampitt

[AngryOldDem]

25. I'm not alone, then.

I didn't care for it either. Parts of it just made no sense. I feel like a raging Philistine for saying so, but there it is.

[Zuiderelle]

29. It was a fine poem. She may have read it in an uncomfortable way for some, but it was far from

incoherent. Here's a transcript:

Praise song for the day.

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."

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.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-poem.html

[Rabrrrrrr]

31. It's definitely coherent. Unfortunately, it's coherent CRAP.

I don't think it is poetic at all.

Where are the metaphors? The similes? The conjuring power of vivid imagery that leads us to see new things and old things newly?

It's all gone.

It reads like high school prose, or the shit that emo bands think is "deep".

The only line I like is one that caught me in her pedantic reading: "The figuring it out at kitchen tables." That's a line of poetry there. Beautiful. Imaginative. Evocative.

The rest? Crap.

[Zuiderelle]

33. Yeah, from your post above, I already got that you hated it.

With a passion.

[Rabrrrrrr]

34. Good. I'm glad I'm making myself clear. I can say it one more time if you like.

:7

[InternalDialogue]

36. Good poetry (or prose, much of the time)

should be like a drop of watercolor paint on a wet sheet of paper. I want it to drop, hit, and spread to become something else, surprising me. This poem didn't do it for me. I'm in your camp.

[Rabrrrrrr]

39. Yes! I love that image.

More image than she managed, by the way.

Hers was heavy-handed and hamfisted. Like she was thinking, "You all might not get the imagery I'm intending, so instead of being poetic, I'm going to write something that is as devoid of imagery and ambiguity and nuance as a bridge blueprint."

[Midlodemocrat]

37. I liked it.

[Haole Girl]

30. It definitely wasn't a poem for the masses.

But hopefully the Obamas really enjoyed it.

[My Good Babushka]

32. blech

it was a crummy poem and she gave it the worst delivery possible.

[hvn_nbr_2]

35. My memory seems to be that inaugural poems are always bad.

I don't think I've ever heard a good one. I don't really know about this one because I didn't hear most of it--I got bored by it pretty quickly and used that opportunity to take a pottie break.