11 Responses for "What did you think of Elizabeth Alexander’s inaugural poem?"

1. lucy lee January 21st, 2009 at 7:57 am

   Because it was in plain English at times it sounded like a speech. Thought the content was great. My problem with poetry is I must see the words on paper to really get it. I can’t listen to poetry without reading along.

   That’s my problem, not hers.

2. Yalonda January 21st, 2009 at 10:24 am

   I loved the poem. I felt it captured the everydayness of [American] life and how magnificent things [are] happen[ing] during the most mundane of times. Reminded me of Musee des Beaux Arts by Auden. Only hers suggests that just in doing what we do, we’re on the brink of history and imagination.

   I knew when she started that she wasn’t going to get a full listen. Folks were still settling in after the speech, rustling their whatnots, and weren’t fully attuned to her beginning. Also, the relative flatness of the delivery and its focus on the sound of each word, and not the entirety of the work–in terms of dynamic presentation–just didn’t capture most folks.

   But I too want to see how she envisioned it written, line breaks and such. I want to see how she saw it and then it’ll more fully make sense in terms of how the piece means.

   As a more plain spoken kind of poet myself, I can definitely understand her impulse to “make it plain” rather than leaning toward the high verse of an occasional poem for masses that just aren’t that into hearing poetry much at all.

   I also keep in mind that the expectations for inaugural poets are high, while the precedent is still vary malleable (she’s fourth). I believe she did it her own way and it was beautiful.

3. Bettye Griffin January 21st, 2009 at 12:11 pm

   I thought it was fabulous! Plain English is okay with me, even in a poem.

4. Carleen January 21st, 2009 at 12:36 pm

   Loved it-especially the part where she talked about love.

5. Laura Vivanco January 21st, 2009 at 1:30 pm

   I agree with you that it matched the President’s speech very well. I got the sense of almost flying across the US geographically and historically, stopping every so often to focus on individual people and their words, thoughts, and personal situations, in a way which brought the soaring hopes and principles down to earth, rooting them in every day life.

6. embrownny January 21st, 2009 at 1:58 pm

   I didn’t like her reading of it. I understood what she was saying–I jsut didn’t like the delivery. Maybe she was nervous, I don’t know–I know I would have been. But I liked it much better when I had a chance to read it, and I’m not a poetry person per say.

7. Claudia January 21st, 2009 at 2:08 pm

   Love this thread! I’m still formulating my thoughts about the poem – I was thinking about writing a post on it myself, but it will probably be completely picked over by the time I can get myself together.

   I also had to separate the text from Alexander’s delivery. I could tell she was nervous and her voice sounded a little stilted.

   After reading it, though, I feel that she is saying something quite beautiful about: 1) the way our words and language define our identities; 2) the way we transform our pain and struggles through music; and 3) the roads we walk and the paths we have the courage to make for ourselves.

   I enjoyed the images she provides of everyday citizens and the way that she references the painful legacy of slavery and oppression in this country by honoring their work:

   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.

   I was not as moved by her reflections on “love” as I was when I first heard the poem. What sticks with me now is the notion of a “praise song for struggle” and Alexander’s call for us to make our own music, our own “sentence” as we move forward in these interesting times!

   Well, I guess I just wrote my own post. Sorry, Anika, for the long comment! I suspect that this poem won’t get the attention it deserves. Maybe once it is published and people have time to reflect. If people look back at Maya Angelou or Robert Frost’s poems, I think they’ll find that inaugural poems are often anti-climactic and a little corny. Compared to them, I think Alexander’s poem is really very good.

8. Yalonda January 22nd, 2009 at 12:12 am

   What’s overlooked by many in that series of actions–picking, laying, raising–is the rainbow of folks in that legacy. Lots of folks died in the laying of the railroad, for instance. Black folks, Chinese folks, Irish folks, all gave their lives along those tracks. Both Alexander’s poem and Obama’s speech alluded to the diverse legacy of Americans and they ways in which we represent and contribute to the global community by what we do within our daily/national/emotional/creative borders.

   I can’t wait until it’s available from Amazon.

9. The Inaugural Poem You Haven’t Heard « The Bottom of Heaven January 22nd, 2009 at 10:12 pm

   [...] surprised that early reviews of Alexander’s “Praise Song for the Day” are mixed. WriteBlack has a post up about its critics, and there is sure to be a lively exchange when Ta-Nehisi Coates [...]

10. Akeela January 23rd, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    There was definitely a particular tone for all the inauguration events. Everything was subdued yet friendly so that all that was seen, said or sung was consumable for everyone. It’s the same tone Obama is setting for his time in office. I would have liked it if Alexander had been more expressive in the delivery. Since she was telling the story of our history and present life, there are lines that deserved more attitude and reverberation.

11. Tom Whitford March 9th, 2009 at 8:52 am

    I thought it a dull piece of work, pedestrian prose at best, delivered with studied emphases in an attempt to make it sound like “poetry”. It added nothing to the occasion. I could only conclude the woman knew someone who pulled strings to have her piece displayed. Tedious in the extreme – equalled only by that carelessly included bit by Yo-Yo Ma and smug friends.