tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444082152312444929.post5034198623659053882..comments2024-02-15T22:18:00.385-07:00Comments on Bobby Byrd: Elizabeth Alexander's Inaugaration Poem: The Poetics of DeclamationBobby Byrdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17990783036661848472noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444082152312444929.post-73718423802315849252009-02-07T11:29:00.000-07:002009-02-07T11:29:00.000-07:00"Inauguration", that's all I have to say about it...."Inauguration", that's all I have to say about it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444082152312444929.post-92128963414785719402009-02-03T14:15:00.000-07:002009-02-03T14:15:00.000-07:00From El Paso songwriter & poet Gene Keller via...From El Paso songwriter & poet Gene Keller via email;<BR/>If the poem is in the breath of expression, that part was saddening. And the writing of public poetry comes with lots of limitations. I'm happy because poetry was part of the conversation.Bobby Byrdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17990783036661848472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444082152312444929.post-37098841862440585382009-01-21T23:54:00.000-07:002009-01-21T23:54:00.000-07:00First, here is a link to the transcribed poem:http...First, here is a link to the transcribed poem:<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-poem.html" REL="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-poem.html</A><BR/><BR/>I was unable to hear her present the poem, but read it from the link. I then twittered a line important to me. <BR/><BR/>The line evokes a scene Quincy Jones recently described in a radio interview. He said that he and Oprah sat around the Obamas' kitchen table to discuss the possibility of his running for the presidency. Jones said the campaign truly began that day, "figuring it out at the kitchen table."<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://twitter.com/chacal_lachaise/status/1134566198" REL="nofollow">http://twitter.com/chacal_lachaise/status/1134566198</A>carolyn rhea drapes aka chacalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359391760248612442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444082152312444929.post-35376299740857619692009-01-21T10:01:00.000-07:002009-01-21T10:01:00.000-07:00FROM MY FRIEND JB BRYAN. I called him last night a...FROM MY FRIEND JB BRYAN. I called him last night after getting a couple of emails moaning about Alexander's poem. Always a bit unsure of myself, I wondered if I had misheard. Here's what JB said:<BR/><BR/>PARSING THE POEM: when ms. alexander got up after mr. obama it seemed she had one of those moments i have often felt: "what the hell was i thinking to be doing this?" but i thought she pulled herself together and plowed forth with the poem she brought. hell or high water should be the poet's motto!<BR/><BR/>enclosed is the NYT link to The Opinionator. read the comments which show the full range of snobby attitude or outright derision toward poetry. one person thinks obama should have picked amiri baraka while others expected lofty flourish. most people i think simply found it boring. or that it confirmed why they don't like poetry, for whatever reason.<BR/><BR/>i liked it for the reasons i like the poetry i like-- it felt truthful and sincere. if it had been a pompous poem delivered with pretentious attitude then i would have recoiled. and fortunately it wasn't post-avant leaving people to scratch their heads while saying "huh?"<BR/><BR/>i ran across this from the Yale Daily<BR/><BR/>http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/27169<BR/><BR/> >>The poem was always meant to stem from her personal and intimate understanding of American citizenship, an understanding steeped in her own experiences as a black woman writer, Alexander said in the interview.<BR/><BR/>“There’s beauty in the impossibility of the task,” she said. “You can’t speak to all those people, you can’t know what all these millions and millions will hear and find in your work.”<BR/><BR/>So, Alexander said, she preferred not to try. Instead, she attempted to use her inaugural poem to encapsulate the hopes and beliefs she had experienced in the aftermath of Obama’s historic victory in November.<BR/><BR/>“In a kind of paradox, that audience of millions and millions left me very free to listen to myself and simply hope that I can provide clarity,” Alexander said.<BR/><BR/>Alexander’s poem addressed the importance of humanity. Her idea to focus on the details of the lives of everyday people, she said, was inspired by the work of her greatest literary hero, Gwendolyn Brooks, an African-American poet who wrote about life in South Side Chicago from the 1940s until her death in 2000. Alexander edited a 2005 anthology of Brooks’ work, “The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks,” and said Sunday that she attempted to emulate Brooks’ focus on community spirit in her inaugural poem.<BR/><BR/>One of the final stanzas of Alexander’s poem for Obama suggests simply, “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.” <<<BR/><BR/>providing clarity isn't easy. sheesh.<BR/><BR/>oh well, poets can't win.<BR/>maybe that is the true motto.Bobby Byrdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17990783036661848472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444082152312444929.post-46824103073716747912009-01-21T00:08:00.000-07:002009-01-21T00:08:00.000-07:00Dirt is also accessible. It was to hearing, what ...Dirt is also accessible. It was to hearing, what a blind person finger painting with three colors is to seeing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com