To see the millions of Americans waving flags, standing in the cold.
To hear in both the invocation and benediction prayers for God's forgiveness.
To understand President Obama's call to service and hope.
To know I helped do my small part and will continue to work.
To applaud when he declared: "We are ready to lead once more."
To weep in a community, huddled together in the National Mall and our living rooms.
To visualize this line of poetry: "Love... casts a widening pool of light."
To feel release, the lifting of shadow, as Bush I, Bush II, and Cheney flew away.
To witness a joyful moment in history; a rare sensation of collective rebirth.
To hope we remember, do, give, and become.
3 comments:
I, too, was moved by the poem....far more than by the prayers....I thought they were really lame....but the poem...wow, that was an affirmation.
I'm home with Olivia today...she has a cold/flu and stomach issues too...but she screeches when I try to help her on the toilet. Fun!
I'll call you later.
Oh Tammy,
I really don't like the negative reviews of the poem...I mean, people were leaving during it because they thought that after the speech the thing was over.....I almost did too and I almost forgot about it too....they were there to hear Obama and then that was it for them. It wasn't the poet's fault that she had to follow his speech. Plus, this isn't meant as a jab to him, but lofty rhetoric (in speeches AND poems) only goes so far...why else would Song of Myself remain one of the most popular poems, and Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are the archetypal "American" poets--of the 19th century and beyond....they spoke of finding the extraoridnary in the ordinary in their poems. Does anyone still read Song of Hiawatha anymore? Maybe, but really only as a footnote to Whitman and Dickinson. Also, think about what stays popular from the 20th century--the confessional poets, spilling those juicy details from their lives.
Anyway, I did want to mention that I really liked the part of the poem where the speaker mentions the mother and son waiting for the bus, and how "many have died for this day".....not because it has to necessarily allude to the occasion of Obama's inauguration, but it also points to the simpler occasion of EVERY day....which is why I also loved the line "say it plain" so much. Did the so-called critics ever think that there was a point to the disjunctive images in the first part of the poem or the repetition of the line "praise song for the day"?
I keep reading that the lukewarm public reception of the poem points to the larger place of poetry in our society and it just makes me, I don't know, not sad, not depressed, just I guess....glum. It makes our jobs of convincing our students the importance and relevance poetry has in our lives just that much more difficult. And on a side note, since I ignored the previous 2 inaugurations...were there poems? The last poem I remember was Maya Angelou's for Clinton.
Oh, and you know I don't have to tell you how much I loved the choice of "Simple Gifts" as the music piece since that was what I used as my wedding march song....I thought it was lovely.
Anyway, what are your thoughts? (if you have time, of course..I have lots since Olivia is still sick and we are at my Mom's today and I get a little break)
I'll have to respond more later. I'm so tired right now. Talk to you soon. -Tammy
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