| I HEAR America singing, the varied carols I hear; | |
| Those of mechanics--each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong; | |
| The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam, | |
| The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work; | |
| The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat--the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck; | 5 |
| The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench--the hatter singing as he stands; | |
| The wood-cutter's song--the ploughboy's, on his way in the morning, or at the noon intermission, or at sundown; | |
| The delicious singing of the mother--or of the young wife at work--or of the girl sewing or washing--Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else; | |
| The day what belongs to the day--At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, | |
| Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs. |
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
Neither the poem nor the speech was good, I thought. The speech was horribly pedestrian, and no he didn't deliver it beautifully.
Speech: meh, I put the delivery down to nerves, stress and exhaustion. Poem: horrible, poorly read and who was that woman.
Benediction: Great, can we get a copy of that?
I guess they don't vet poetry. I enjoyed Rev Lowery's poem at the end of the benediction much more....
Yeah, really. Was she the Stilted Prose-ist Laureate? Way to instill a love of poetry in a new generation, there. Ouch.
Am I the only one who thought that it was a little racist for Rev Lowery to praying that white people get it right? Or that Warren prayer at the beginning was uninspiring? That Aretha Franklin just sucked? Obama was pretty good though.
Yes. Too bad her "poem" didn't fly away like the poem back in '61.
I agree that Whitman was our eternal poet.
I had forgotten that one was in Leaves of Grass; but I have occasionally wondered whether it could be, or has been, set to music?
I thought the poem was ... mediocre, but not actually as bad as it sounded. It would have benefited greatly from being read by someone who knew how to read out loud at least as well as a kindergarten teacher at story time.
I only read the poem, I did not hear it delivered. I thought it was awful. I like the idea of reciting classics instead of trying to write new stuff, which is almost sure to be bad.
I offer the following poem in substitution:
There once was a man named Barack,
who was sworn in at twelve o'clock.
He said, "Let's begin,
To build our country again,
And I'll stand here as your rock."
I'm a simple man: if it doesn't rhyme, it ain't poetry.
The poem was OK but the delivery reminded me of the Voice of America's programs in Special English. The speech was complete boilerplate with one or two exceptions, and I'd give Obama points more for confident delivery (confidence isn't a problem of his) rather than anything more exalted. Lowery was pretty cool, especially for someone I thought was dead.
I agree with everyone apropos the poem. How about Roberts blowing the oath!?
The eminent Dr. Boli proffered an alternative Inaugural Poem of his own mere moments after the real one concluded:
Dr. Boli: A Poem for the Inauguration
Let America be America Again by Langston Hughes would have been my choice, although I'm also a big Walt Whitman fan.
The eminent Dr. Boli proffered an alternative Inaugural Poem of his own mere moments after the real one concluded:
Dr. Boli: A Poem for the Inauguration
[Link repaired; my apologies.]
The poetry should be in the inaugural address itself. Let the new President inspire. A cryptic coda by a professional poet coda is an awkward idea that needs to go away.
...A cryptic coda by a professional poet is...
Let the "yellow be mellow"? Sheesh, why not beseech The Almighty to let the Irish put down the Bushmills?
Agree somewhat. I sat there with a class of students and teachers thinking, "Wow that poem blows. Who is that and what the heck is she talking about?" The poem did not come across well, and the delivery was blah. In a nation where poetry is not a favorite thing, it pays to kind of sculpt the poem to the masses and the moment.
Obama's speech was pretty good, but it was a difficult speech when trying to balance dark and light, good news and bad. Needed a little less lofty frou frou, more lunch pail.
Aretha was fine; a safe choice. And yea Lowry had me cringing a bit. He was kind of being jokey at the end of his speech/prayer, but the last thing you want to do is leave a group (in this case whites) with a bitter taste. After all, they helped put the guy in office.
Warren was okay...those conservatives who have not yet rejected him (for being a part of it all) were pleased to hear the five or so variations of "Jesus". No doubt that annoyed atheists and others.
This is poetry? Gosh, if I'd turned in this kind of crap in elementary school, I'd have failed on the spot, and rightly so. Give me a break, Dr Suess did a better job!
What poem could possibly have satisfied? Maybe "The Charge of the Light Brigade"? "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed"? Emily Dickinson? Give me a break. Could any of you have done better? I don't like poetry, as a general rule, but I thought it was fine and, moreover, was glad it wasn't me who had to compose and read it. Professional poet seems slightly oxymoronic, anyway.
Thank you, Will Allen. Apparently, the white/black/brown is quoted from an old saying. This yellow dude would have been happy to be excluded from the Rev. Lowery's benediction.
Richard: the import of the "white" reference is simply that those in power do not abuse it. It's no more limited to skin color than "red man" was limited to gender.
As for the poem, oh my God, I went beyond hating it to actually being angry. The only thing I can say for it is that it was every bit as good as her reading of it.
Thank goodness Warren gave a ridiculous speech instead of a prayer, except at the end when his true Protestant came out. His minutes of fame are over. A year from now he'll be a Cash Cab question which no one can answer.
The poem was awful. They always are. Robert Frost, a great poet, was saved by a divine wind that blew away the tedious poem he wrote for JFK. Next time, try a rapper who doesn't right dirty or misogynistic lyrics. They know how to move people with spoken words.
Areatha Franklin was great. She would do a great job singing an auditor's comfort letter.
Roberts wants to pick the next president so he started a conspiracy theory to the effect that Obama is not really the president because he did not take the oath specified in the Constitution.
In the first half of his speech Obama forgot that the election is over and read off a list of promises to every interest group. The second half was much better.
Lowery was the highlight. Some of his words came from an old blues song by Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter. Very appropriate when you consider that, even in Obama's lifetime, there were places in this country where racial minorities were not allowed to vote. We have come far, and that is what Lowery was saying.
The Emergency Broadcast System has been replaced with the Emergency Alert System:
http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/services/eas/
With an opportunity like that, you HAVE to go with:
There once was a man from Nantucket...
Another inaugural poem:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvZ1AaZOnQo