I suppose that’s something that’s going to be subjective, but I just wasn’t that impressed with it. Then again, I’m no expert on modern poetry either. How’d you guys feel about it?
I guess Walt Whitman or Robert Frost couldn’t make it.
Too bad.
The poem was ok but the way she read it annoyed me.
I feel like it’s 2009; why do we have an inaugural poem?
The poem could have been better, but her delivery sucked mudwater.
I couldn’t really pay attention to the poem itself, because her recitation was horrific. You’re not actually supposed to stop speaking for several seconds every time you get to a break in your free verse poetry, lady. :rolleyes:
Because of her awkward pausing, it just sounded like disjointed phrases. It may have been better on paper. I’d have to evaluate it without the distraction.
- because it’s a powerful art and perfect for the occasion.
Your feeling is correct; it’s 2009. What does that have to do with poetry?
That poem was a hot mess.
The poem was a saccharine cliché-fest that sounded incredibly lightweight and trite coming after Obama’s eloquent and surprisingly straightforward speech.
Has anyone found the poem published online somewhere?
I think the poem was free verse. I prefer poems that actually rhyme and have meter (assuming that’s the correct term). I thought the benediction read more rythmically, and not just at the end.
Congrats to you guys for having dodged poetry readings for the last 30 years, but that kind of random-pause delivery for free verse is extraordinarily common in the coffeehouses of this great nation. And, yes, it’s annoying.
I’d like to reread it before passing judgment, but I don’t recall a line that really grabbed me.
The delivery was truly horrible, and the poem quite forgettable otherwise.
This. It sucked mightily. An offense to poets everywhere.
I really wanted a great poem for this occasion. This one wasn’t it.
An occasion this important, with this much lead time, and that was the best they could do?
The poem was shit.
Yea, I kinda like the idea of having a poem read at the inauguration, but one thinks a country off 300 million coulda come up with something a little better. I zoned out about half-way through it.
I don’t think it was brilliant poetry, but I did find it moving. I think it was pedestrian in its artistry, but I also think it was very clear and concrete, and I liked that simplicity about it. I also just really liked the phrase “Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.” I thought it really evoked the ideal of a grassroots movement.