# Was the inaugural poem good?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 20, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174 "2009-01-20T18:36:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crocodiles_And_Boulevards)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/1 "2009-01-20T18:36:31Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/2 "2009-01-20T18:48:25Z")
I guess Walt Whitman or Robert Frost couldn’t make it.
Too bad.
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### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/3 "2009-01-20T18:52:51Z")
The poem was ok but the way she read it annoyed me.
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### Author:  [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/4 "2009-01-20T18:55:15Z")
I feel like it’s 2009; why do we have an inaugural poem?
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### Author:  [@Atomicflea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomicflea)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/5 "2009-01-20T18:56:09Z")
The poem could have been better, but her delivery sucked mudwater.
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### Author:  [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/6 "2009-01-20T18:57:03Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/7 "2009-01-20T19:30:12Z")
> [@Freejooky](#):
>
> I feel like it’s 2009; why do we have an inaugural poem?
- because it’s a powerful art and perfect for the occasion.
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### Author:  [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/8 "2009-01-20T19:44:59Z")
> [@Freejooky](#):
>
> I feel like it’s 2009; why do we have an inaugural poem?
Your feeling is correct; it’s 2009. What does that have to do with poetry?
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### Author:  [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/9 "2009-01-20T19:48:15Z")
That poem was a hot mess.
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### Author:  [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/10 "2009-01-20T20:01:48Z")
The poem was a saccharine cliché-fest that sounded incredibly lightweight and trite coming after Obama’s eloquent and surprisingly straightforward speech.
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### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/11 "2009-01-20T20:03:29Z")
Has anyone found the poem published online somewhere?
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/12 "2009-01-20T20:05:58Z")
I think the [poem](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-poem.html) 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.
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### Author:  [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/13 "2009-01-20T20:18:21Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/14 "2009-01-20T20:21:33Z")
The delivery was truly horrible, and the poem quite forgettable otherwise.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/15 "2009-01-20T20:39:37Z")
> [@Malthus](#):
>
> The delivery was truly horrible, and the poem quite forgettable otherwise.
This. It sucked mightily. An offense to poets everywhere.
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### Author:  [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/16 "2009-01-20T20:56:58Z")
I really wanted a great poem for this occasion. This one wasn’t it.
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### Author:  [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/17 "2009-01-20T20:58:18Z")
An occasion this important, with this much lead time, and that was the best they could do?
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### Author:  [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/18 "2009-01-20T21:01:59Z")
The poem was shit.
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/19 "2009-01-20T21:07:56Z")
> [@thirdwarning](#):
>
> An occasion this important, with this much lead time, and that was the best they could do?
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.
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### Author:  [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/20 "2009-01-20T21:09:54Z")
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.
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