# Was the inaugural poem good? **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/21 "2009-01-20T21:14:49Z")
I thought the poem itself was mediocre – not horrible, but not great. Like many of you, I also found the recitation odd. As I was listening, it reminded me of something, but I couldn’t remember what. Later, I figured it out. I recently rewatch all three seasons of _Deadwood_, and Alexander’s recitation reminded me of Andy Cramed, after he came back to town as a preacher. His preaching style was similar, with the oddly placed pauses and inflection – nothing like the more rythmic Reverend Smith, who has more pleasing to listen to, even if no always coherent. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/22 "2009-01-20T21:19:01Z")
I just read the poem and thought it read like an article–and not a very good one at that. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/23 "2009-01-20T23:15:57Z")
> [@Idlewild](#): > > 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. I hesitated to post my feelings on the poem, for a couple reasons. First of all, I am one of those people that enjoy poetry without being very knowledgable about poetry. I don’t know enough about meter and such to be a good critic. Furthermore, I write poetry (which I _know_ is very bad poetry) and I wouldn’t want anyone to ever tell me the truth to my face (that my poetry is shit). So I wanted to extend some leniency here. But, it bothered me that the poem used some cheap tricks…certain phrases that I feel are a weak cop out in poetry. It lowers the bar of the art when a poem is trying to sound all ‘poetic’ without really being poetry. But, poetry, like any art is not black and white. Some will like it and some won’t. There was at least one moment of the poem, where I felt a mood was being created. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/24 "2009-01-20T23:41:38Z")
The monstrosity that was the poem made me wonder why it has to be a new poem at the inauguration. I think almost all occasional poetry is going to suck because the poet doesn’t have a lot of time and they’re forcing the theme. Couldn’t we have someone recite some Walt Whitman or Langston Hughes or something that means something to the President Elect? Instead, we got, “A. Teacher. Says. Take. Out. Your. Pencils. Begin.” ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/25 "2009-01-20T23:42:10Z")
Oh yeah, it’s hugely subjective. I write free verse and as such I didn’t have a problem with the fact that it was free verse, but a lot of people prefer something with a recognizable meter and rhyme scheme, so there’s that, to start with. And rhythmically, I think it was weak. You can do a lot with rhythm and tension even without a formal meter, so I wasn’t too impressed by that. But I thought that, given the rhetorical flourishes of all of the other speakers, there was a place for the kitchen-sink ordinariness of the poem. I also think it’s totally okay to think it was a shit poem. I think it’s great that there’s still a place for poetry in the public arena, and I think it’s even better if there’s discourse about it. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/26 "2009-01-21T00:08:30Z")
shatneresque ---
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/27 "2009-01-21T00:21:45Z")
That poem was a hot mess. I was expecting more and came away disappointed. I watched the inauguration with a bunch of former teachers and the ‘take out your pencils’ bit made everyone laugh. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/28 "2009-01-21T00:30:58Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > But, it bothered me that the poem used some cheap tricks…certain phrases that I feel are a weak cop out in poetry. It lowers the bar of the art when a poem is trying to sound all ‘poetic’ without really being poetry. But, poetry, like any art is not black and white. Some will like it and some won’t. There was at least one moment of the poem, where I felt a mood was being created. But for some reason she does not follow through. Like **JeffB** said it doesn’t hit you as great, though it’s not horrible – more like, there’s got to be a poem, so here’s one ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/29 "2009-01-21T00:32:47Z")
no. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/30 "2009-01-21T00:43:09Z")
Every time she said “praise song” I wanted to stab someone. It just never made sense to my ear, these two words paired together. The whole poem was like one run-on sentence waiting to be completed and never getting there. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/31 "2009-01-21T01:27:15Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > shatneresque Well put. Seriously, how was this woman picked? I would have thought that poetry was such a niche job these days, that anyone would who made even HALF a living from it would have to be really good. Guess not. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/32 "2009-01-21T01:33:07Z")
I remember being moved to tears by Maya Angelou. This time, I was moved to take a bathroom break. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/33 "2009-01-21T02:10:23Z")
I disliked hearing the poem, and thought I’d warm to it upon reading it. I was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/34 "2009-01-21T02:13:04Z")
I’m a big fan of poetry – even modern free verse – and I didn’t like it. While parts of it rose toward mediocrity, large sections of it were tastelessly generic. It’s as if she _has_ a specific style, but intentionally went out of her way to genericize that style, so that it would have broader appeal – and way overdid it. IMHO the “listing” was trite, because she didn’t give specific or vivid images: “Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.” It’s like a high-schooler wrote that. Also, parts looked like she had just dug out the thesaurus: “On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp…” Her delivery was much worse…not only were the pauses long, as if to suggest momentous words would follow (when plain lists of generic things were what actually followed) but she seemed, frankly, uninterested or uninvolved. It’s like it was an assignment she had to plow through. If the poet can’t be arsed, the audience won’t be. I told my wife “That woman just set poetry back another decade.” ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/35 "2009-01-21T03:50:09Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/36 "2009-01-21T03:51:26Z")
The poem was… alright. The delivery was sub par. If it was for EFFECT:rolleyes:, it failed In my humble opinion ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/37 "2009-01-21T03:51:56Z")
Treacle. And poorly delivered. Expository and limp. Cheesy. Especially poor when I remember Maya Angelou. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/38 "2009-01-21T04:03:38Z")
I didn’t like today’s poem but I also didn’t like Maya Angelou’s [poem](http://poetry.eserver.org/angelou.html) from Bill Clinton’s first inauguration. In particular, I disliked that a couple of paragraphs (stanzas?) were basically lists. I’m surprised that some of you liked it. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/39 "2009-01-21T04:13:32Z")
I think it drew a compelling picture, touched all, was profound and sparse. It had a rhythm conveyed, and texturous words. I believe it was good. Postmodern, unoffending, populous. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174/40 "2009-01-21T04:22:41Z")
But as a dabbler I was a bit disappointed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-inaugural-poem-good/482174.md?page=3)