With Hope, Good Morning America
January 20, 2009, by Christie Healey
Photo by Elizabeth Eisen
Winter has stilled us on the tundra and once again we have made the news with -5 as a daily high and wind chills resembling basketball scores. I propose a new state slogan, “Minnesota—we live here so you don’t have to!”
This winter is as inhospitable as the economic times, but we have a presidential inauguration to lighten and warm our hearts. January 20th is the dead of the season and a time that makes us all a little more quiet and reflective. We have time for poets in the winter. There may be other countries that commission poets to bring their special language songs to national ceremonies, but I cannot think of one at the moment. Four poets have held us in their thrall at a presidential inauguration; the first was Robert Frost in 1961 for President Kennedy.
Mr. Frost wrote “Dedication” for America and John F. Kennedy, a stirring passionate poem that reads in part:
“The glory of a next Augustan age
Of a power leading from its strength and pride,
Of young ambition eager to be tried”
The sun was bright upon that clear cold day and dazzled the 86-year-old Frost as he struggled against wind and age. Finally the pages were torn from his hands and he stumbled. He could not remember the words of his new creation so fell back on an older poem he knew perfectly, “The Gift Outright”.
“Something we were withholding made us weak
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.”
Dr. Maya Angelou delivered her inaugural poem, “On the Pulse of Morning”, for President Clinton in 1993. She spoke of the mastodon, the Native Americans and all those who have landed on this rock and who have heard the rivers sing. It is a long poem that wanders like all who have arrived in this land and finally ends:
“And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.”
For his second inauguration in 1997, President Clinton called upon fellow Arkansan Miller Williams. The longtime civil rights activist, teacher and poet (who thought he had no verbal aptitude) stood gaunt and impressive as he admonished us in a strong firm voice:
“We have memorized America, how it was born and who we have been and where,
We mean to be the people we meant to be, to keep on going where we meant to go.”
President Obama asked Elizabeth Alexander to write and deliver his inaugural poem. She stands tall upon the shoulders of her predecessors. She is an author, essayist, scholar of African American literature, Yale professor, Harvard Fellow and has won numerous awards and accolades. A brilliant American woman who will find the words to commemorate the occasion and, in our winter of discontent, may be we shall glimpse the glorious summer of this son of ours.
January 20th, 2009 at 7:19 am
…and here’s to poet, essayist and brilliant activist June Jordan, who penned the now-famous line, “We are the ones we have been waiting for!” in her Poem for South African Women (1978). With love.
January 20th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Your post makes me wonder why we’ve allowed public school curriculum to leave poetry behind in our quest to leave no child behind. A nation that reads and understands poetry is a nation of individuals who look beneath the surface and refuse to accept the simple and convenient answer when the truth is so much more complex.
I’ve been turned onto poetry all over again by listening to Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac, which airs every weeknight on NPR. He recounts this day in literary history and reads a short poem in that beautiful, melodious voice of his. If you want to ease back into poetry, there is no better way than listening to The Writer’s Almanac…you can sign up for podcasts online.
Oh happy day!
January 20th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Yes! Homage to the wordsmiths who remind us
Of the possibilities inherent in our humanity and also that
we are not the only life. A book of poetry is never far
From my bed. Beginning and ending the day
with a poem is better than any vitamin!
January 20th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Long live the poets!
Our new president speaks like a poet himself. How refreshing and exciting. A new day has come.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Today, poetry is a living, beating, rejoicing heart. Hallelujah.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:24 am
One of my favorite simple poems by the late, great African-American poet Langston Hughes was written at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. It has helped me live my life and reminds me so much of our new President:
MOTTO
I play it cool and dig all jive;
That’s the reason I stay alive.
My motto as I live and learn
is dig and be dug in return.
January 20th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
What a day! And what great comments about poets, poetry, and what poetry does for our minds and hearts and souls. Dear Old Langston Hughes, he was the definition of “Hip.” Just hear the jazz in his Motto. I am digging all of these comments.
January 20th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I must admit that the way I usually describe myself as a writer (and constant reader) is to say that I can write anything except poetry. Poetry always seems beautiful when I read it, but my controlling brain wants to make the words (rather than the feeling that fuels them) make sense. The way I’ve learned to love poetry is in the spoken word performances that have become so popular. Poetry it is, but hearing it spoken by their authors, rather than reading the words, is what’s made it come alive for me!
January 20th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
The English Teacher in me had to get it just right! I was a little off w/sentence structure and syncopation (makes a difference in poetry ya know).
M O T T O
I play it cool
and dig all jive
That’s the reason
I stay alive.
My motto,
As I live and learn,
is:
Dig and Be Dug
In Return.
Langston Hughes
January 21st, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Praise Song for A Morning!!!!!
January 30th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
MN – cold
Poetry – warm
Obama – hot
January 30th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
oh, yeah, and
Christie – cool