What We’re Reading: The Inaugural Poem
One of the books I received for my birthday this year was a small, single signature of Maya Angelou’s inaugural poem “On the Pulse of Morning” which she read on January 20, 1993 at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton.
I have been somewhat wary of inaugural poems in the past. How do you encompass such a multi-faceted, jumbled population of ethnicities, cultures, and political views? In this case, Angelou is stretching the poem to fit in all of the United States, but she does so naturally, as is her style, that it works.
She uses the poem to tell a fable. The main characters are the Rock, the River, and the Tree. The Rock pushes for the courage to face our destiny. The River begs for peace along the borders of countries, and the Tree speaks for the different ancestral histories that brought the U.S. to where it is today. Angelou doesn’t shy away from the dark, even shameful, moments of our history — rather, she challenges us to face them with courage, and to plant ourselves in this earth together.
Angelou’s work is different from most of the poets I read. First of all, irregular slant and internal rhymes mark the rhythm, whereas most of the work I’ve reviewed here lack rhyme, and instead punctuate rhythm in other formal ways. Angelou’s writing has a simple majesty to it — it’s not the sensory or imagistic poetry I normally gravitate towards. Rather, she writes in a way that is meant to be spoken, which resonates very well with the occasion of a presidental inauguration.
I love the ending — bordering on nonchalant, yet very proud (I can just hear the waves of frenzied applause):
“Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister’s eyes,
And into your brother’s face,
Your country,
And say simply
Very simply
With hope—
Good morning.”
For fun, check out this video of her reading it at the inauguration.
I’ll turn it over to you now, dear reader. What do you think of inaugural poems? If you had to write a poem for any United States president in the entire history of our country, who would it be? What would you write?
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I like this question. I’d have to say I would like to read for a future president’s inauguration, and I would probably write something that brings all of us back to the earlier days of the United States, when we were full of ideas, wonderment, nature, and exploration; additionally, I would caution against the poor use of those ideas and exploration, and the burden of exploitation. Things never seem to change in concept, though they may take new forms and dimensions. I would want the inaugural poem to be a reminder of the need to learn from history and to be innovative and incorporating. I think the inaugural day of a presidency should be sobering and somber, and not overly celebrated. Especially now.
I like the idea of writing for a future president’s inauguration! I somewhat agree with the inauguration not being overly celebrated – but I think it should be more of a challenge than anything else. That’s why I enjoyed this poem so much – I think Angelou does a good job of balancing the somber, celebration, and challenges. She definitely does not shy away from our mistakes, and words her poem as a challenge to Pres Bill Clinton, saying hey, you can do better than this.
I don’t know that I would want to write an inaugural poem for any president, past or future. I’ve always been nauseated by the political circus because I never felt represented by the two party system. My politics tend to lean radically left, though occasionally so far left that they swing ’round to the other side. I’ve been working on a collection of poems inspired by anarchist philosophers and writers like Tolstoy, Bakunin, Proudhon, so I don’t know that I’d ever be invited to read for an inauguration in the first place.
I enjoyed the Angelou poem, and I’ve enjoyed Alexander’s poem for Obama’s inauguration upon subsequent reads, but I remember not caring for it while watching her read it live. I love the idea that poetry is read at the beginning of a president’s term in office – that it might actually be necessary to hear poem in order for that president to get started – but I’d like to read an inaugural poem that challenges the president, rather than celebrates the “win” or examines an American idyll (as Alexander’s poem does).
Well, you could always have Samuel Jackson narrate Alexander’s poem for a much different experience. I saw he just narrated the new e-pub sensation, “Go the F*** to Sleep” for Audible. But yeah, I hear you on not wanted to read or write an inaugural poem for any president. That’s probably why I looked to the future, because at least one can dream.
I snagged a free download of the whole SLJ audiobook (my potential future children have a lot to look forward to – I also own a graffiti alphabet book).
I think I’d rather write an epithalamion – a wedding poem – for my friends, or a poem of welcome to a newborn. To me, those occasions seem to warrant poetry much more than the inauguration of a president. I think this is, for me, a moment of the personal becoming political and vise versa – politically I don’t see an inauguration as a time to celebrate, but to challenge; a wedding or birth warrants celebration.
Interesting – I love your idea of writing an epithalamion, Timothy. But I also enjoy seeing poetry as a part of the political process, and how two things that are so often in completely different spheres intersect. I also think this country could stand a little more poetry in their daily life, so whenever there’s a moment where some poetry sneaks into their consciousness, I want to be there, studying it. Even more interesting are the types of poets they choose for these events, or more importantly, who they don’t choose.
I absolutely think that poetry should be a part of the political process. I think that writing poetry and making art are pretty big political statements: by making art you’re saying that you value art, which is, unfortunately, not something our culture typically does. Indeed, poetry can compress and expand single moments; slowing down enough to write a poem about a single moment can be a truly radical act in our fast-paced society. Taking months and months to write and rewrite a play or a story is counter to our culture’s work ethic that demands a product at the end of each work day.
My issue isn’t that poetry is read at a presiden’s inauguration – I’d be upset if there weren’t an inaugural poem. My issue has been with content, I think. I agree with Aaron that an inauguration should be much more sobering and I would love the inaugural poem to reflect that. It’s one thing to talk about a country’s past mistakes, but I think that on the day of inauguration it would be prudent for someone to remind the new president that his or her campaign made a lot of promises to the country and we, as a nation, will demand those promises be kept. Poets have always taken on tough issues; an inaugural poem – and if I’m ever invited to write one this is what I’d write – should be a moment of looking forward at future tough issues and asking the new president to make decisions that will better the future, not just the present, and especially not just his or her political career.
As for inserting poetry into our daily lives, I admire the Everyday Poems for City Sidewalk project that the St. Paul Public works has undertaken (http://www.publicartstpaul.org/poetry/). I enjoy being able to walk my dog and read poems along the way, and I’ve had some wonderful talks with strangers about poetry thanks to the sidewalk poems.
Back to Timothy’s comment: I’m not being snarky, but my personal feeling is that a wedding should be a celebration for the family and friends, but a somewhat sobering moment for the couple; by the time a couple is officially wed, I’d warrant that they have already married well before the “big day.” The wedding is usually a moment for the friends and family. I get drafted to do speeches (and one poem) for weddings, and I usually make some sort of observation regarding the wedding being a moment for others, or as a challenge to the couple. But I’m not a mood killer, I swear!