Inauguration

Yesterday Elizabeth Alexander recited a poem for the inauguration of Barack Obama. She is only the fourth poet to speak on inauguration day for the third president (Kennedy had one [Robert Frost], Clinton had two [Maya Angelou and Miller Williams- one for each inauguration]). Here is another work by Elizabeth Alexander.

Ars Poetica #100: I Believe

Poetry, I tell my students,

is idiosyncratic. Poetry

is where we are ourselves,

(though Sterling Brown said

"Every 'I' is a dramatic 'I'")

digging in the clam flats

for the shell that snaps,

emptying the proverbial pocketbook.

Poetry is what you find

in the dirt in the corner,

overhear on the bus, God

in the details, the only way

to get from here to there.

Poetry (and now my voice is rising)

is not all love, love, love,

and I'm sorry the dog died.

Poetry (here I hear myself loudest)

is the human voice,

and are we not of interest to each other?