Elizabeth Alexander's Inauguration Poem

Seconds after the inauguration reading there were responses to it online. The poetry community is talking; it's poetry's happy hour in the United States. While I can offer not critique or feedback on the peformance yet, I can already see a things I line in the transcript I have in front of me. First, the poem is entitled "Praise Song for the Day".... Surely, America has reason to sing and to praise for this historic moment. I like the connection with the role of poetry as it's traditionally known in my African (and Obama's)heritage-- praise of leaders and ancestry: "Sing the names of the dead who brought us here/who laid the train tracks/raised the bridges, picked the cotton & the lettuce."

Elizabeth Alexander is the fourth poet in the history of the United States to read at an inauguration of a president. This event helps not only her career as a poet but also the appreciation of poetry as an artform.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Sorry Manu, this poem makes everyone suspicious of poetry, because it was a poor poem delivered badly. Maya Angelou, now that was something. Chakanaka chakanaka mukaka haurungwi. That poem was an embaarssment to the world of poetry.

E
January 26, 2009 at 1:54 PM
Emmanuel Sigauke said…
Now that's a harsh critique, but I see your point. The delivery especially, as one could tell through the audience's body language, etc, was not effective, but the poem on paper has qualities that add up to a simple, but distinct poem.
January 26, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abuja Writers' Forum Call for Submissions

Wordsbody has announced the following call for submissions: CAVALCADE literary journal, devoted to publishing original stories, poems,one-act plays, reviews, critical essays and art from an African perspective,will debut in October 2008 with a special edition. The tri-annual journal, a project of the Abuja Writers' Forum (AWF), is now seeking submissions for the second and third editions. Deadline: October 30, 2008 See more details here: Contribute to Cavalcade.
Read more

Roland Mhasvi's Flowers

Image
This is the cover of my copy of Roland Masvi's Flowers of Yesterday, a collection I reviewed in 1996 for The Herald. I was going through my old stuff when I saw this book in my old collection.  As I was flipping through the pages, I saw the cut-out for the original review, which in part reads: "This is a collection of highly esoteric poetry..., which can be charged of what Afrocentric scholars have described as 'piles of esoterica and ostentatious erudition'... The language is to the ordinary reader opaque, the imagery is inaccessible and the symbolism is surprisingly unusual but invitingly novel...real food for scholars."   The review just reminds me of the Chinweizu days, when we, as university students, had rediscovered African literature and its theory. Talking about Afrocentricity had a certain appeal, and we were looking at a lot of writing through the lenses of this newly-discovered Afrocentricity. Looking back, perhaps there was more in Mhasvi's poe
Read more

FREEDOM, a poem on South Africa by Afzal Moolla

Freedom The shackles have been cast off. Chains broken. People once squashed, under the jackboot of Apartheid, are free. Free at last! Freedom came on the 27th day in that April, 1994. Freedom from prejudice. From institutionalised racism. From being relegated to second-class citizenship. Freedom came and we danced. We cried. We ululated as we elected our revered Mandela. President Nelson Mandela. Our very own beloved 'Madiba'. Black and white and brown and those in-between, All hues of this rainbow nation, rejoiced as we breathed in the air of freedom and democracy. Today we pause. We remember. We salute. The brave ones whose sacrifices made this day possible, on that 27th day of April, 18 years ago. Today we dance. We sing. We ululate. We cry. Tears of joy and tears of loss. Of remembrance and of forgiveness. Of reconciliation and of memories. Today we pause. We acknowledge the tasks ahead. The hungry. The naked. The destitut
Read more