obama eats the camera

i thought the poem that was read at inauguration was pretty weak. a lot of stock phrases and vague images like "we go about our business," or "someone is trying to make music somewhere." personal taste aside, it didn't offer anything particularly daring or imaginative. flat all around, and not very honest, if you ask me. 

it's a shame because billions of people (probably) watched the inauguration, and i'd say about 97% of them (probably) think poetry has absolutely nothing to do with them. so here was this great opportunity for america to hear a poem and actually feel moved- tie an experience to it. hopefully some did anyway.

my poetry class met for the first time the day after inauguration and we discussed what we would have liked to hear. we all felt it needed to be something more honest, more personal, less glossed over. my teacher threw out an interesting option: "we lived happily during the war" by ilya kaminsky. i wish i could find it to show you guys. just infer what you will from the title, i guess. 

then she gave us the optional assignment of writing our own "inauguration poem." the poem we would have written for the day if we were elizabeth alexander. although i thought this was a cool assignment, i didn't do it, 'cause you know, that's me. but i do think of lines for it sometimes. i urge you all to try. 

arielle greenberg and rachel zucker have put together a blog that will feature a new poem each day for the first 100 days of obama's presidency. i like this documentation by way of poetry. it's important. i also like the idea of funneling the national situation through the eyes and language of one poet each day. so give a look.