"the venus hottentot" by elizabeth alexander

[leelwain01]

kosmopolitisch...... todays women have a choice. Sara did NOT!!!!

[WonderWomanFan4life]

you should have just posted the text.. very nice and informative thanks

[davineir]

Very nice!

[message2blackwomen]

love you video makes me hate white men!!

[YoungHorusMedia]

I'm a married man but I would like to make this goddess my second wife. Ah, if only dreams came true.

[kosmopolitisch]

I appreciate you bringing off-centered stories to the forefront. What is your opinion of Sara Baartman's life experience as compared the the booty-shaking women of color, in the world of rap/hip hop video, that are being exploited in similar fashion?

[earthshe]

Beautiful!!!!!sister...

[indaplace2b]

Hot or not ...She kinda ruined the serious poem by laughing at the end of it ....

[KTBEverlasting]

@indaplace2b She was smiling.

[kayroxx]

YOU'RE HOT....

[herstome5656]

That poor thing-her life was too sad

[TheThirdEyeCeesU]

norge921: You must have distorted vision or something.

[dal4018]

I saw this woman on BET talking about this woman who was cruelly abused by European animals who had never seen a full figured black woman.

[Geezyone]

That was amazingly well done

[Leishalynn]

You read her poetry better than she does. Your beautiful smile at the end is a radiant flash. Sensuous throughout, and I'm sure it's difficult to read but you nailed it, girl.

[sherv1988]

great reading.

[thexshattered]

What did you think of "Praise Song for the Day"? I personally disliked it.

[susantv]

I loved it.

[beautifulspam]

Excellent reading by a cute girl, but like the other poster I'm looking for something by alexander that I can enjoy.  Haven't found it yet.

Has she ever written any closed-form poetry, or is it all free verse?

[knigjoshua01]

your beautiful and what an amazing poem

[yougotshtyle]

you're good at reading poetry aloud. i wish this poet would have read another piece at the inauguration.

[bob110088]

This is way poetry is never on the New York Times bestseller's list, and that is a shame. How can you take this poem seriously after the phrase "...my vagina in a pickeling jar"..? if we had poets that could really speak to the everyday man or women instead of its audience being so narrow and its appreciation elitist, poetry could really speak to people's hearts and address society's ills. We need poets that speak to us as they are spoken to. Truth is most powerfull unobstucted by abstraction.

[akeeva89]

I'm not usually a fan of poetry, but this one deserves defense. I thought it was a great poem and it's not elitist at all. It is easily understood and relays the history of Sara clearly. Laypeople would do well to give the recitation a listen, and kudos to Aichlee on the performance.

[adrianaleverkuhn]

Someone needs to point out that the displayed labia is not an obstructing abstraction. This poem is an account of the true life and postmortem treatment of Saartjie Baartman, and just to be clear the phrase is:

Her genitalia

will float inside a labeled

pickling jar in the Musée

de lHomme on a shelf

I love those lines. There's almost too much to be mined. Let me just point out my favorite part - the severe enjambment between 'labeled' and 'pickling'.

Thanks for the lovely reading!

[Obscurus1]

"my vagina in a pickling jar" isnt confusing if you know the history of the subject matter. her vagina being in a pickling jar is ACTUALLY what happens to the woman. straight up truth. nothing figurative or abstract about it. also, it really bothers me when people assume that because a poet doesnt spell what their saying out in an A-B-C, 1-2-3, singsong, kinda way its assumed that the poem is "elitist". not true.

[javajive01]

See Poet Elizabeth Alexander read at the inauguration on 1/20/2009.

[StoneSoupVideos]

Superb.

[chifour66]

A very nice reading by an obviously very intelligent girl. I personally don't like Alexander's work, I actually came here to try and see if there was anything by her I did like, but no luck yet. Glad you enjoy it so much, everyone has different tastes.

[lahershe13]

You did a nice job reading this powerful poem.

The author, Elizabeth Alexander, will read at Barack Obama's inauguration on January 20!

[Mykstaples]

thank you

[nordicsky]

Wow! Thank you for reading that, it was truly amazing.

I used to think that I listened to poetry but I don't, I feel it.

This poem filled me with sadness for this woman so far from home. I also admired her strength and self- belief.

It reminded me of the need to search for interesting descriptive words in my poetry.

Thanks for posting this.

Kind regards, Peter