Elizabeth Alexander reads her inaugural poem, "Praise Song for the Day"

Elizabeth Alexander reads her poem "Praise Song for the Day" on the Inauguration of President Barack Obama. An unofficial transcription of the poem is here: http://www.storagerap.com/2009/01/inaugural-poem-praise-song-for-the-day.html

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Elizabeth Alexander
• poet
• Praise Song for the Day
• Barack Obama
• inauguration

[2guyscoasting]

God Bless America!

[proto57]

take all the money middle class money away, away say it is change pocket change, from the rich they are too young to know read them some lies they will believe tell them nothing make is sound profound a teacher says hate bush and take out your pencils and hate more lie again, and again when they finally realize, it will be too late, too late.

[2guyscoasting]

And your relationship to your Paradise Lost is  what? Victim? Whiner? Guilty?

[v8firebird]

see spot run.

run spot run.

I can

barely

read

without

pausing because

I am too stupid

to read like a normal human being

[2guyscoasting]

Maybe you should try dopamine, then.

[CloseToComfort]

Wow, absolutely atrocious. I can't even believe that she was selected to read that pathetic excuse for a poem. Maya Angelou is turning over in her grave. This women should be ashamed of herself, she probably wrote it in the car on the way there.

[2guyscoasting]

Do you like this better (below)?

She grubbed this earth with her own hands,

domineered over this grass plot,

blackguarded her oldest son

into buying it, lived here fifteen years,

attained a final loneliness and --

If you can bring nothing to this place

but your carcass, keep out.

[carefreelad]

I am 59 years old, well educated, experienced in life and quite literate. This is simply the worst piece of trash I have ever heard. If I wrote this in high school, my English teacher would have had me pilloried. If this is the best we can do for poetry at an inauguration......

[NostalgicNatasha]

v8firebird, Oh my gosh! I made the exact same (see spot run) comment on the last video!! I thought I was the only one that thought that LOL

[harpsichord326]

Great poem...OR NOT

[marcus5aurelius]

I know exactly why she went up in front of the entire nation and read that aloud. It wasn't for an artistic touch it was to divert any possible assassination attempts. If anyone planned on hurting obama they would much rather take her out in the middle of that poem to stop the pain, saving the president's life. It was merely secret service doing their part.

[cromagx34]

yummy

[mysterj4]

As a Urban Spoken Word Artist, which is totally a different genre of poetry, I comment w/respectful caution First of all, I have researched this artist's previous work and found her to be very entertaining All her work has the same style as this one. It is a deep piece that charts a path from then until now I was delighted at the historical undertone and its ancestrial vibe insertion So for the most part, she delivered exactly what she was asked to deliver; a piece of her mind

J

[proto57]

Really? Yale? It is the beginning of the end, if that is true. The end of Western civilization, summed up in this one poem.