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Obama's Inauguration poem 'Praise Song For The Day' Full Text
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by Amy Judd | January 20, 2009 at 09:34 am
29875 views | 40 Recommendations | 32 comments
Elizabeth Alexander read a poem she had composed for Barack Obama and his Inauguration Day today. It's called 'Praise Song For The Day'.
'Praise Song for the Day' - Full Text
Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others’ eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.
ALEXANDER: A farmer consider the changing sky; A teacher says, “Take out your pencils. Begin.”
We encounter each other in words, Words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; Words to consider, reconsider.
We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, “I need to see what’s on the other side; I know there’s something better down the road.”
We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.
Some live by “Love thy neighbor as thy self.”
Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.
What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.
In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.
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Dr. Alexander seemed to be a good and popular choice for this historic event.
A spokesman for the Obama inauguration described Dr. Alexander as “incredibly gifted” and the fact that she is selected “demonstrates the important role that the arts and literature can play in helping to bring our country together.” This is only the fourth time a poet has been included at an inauguration for a US president.
Ms. Alexander is a personal friend of the Obamas and she has an extensive background in arts and literature.
Elizabeth Alexander was born in New York City and raised in Washington, D.C. She is the author of four collections of poetry, American Sublime, Antebellum Dream Book, The Venus Hottentot, and Body of Life, which was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. She is also the author of two collections of essays, The Black Interior and Power and Possibilities: Essays, Interviews, Reviews, and a collection of poems for young adults, Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Colors (co-authored with Marilyn Nelson). She recently edited The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks. She has read her work across the United States and in Europe, the Caribbean, and South America, and her poetry, short stories, and critical prose have been published in numerous periodicals and anthologies.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (32)
at 11:22 on January 20th, 2009
I saw her today, I saw her face
It is a face I love and I know
I have to run praise her song for this day
The life we are walking today in and day out,the same old thing,such a bitch
The meaning;no tears, no tearing down,no running to hide,take it one night by one nightpraise her song everyway
at 13:20 on January 20th, 2009
Beautiful poem. Perfect poem. Well spoken.
Thank you, Elizabeth Alexander.
at 15:17 on January 20th, 2009
Thank you, Elizabeth.
It is a sublime moment and with your well-crafted words you were able
to make us feel it.
Inspiring!
at 15:38 on January 20th, 2009
Beautiful! Very Moving! Full of Hope!
at 16:45 on January 20th, 2009
Was this computer generated??
at 18:30 on January 20th, 2009
Stunning. Con muchas gracias.
at 20:12 on January 20th, 2009
My former favorite poem written for a specific of occasion began
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard 'round the world.
It has been replaced. I cannot yet read Ms. Alexander;\'s poem aloud yet without weeping profusely. Incredible. Perhaps we have arrived.
at 21:01 on January 20th, 2009
Indeed, John Snyder, I believe we have arrived.
Thank you, Elizabeth. You were a gift to our nation today.
Stacy Alexander
at 22:22 on January 20th, 2009
Seriously? Uplifting?
If she weren't a personal friend of the Obama family, there is no way this would have been chosen. If there must be a poem, why can't they at least get someone who can read it well? Or write it well?
I had to find the text to finish hearing it. On my talk radio station, they cut her off in the middle to comment on the crowd. That's bad.
at 23:23 on January 20th, 2009
i watched the entire Obama Inauguration program on television and Ms. Alexander's poem was one its best moments for me. wonderful poem. well read.
at 00:06 on January 21st, 2009
This is a beautiful poem, loaded with strong massages.
I love the way she read the poem at the President Obama inauguration. Cool.at 05:53 on January 21st, 2009
Marvelous welcome back to fine culture and poem writting what a joy so well up to date and beautifully read CONGRATULATIONS YOU BRUGHT BACK A REAL LIGHT GOD BLESS YOUR GIFT
at 06:15 on January 21st, 2009
Beautiful poem but very badly read... The whole thing came over as very stilted and unnatural.
at 07:19 on January 21st, 2009
Elizabeth Alexander suggests a way for us all to engage in moving forward to right the wrongs we've perpetrated, to build a peaceful world: parents with their children, Democrats with Republicans, the United States with the rest of the world:
"We encounter each other in words, Words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; Words to consider, reconsider..."
at 00:23 on January 22nd, 2009
Oh I get it Tammy
let me qoute "Dogs and Cats living to together, Mass Hysteria" -Peter Vinkman
at 09:09 on January 21st, 2009
Are you kidding me? The poem was poorly written. Thanks, Tammy for translating the overall intent.
at 11:55 on January 21st, 2009
I thought it was absolute garbage.
at 12:53 on January 21st, 2009
Yes, I personally need a lesson in lowering my expectations or resetting my criteria for a discerning opinion. Apparently, in this "Brave New World" of Obamamania, mediocrity, among many other things, needs only the blessing of Obama to be declared "Excellence".
"Kudos" to the attendees of the Obama inauguration for their love and committment to Mother Earth and their offerings of Trash they left on the Washington Mall.
at 17:07 on January 21st, 2009
This poem doesn't start until the last two lines. The rest is all warming up blah blah. It is not even poetry and it is incoherent, imitation Whitman with none of Whitman's genius. She should have begun with the last two lines and gone from there...
No one will read this poem years from now.
--Ed Meek
at 19:01 on January 21st, 2009
This poem stopped me in my tracks as I watched and listend to President Obama's Inaugruation. I searched the web for it. I will frame it and read it often; this poem is thoughful, inrorspective, and simply outstanding. We need more Poets like Elizabeth Alexander in our country so we may reclaim the lost art of poetry.
at 00:19 on January 22nd, 2009
Now that President Obama has had his day I will start being critical. Although many of you will call me hateful, a racist, ect... I will say that poem was one of the worst poems I've ever heard. There was nothing in that (let's be real) statement that was recongizable as a poem. I bet most of you would have been critical if you were blinded be the media fawning all over the moment. Historical, Yes. But don't call something beautiful just because Barak Obama's name is attached to it. Wake up and get your head out of Obama's carisma.
at 13:36 on January 22nd, 2009
wow u all must be deaf cause this poem was the worst!! it did make me lol though
-NOBAMA
at 13:47 on January 22nd, 2009
I agree with Ed Meek--the poem didn't really get started until it was almost over. The message was indeed worthwhile, but the poem itself lacked the density, the spot-on word choices that make poetry. It will endure for the emblem that it is, but not for the work itself.
at 20:33 on January 24th, 2009
Reading the poem to myself is ok, but I couldn't believe how slowly she read it. In my opinion her voice was flat and monotone and I couldn't believe it was really happening. I couldn't focus on the words anymore and had no idea what it said until I reread it just now.
at 18:14 on January 29th, 2009
Visit : www.ObamaPoem.com for Reading The Precident-President Barack Obama What a class poem on Obama-'The Tiger Woods Of American Politics'. A Must-read for life long inspiration! No comapare with Elizabeth Alexander's -Inaguaral Poem- 'Praise Song Of The Day'
at 18:18 on January 29th, 2009
Great lyrical Poem I have ever read on Obama. Go ahead tell your friends... about www.ObamaPoem.com
at 19:32 on February 2nd, 2009
at 07:29 on February 9th, 2009
The poem was horrible. It was just a listing of words. It goes from angry to adoring..? And the way she read it! It droned on and on. Gah lee i dont see how people were moved by it. I do agree that it is better if you read it on your on, but not by much. Alexander can not read welll at all!!! Definately disappointed in Obama for choosing it. It flat out stunk.
at 10:37 on April 20th, 2009
I thought the poem was beautiful. I loved it. It was fresh and poignant. Very fitting for the occasion. I thought that it summed up a lot of feelings in a creative way. However, the way it was read was horrendous. I could only guess that the poor woman had been asked to read it really, really slowly so that people in the crowd could hear it properly. It just didn't work - the poem lost all meaning and soul when it was read like that. I still think it is a moving and inspirational poem though.
at 14:57 on June 25th, 2009
I am reading this for a friends "bad poetry night"