Election 2008
(2009-01-19)
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Poet Lorna Goodison
"It's a great task to be given to do because the entire world will be looking on," says Lorna Goodison. "I mean, who wants to have that kind of pressure?" Goodison was born in Jamaica and teaches poetry at the University of Michigan.
If she were asked to be Obama's inaugural poet, Goodison says she thinks "the poem would need to speak to what he represents." And that, she says, is hope.
Goodison thinks a poem she wrote back in the 1980s could work. She wrote it when she was asked to be the inaugural poet for Jamaica's prime minister. The poem was part of a series of poems named after a small village in Jamaica called Heart Ease or Heart's Ease:
"You know, we all want Heart Ease. We all want to reach a place in our lives of heart's ease and contentment. So, if you don't mind, I'll read that poem."
In the same building, one floor up is Keith Taylor. He heads up the University's creative writing program for undergrads. Here's what he would have done if he had been asked to be Obama's inaugural poet:
"I would have taken off for Europe or north woods," says Taylor. "It's hard for me to imagine myself to be able to rise to this kind of momentous occasion. As a poet, my abilities are to celebrate very small things. Of course if I was asked, I would do it. I would write a poem. Any poet who was asked would do of course do it. But it's a terrifying idea, though."
Especially once you find out just how low Taylor's expectations are for inaugural poems. He says the poem Robert Frost wrote for Kennedy's inauguration was horrible. He thinks Maya Angelou's poem at Clinton's first inauguration didn't work all that well. And Miller Williams' poem at Clinton's second inauguration - he says it was good, but not Miller's best work. So you can imagine that his expectations for Elizabeth Alexander are pretty low:
"I'd be really surprised if it's a wonderful poem," Taylor confesses. "My fingers are crossed for her, but I kind of have my doubts."
Rick Solomon had his doubts when he was asked to be an inaugural poet, granted on a much smaller scale. Solomon - who's a pediatrician - was asked to write a poem for a local inaugural ball in Chelsea. So he decided to turn to Obama's speeches for inspiration - like the one Obama gave on election night.
"His speech that night," says Solomon, "I use his opening line in that speech for my concluding stanza in the poem. It says: If there's anybody out there who doubts that this was possible, this is your answer. Which I just thought is stunning, beautiful opening that he did. So I actually stole it and added it to the end."
Solomon says it's a fitting end to the start of what he hopes is a promising 4 years.
Listen to Lorna Goodison read her poem, Heartsease
Listen to Rick Solomon read an excerpt from his poem, The Blues Conception of Hope © Copyright 2012, Michigan Radio
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