Comments on: Inaugural poet: people’s choice winners

By: Sherry Chandler

Sherry Chandler — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:27:09 +0000

Thanks for doing this, Dave. It was a lot of fun. And the quotes were intriguing. Well chosen!

Coincidentally, I had mentioned Nye in one of my comments, calling her an amazing voice for unity (which she is):

http://sherrychandler.com/2008/11/12/barack-reads-derek/#comment-51052

I don’t think Obama could choose better.

And I will be sure to look out McKinney. WVa has a lot of really good writers. As does Kentucky, where I come from, another benighted place. But I think we can’t be all that benighted if we have poets like McKinney & Wendell Berry.

By: christine

christine — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:07:05 +0000

Thanks for this treasure trove of poems. It would be cool if someone would forward the link to Obama. Nothing like a good poem to refocus the mind.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:30:41 +0000

Oh, hi Clare – thanks for clarifying that. PollDaddy cut off the quote after about 20 characters, so it was a little hard to figure out. But if Bush had ever had an inaugural poet, Lee sure sounds like he would’ve been a good pick! I don’t have any of his books, but I’ll keep an eye out for his stuff. Thanks.

By: Clare

Clare — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:58:58 +0000

Love the poems, so many poets to learn more about. One of the write in poems was from me. It is from a living American Poet, David Lee. That particular quote was from his Poem “Bryant Williamson” but only because that is where I opened the book. It is really more suited to your outgoing executive crew. The opening stanza is

“Onriest man in town I guess
was old Bryant Williamson the 1st
that was his boys’s and
his boy’s name too the 2nd and 3d
in a row with the same name
he’s rich
made his seed money in the oil
off his ranch”

Lee is one of my all time favourite poets. He writes most eloquently about pigs.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:44:51 +0000

Carolee – Really? Wow! Yeah, I’ve often thought of my own college education that I was a bit too immature to take full advantage of it. Was it Twain who said that “youth is wasted on the young”?

deb- Glad you liked.

Hi Bill – I was hoping that the mention of your name would make you appear and explain what you’d done with that great online archive of your poetry that I read last year. I spent quite a bit of time looking for it the other day. I do believe my use would be permitted within the Fair Use clause of U.S. copyright law, but since you object, I’ve now removed it. Thanks for stopping by.

By: Bill Knott

Bill Knott — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:50:50 +0000

if you had looked at where you stole my poem from,

you’d see it was a plagiarist site . . . please

do not reprint my poetry without my permission,

otherwise you’re a thief——

By: carolee

carolee — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:48:16 +0000

i’m back! just spent the last half-hour watching the 3-part interview with irene mckinney (from your link to you-tube). thank you for it.

it reminded me what a gift it was to see her, with her red hair and big glasses, zipping around the English annex, which was full of her male colleagues in their suits. i adored those professors, as well, and one is a poet whom i still read, but seeing her among them made a great impression on me about how to be who you are.

i owe this bright part of a dreary east coast november afternoon to you. :)

By: deb

deb — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:11:32 +0000

Excellent, Dave. Excellent. Lots to read and ponder – will keep me busy until well after the inauguration!

By: carolee

carolee — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:10:38 +0000

i’m also pleased irene mckinney placed so high on the list. she was one of my professors at the teeny tiny college i attended in west virginia. i didn’t consider myself a poet back then (i was a journalist and boy chaser) and i wrote lots of crap in her creative writing class.

about the only thing i knew about poetry at that time was that she had amazing talent. i’d like to have the chance to go back and study with her now!

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:42:33 +0000

Rachel – I was wondering when that hailed from. I remembered reading it quite a while ago.

Lady P – Glad you found this useful, because it did entail a bit more work than I usually put into blog posts.

My personal favorite candidate is Irene McKinney – thanks for asking. Not only is she a terrific poet who represents a region that Obama failed to win over, but she has the kind of deep rootedness and place-centric wisdom that we all need to learn from. (Obama himself has spoken somewhat wistfully about this.) Do watch the 3-part interview on YouTube if you get a chance.