tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post2504676737653666088..comments2024-03-09T11:10:46.978-05:00Comments on Brooklyn Arden: "Praise Song for the Day," by Elizabeth AlexanderCherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05972029478350879112noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-75605675469250688882011-02-12T06:05:53.986-05:002011-02-12T06:05:53.986-05:00yeah truly a great site.I really enjoyed my visit....yeah truly a great site.I really enjoyed my visit.Health Newshttp://health-plans1.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-68645220587510923802010-11-10T03:04:42.885-05:002010-11-10T03:04:42.885-05:00I would like to appreciate the great work done by ...I would like to appreciate the great work done by you Generic Viagra is the most popular medication available in the world for the treatment of erectile dysfunction in men. Erectile dysfunction or impotency is a condition where men are unable to achieve and maintain an erection of their genital for longer period of time even after getting sexually stimulated.<br />Thanksbuy viagra generichttp://www.genericsmed.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-22571271817672522882009-01-25T16:26:00.000-05:002009-01-25T16:26:00.000-05:00I was so glad that poetry was part of this big day...I was so glad that poetry was part of this big day.<BR/>Did anyone see Elizabeth Alexander's interview with Stephen Colbert? Very entertaining!Kelly Polarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10968381456100611120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-3277507161565760972009-01-24T13:06:00.000-05:002009-01-24T13:06:00.000-05:00I agree about the delivery... why does poetry have...I agree about the delivery... why does poetry have to be read in a mannered voice? <BR/><BR/>I like the poetry of Taylor Mali. "On What Teachers Make" or "The impotence of of proofreading"<BR/><BR/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU&feature=relatedThetoymakershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405265800595978197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-62762129347743468522009-01-21T21:43:00.000-05:002009-01-21T21:43:00.000-05:00I loved the words: We encounter each other in word...I loved the words: We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.<BR/><BR/>I did not enjoy it on TV as much as when I read it.Shelli (srjohannes)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17123227845032402600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-54156328001417047032009-01-21T13:19:00.000-05:002009-01-21T13:19:00.000-05:00I watched the inauguration and was moved by every ...I watched the inauguration and was moved by every part of it. But my 11-year-old daughter, who watched at school, was underwhelmed by everything EXCEPT this poem.<BR/><BR/>When she was telling me about her day, she said, "It was pretty boring. Just a bunch of people talking. But that poem. That was cool."<BR/><BR/>I wish she could have appreciated the importance of what was going on a little better, but I was glad the poem stuck in her mind as a positive thing.<BR/><BR/>Pat Zietlow MillerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-59401874311802771282009-01-21T10:25:00.000-05:002009-01-21T10:25:00.000-05:00Even as she was reading it yesterday, I was thinki...Even as she was reading it yesterday, I was thinking, "I think I like this poem in spite of the delivery." Now that I can read it, I do really like it.<BR/><BR/>I wish the delivery had been better, but I also know that I would certainly not have been able to speak in front of that many people. When NPR interviewed Elizabeth Alexander over the weekend, someone used the word "billion" when talking about the audience. I blame NPR for freaking her out.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-16059526589008275192009-01-21T09:55:00.000-05:002009-01-21T09:55:00.000-05:00I loved the bit about figuring-it-out at kitchen t...I loved the bit about <I>figuring-it-out</I> at kitchen tables, because I could relate to it immediately. It's a common, everyday, family thing, and it (the phrase) rings true for any family, I think.Sharanyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10854112156033972511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-43644665800947493712009-01-21T09:21:00.000-05:002009-01-21T09:21:00.000-05:00Cheryl--So true: the beauty of poetry is the diver...Cheryl--So true: the beauty of poetry is the diverse interpretation. I can totally see where your thoughts come from on this--but my knee-jerk reaction to standardized testing is still my strongest emotion to the line. <BR/><BR/>Also, I think the setting of this poem influenced my interpretation (I just blogged about it, actually). Because she was reading this at the inauguration (and because I have a suspicious nature anyway) I was looking for a deeper (and inherently political) meaning to the poem. Unconsciously, I was looking for political commentary within the text--therefore, I noticed a lot more of the change theme, and thought that line (and a few others) were a reflection of the American people of the past 8 years moving on. <BR/><BR/>However, had you handed this poem to me casually and I had had no idea that it was associated with politics, I think I would have had a much different, much more innocent reaction to the poem.<BR/><BR/>It is interesting how one's own setting influences interpretation. I would love to know what someone who was strongly anti-Obama thought of the poem, given the context.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11431700962951592287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-24041259893420602862009-01-20T23:40:00.000-05:002009-01-20T23:40:00.000-05:00Thanks for posting this--I admit I like it far bet...Thanks for posting this--I admit I like it far better when I can read it than when I heard it. But I think it would be very difficult not to have stage fright if faced with 2 million live viewers and a worldwide audience on camera!!Rose Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10752073931486321348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-71949258162731614442009-01-20T22:31:00.000-05:002009-01-20T22:31:00.000-05:00I love the phrase: "In today's sharp sparkle, this...I love the phrase: <BR/>"In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun."<BR/>It will make me take step when I afraid to put pen or pencil to paper.<BR/>Although I take that bit of text out of context, I can take it and make it my own.<BR/>New beginnings are always so uplifting. Here's to all new beginnings!Kate Higginshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09861373649696211491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-52165371146393182172009-01-20T22:18:00.000-05:002009-01-20T22:18:00.000-05:00I did not like the poem when she was reading it --...I did not like the poem when she was reading it -- or rather I did not like the way she read it, overly emphatic and heavy to my ear. (Which, given the occasion, is understandable!) <BR/><BR/>But I quite love the final poem -- the call to come out of the noise of the everyday, to consider the power of words and song and the names of the dead, and how that power can be transmuted into action, particularly the action of love; and how we stand on the brink of an opportunity to enact that. The more I reread it, the more I'm moved and impressed. <BR/><BR/>Sara Lewis Holmes also posted a wonderful poem for the day: http://saralewisholmes.blogspot.com/2009/01/certain-day.htmlCherylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05972029478350879112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-23923066041854352312009-01-20T22:03:00.001-05:002009-01-20T22:03:00.001-05:00I adored the lines, "What if the mightiest word is...I adored the lines, "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."<BR/><BR/>I'm so glad that someone was brave enough to say it-- that the greatest aid or boon to our nation-- to the world-- is not money or power or weaponry. It is the ability to love beyond the boundaries that we have set up between ourselves, it is the moment we remember that we belong to one another and not ourselves alone.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for posting this. I can understand that it wasn't everyone's cup of tea-- nothing sweeping or dramatic in the cadence or delivery. But it seems fitting to remind ourselves that once the pomp of the day is over, we are still as powerful as we feel today.Christinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15363411079221274431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-10068539570635578562009-01-20T22:03:00.000-05:002009-01-20T22:03:00.000-05:00To leave things on a less negative note, these wer...To leave things on a less negative note, these were two comments I liked today (with two more apt poems, I feel): Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish posted Langston Hughes "I, too, sing America" http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/01/poem-for-the-da.html<BR/>Matthew Stibbe at Bad Language posted this: <BR/>For me, Seamus Heaney put it best:<BR/><BR/>History says, Don’t hope<BR/>on this side of the grave.<BR/>But then, once in a lifetime<BR/>the longed for tidal wave<BR/>of justice can rise up,<BR/>and hope and history rhyme.<BR/><BR/>http://www.badlanguage.net/watching-the-inauguration-hope-and-history-rhymes<BR/><BR/>I sum up her poem as "Someone is trying to write an inaugural poem, and failing."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-3508975696250730782009-01-20T21:57:00.000-05:002009-01-20T21:57:00.000-05:00I loved it. Plainspoken, surely, but it really mov...I loved it. Plainspoken, surely, but it really moved me. I started to cry with the line about "building brick by brick". My father, dead these 30 years, was a NYC construction worker. I found that line in my heart.GraceAnne LadyHawkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18218782604391016011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-12364962365766523362009-01-20T21:51:00.000-05:002009-01-20T21:51:00.000-05:00I thought the poem was horrible, which was disappo...I thought the poem was horrible, which was disappointing because I love poetry. It's interesting to me that anyone liked it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-41321317836987397692009-01-20T21:47:00.000-05:002009-01-20T21:47:00.000-05:00(I meant to finish that comment with an ellipsis, ...(I meant to finish that comment with an ellipsis, so: . . . .)Cherylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05972029478350879112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-23397682783803530852009-01-20T21:46:00.000-05:002009-01-20T21:46:00.000-05:00Interesting, Beth! I didn't think that line sad, o...Interesting, Beth! I didn't think that line sad, or that it referred to standardized testing -- I pictured it as an injunction to write an essay, either for a test or for an assignment. I think I think this because the two images (the woman and son waiting for the bus, the farmer and the sky) that precede it are about exploration and creation and growth, and the line that follows is about the possibilities of words . . . Writing fits more naturally into those images than standardized testing for me. <BR/><BR/>But the wonder of poetry is (as Tom Stoppard said) the simultaneous reduction of language and expansion of meaning, so if it means a test for you.Cherylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05972029478350879112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4074861.post-43808973365989496282009-01-20T21:23:00.000-05:002009-01-20T21:23:00.000-05:00I love the ending of this. Especially when I can r...I love the ending of this. Especially when I can read it here. When she said it at the inaugeration, I felt that her voice was so stiff and robotic--nothing like the richness of Maya Angelou's.<BR/><BR/>But my favorite line is this one:<BR/>A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."<BR/><BR/>I found this so sad and beautiful. That education is represented by mass testing instead of knowledge--but it is also a truth of America today.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11431700962951592287noreply@blogger.com