Inauguration Day

January 20, 2009

Today in class, we talked about poets. Elizabeth Alexander, the poet who will speak for Obama. How do you write a poem to the new president? Elizabeth Alexander started with scraps of paper at Yale, when she was picking up her children, cooking dinner. When she was quiet, she looked at the scraps of paper and asked a simple question, "Which of these words have life"? My kids wrote, and so did I. Just scraps.....

Inauguration Day

I think of my Mom
having a luncheon, today
in honor of him
her friends will be there.
The ones I grew up with
The families who took us on trips to Ocean City,
the Adirondacks

The ones who bought chickens
Live ones
Because it was the 70’s
And they were 30
They did it for us
“it fostered consciousness”
To collect eggs
On summer mornings



In the 80’s
I remember Aunt Susie
talking to me of war
Proliferation
She showed me a dove.
The Cold War

My parents parented
My Mom voted for Carter
winced at Reagan
And at Bush
I am not sure how she even remembers Clinton
For she was carting and watching us,
playing games
acting roles
growing up

It was life
she raised kids
taught kids
built programs
changed lives

Today she celebrates
With friends who raised chickens