Labels:text | screenshot | font OCR: Maya Angelou: Inauguration Poet by: Tom Frenkel It was Tuesday, January 20, 1993, and I was just returning home from walking my daughter Jill to first grade. I saw a neighbor, and made some idle conversation about what a nice day it was. "Yes," she responded, "isn't it a great day for the Inauguration?" I had forgotten that this was The Day ... the day that Maya Angelou would be the first poet since Robert Frost (in 1961, for Kennedy) to read for an Inaugural. So before going to work, I set my VCR on slow speed, hoping it would capture the momentous several minutes. The grassroots interest in the Inauguration continued when I got off the subway at 168th St. and Broadway in Manhattan. There, you must get on an elevator to ascend the eight or so stories to the street. The elevator operator, who normally restricts him- or herself to "Good morning everyone", actually came out with "Well, in an hour we' ll have the changing of the guard". This was obviously a Big Day I knew very little about Maya Angelou, so I did some reading and inquiring . The electronic-mail (Internet) literary discussion group, which I can connect to at my office, was most helpful. Angelou, who pronounces her name with a long "oh" at the end, is a native of Arkansas (surprise surprise). She is not the Poet Laureate; that post is held by another woman, Mona Van Duyn. Angelou has written several books: _ I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings_ (an autobiography), along with several volumes of poetry. She seems to have a sense of humor; she has expressed fear that all the schoolchildren in America will come to hate her, because they're going to be forced to memorize her Inaugural poem? A poem written for a particular occasion is certainly part of a long tradition; the idea goes back to classical times, I am sure. On a more personal note, this Inauguration reminded me that my late grandfather used to write and recite poems (in his native German) for family birthdays. (I hope they have been saved somewhere. ) I normally would look askance at a poem so "simple" and "traditional" as Angelou's. It has some rhymes! It has such obvious symbolism (Rock, River, Tree), and too neatly divides itself into three sections with these themes! It has hoary old cliches ("study war no more", "Give birth again / To the dream")! But this is a poem for a purpose; a poem with an occasion. It *should* be understandable by the young, and the less sophisticated. It should, arguably, contain language which echoes, and pays homage to, the past. I clipped the poem* from the N.Y. Times, and read it on the way to work Wednesday morning. It made a good impression then. But when I finally -- Thursday evening I think -- was able to wrench the VCR away from my kids, and see the tape I had made of Angelou reading, I was even more impressed. She, and Frost, are, as far as I can find out, the only two poets who have ever read at an Inauguration. And I devout ly hope that in some small way, the extra measure of expression and intensity that Angelou brought to the ceremonies, will strengthen the new beginning that we are making in this country . Yes, Angelou is reaching people who normally would not go near poetry. I saw an office-mate of mine, whom I have never heard discussing anything of a literary nature, walking into the Xerox room, holding the Times' transcript of the poem. Now *that* is taking poetry to the grass roots. *The poem "On the Pulse of Morning by Maya Angelou", also supplied by Tom Frenkel follows in the next article. Many thanks to Tom Frenkel for supplying this information, for being a talented poet, and a constant supporter/contributor to Poetry In Motion - The Poetry Newsletter.
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