Elizabeth Alexander

Politics and Poetry

Chris Watkins | January 13, 2009

It’s not too late to get in on the poetry action for January, with Elizabeth Alexander in the news as the poet who will be featured at Barack Obama’s inauguration on January 19. Whether you decide on a book display featuring Alexander and other past inaugural poets (there are only three others!) or a live program, there seem to be a lot of options. There’s even a website trying to organize 100 readings on the day at libraries and other sites around the country.

The media is full of starting points for discussion and programming. A podcast on the NPR website offers some ideas for who might have been asked to read at Lincoln’s inaugural, while others opine that poetry should stem from private inspiration, not public ceremony. Teaching websites offer lesson plans and other ideas for working with K–12 students, but are easily adapted for adult audiences, too. Ask your local elected officials whom they’d ask to read at their inauguration, or get literature teachers to speculate on appropriate poets for past or future inaugurals.

If you can’t get a program organized in time for the inauguration, consider post-inaugural poetry events with a political twist. After Illinois’ impeached governor, Rod Blagovich, quoted Kipling and Tennyson in his recent news conferences, the Chicago Tribune published excerpts from W. H. Auden, William Carlos Williams, John Milton, and Robert Burns, all applicable to the governor’s current woes.

Check out Elizabeth Alexander’s website and these other links to get your political poetry series started, and do share your results with ahanshaw@ala.org.

Elizabeth Alexander’s website
www.elizabethalexander.net/home.html

E. Ethelbert Miller talks about Civil War era poets on Liane Hansen’s Sunday Morning, January 4, 2009
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98990264

“The Intersection of Poetry and Politics,” New York Times, December 24, 2008
www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/books/25poet.html

“Bards at the Inaugural Gates,” Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123146186542166447.html

“Presidential Poetry,” New Yorker, December 18, 2008
www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/georgepacker/2008/12/presidential-po.html

“More Poetry for Rod Blagojevich,” Chicago Tribune, January 10, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-talk-poetryjan10,0,4794861.story

Background information on the three previous poets who read at inaugurations, with activities for students
www.teachervision.fen.com/poetry/lesson-plan/4414.html

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Chris Watkins is Chicago-based consultant specializing in nonprofit fundraising.

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