{"id":7044318,"date":"2026-08-22T21:51:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T21:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/americanstudies-january-23-2026-occasional-poems-21st-century-inaugural-poems\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T21:51:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T21:51:30","slug":"americanstudies-january-23-2026-occasional-poems-21st-century-inaugural-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7044318","title":{"rendered":"AmericanStudies: January 23, 2026: Occasional Poems: 21st Century Inaugural Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

[65 years
\nago Tuesday<\/a>, John F. Kennedy was inaugurated
\nas President<\/a>. One of the most famous parts of that January 1961 event was Robert
\nFrost\u2019s powerful poem<\/a>, so this week I\u2019ll AmericanStudy that text
\nand other occasional poetry from American history. Leading up to a first for
\nthis blog, a piece of my own creative writing!]<\/p>\n

On quick takeaways from the three 21st<\/sup> century
\ninaugural poems to date.<\/span><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Elizabeth Alexander, \u201cPraise Song for the Day<\/a>\u201d
\n(2009): I\u2019ve thought and talked and written a lot about critical
\noptimism<\/a> and hard-won
\nhope<\/a> over the last decade, and would say that Alexander\u2019s poem for Barack Obama\u2019s first
\ninauguration<\/a> captures those perspectives and concepts very eloquently. I especially
\nlike how the line that first introduces the poem\u2019s title, \u201cPraise strong for struggle,
\npraise song for the day,\u201d expands in the poem\u2019s final full verse and then
\nculminating single line: \u201cIn today\u2019s sharp sparkle, this winter air,\/any thing
\ncan be made, any sentence begun.\/On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,\/\/praise
\nsong for walking forward in that light.\u201d Each one of the poems I\u2019m highlighting
\ntoday looks different from the dimmed light of January 2026, but goddamn do we still
\nneed to walk forward. <\/span><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Richard Blanco, \u201cOne Today<\/a>\u201d (2013): I don\u2019t think I had
\never read Blanco\u2019s poem, written for Obama\u2019s second
\ninauguration<\/a>, until researching this post, and I was immediately struck by
\njust how Whitmanesque it is, especially in those long lists (catalogs, as
\nWhitman scholars call them) of settings and social roles alike. The poem\u2019s
\nfinal lines envision hard-won hope in ways that feel indebted to (or at least
\nin conversation with) Alexander\u2019s, and that Amanda Gorman would herself echo and
\nextend eight years later in the poem I\u2019ll get to in a moment. But the lines of
\nBlanco\u2019s that I love best are the ones that are in conversation with Mart\u00edn Espada\u2019s
\npoem \u201cWho
\nBurns for the Perfection of Paper<\/a>?\u201d (1993): \u201cring-up groceries as my mother
\ndid\/for twenty years, so I could write this poem\u201d; and \u201chands\/as worn as my
\nfather\u2019s cutting sugarcane\/so my brother and I could have books and shoes.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Amanda Gorman, \u201cThe
\nHill We Climb<\/a>\u201d (2021): It\u2019s very difficult for me to read or watch Gorman\u2019s
\nincredible poem, written for Joe Biden\u2019s inauguration, these five years later, especially
\nwhen we get to\/ lines like \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a force that would shatter our nation, rather
\nthan share it.\/Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.\/And
\nthis effort very nearly succeeded.\/But while democracy can be periodically delayed,
\nit can never be permanently defeated.\u201d Jury\u2019s still out on that one, I\u2019m afraid.
\nBut I still find these lines not only just as inspiring as ever, but a crystal
\nclear vision of how I would define both America and the work we must do: \u201cIf we\u2019re
\nto live up to our own time, then victory won\u2019t lie in the blade, but in all the
\nbridges we\u2019ve made.\/That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we
\ndare.\/It\u2019s because being American is more than a pride we inherit.\/It\u2019s the
\npast we step into and how we repair it.\u201d Couldn\u2019t have said it better myself,
\nbut I\u2019ll try to say my own piece this weekend!<\/span><\/p>\n

That special poem of mine this weekend,<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben<\/span><\/p>\n

PS. What do you think? Occasional poetry you\u2019d share?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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