Today's broadcast, and the inevitible politics

Today's broadcast, Giving Up, is now available immediately for download or steaming directly on my website:

The Pious Paradox Program

I'd like to have said more about poetry, as it is a rather broad subject, but my more rambling broadcasts lack the purity of my last two. It appears, though I am pretty new to the medium, that 7 minutes is a sufficient length of time to say something distinct, assuming I don't follow up my exchange with a story. I'll be striving for that in the next few to test this theory.

But in a blog post, perhaps I might go on a bit about just one thing a little longer. You see, there is a political aspect to the poem I chose. Not only was it a presidential dedication, but the poet hails from the halls of one of our most prestigious universities and is a personal friend of our commander in chief. In essence, she is a person of power and prestige, of the upper class, or in the parlance of this year, part of the 1%. This aspect of any composition, of the privilege to create and be heard at a presidential inauguration, must therefore intrude on what might seem like a more empirical anecdote about believing in oneself.

And that, perhaps, is why this poem, Praise song for the day, seems so disingenuous. It claims by its language to be about ordinary people, and also claims unity with the repetition of the pronoun "us." (as in "All about us is noise and bramble") But the persona composing the poem is not ordinary, and things like patching a tire or making music on an oil drum are probably far from her personal experience. If I am mistaken in this, for I do not know her personally, then it really doesn't come out in the poem, and it appears I am not alone in my disappointment:

Obama Inaugural Poet Elizabeth Alexander Gets D Minus in Poetry Composition

So let it be said that poetry can express very well any aspect of living, and that life is not limited to any one person's experience. Your song, whoever you are, does not belong to others. Though we all require practice, the knowledge of your perspective is valuable and cannot be faked, even on a momentous occasion in history.

- F. F. White