Did ya catch the poem?

[mdogspot]

I listened on the radio to Prez Obamas speech the other day. Then came the Poem WTF was that all about! Did any one else hear it. I'm not that cultured to understand I guess. Nice slam by the preacher also by the way.

[cudalyon]

I listened on the radio to Prez Obamas speech the other day. Then came the Poem WTF was that all about! Did any one else hear it. I'm not that cultured to understand I guess. Nice slam by the preacher also by the way.

Sorry...didn't watch any of it. I was too pissed about him saying cut spending, cut spending, cut spending, then spending $150 Mil to Pat him self on the back for getting elected. That was just a slap in the face to everyone that voted for him.

[TLM]

Praise song for the day.

Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.

A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."

We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."

We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."

Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

[Brosia]

the poet did not read her poem very well. I couldn't even listen to it. Brings race into it. I couldn't believe the prayer was racial too!

[Rednekdaddy]

JOSEPH LOWERY SAID A "PRAYER" AT THE INAUGURATION. "LORD, IN MEMORY OF ALL THE SAINTS WHO FROM THEIR LABORS REST, AND IN THE JOY OF A NEW BEGINNING, WE ASK YOU TO HELP US WORK FOR THAT DAY WHEN BLACK WILL NOT BE ASKED TO GET IN BACK, WHEN BROWN CAN STICK AROUND, WHEN YELLOW WILL BE MELLOW WHEN THE RED MAN CAN GET AHEAD, MAN; and when white will embrace what is right." SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT....IF YOU'RE WHITE, THEN YOU DON'T EMBRACE WHAT IS RIGHT. HMMM. THAT SOUNDS A BIT RACIST TO ME, BUT APPARENTLY MR. OBAMA THOUGHT IT WAS AMUSING JUDGING BY THE SMILE ON HIS FACE WHEN MR. LOWERY SAID IT. SO MUCH FOR OUR NEW PRESIDENT LEADING US TO A "POST RACIAL AMERICA"

[Visinedrops]

I heard this poem on Opie and Anthony (xm radio) in the raspy, 900-year-old voice of someone who has an agenda to speak about. Even though the words came through as sounding off-sides so to speak, his poem will only fall harsh on the ears of those who will allow it to.