Great Regulars: Elizabeth Alexander: What I want to do

in the composition of the poem is to be very quiet and very humble before the forces that make me able to write poems.

It's a very, very big challenge. It's a very extraordinary moment. And I think the fact that Barack Obama has decided that he wants to have a poem as part of the inaugural is tremendously significant, to say that here is a time when we can listen to language that shifts us a little bit, that allows us to pause for a moment and contemplate what's ahead of us, to think about how we can contribute to the challenges ahead of us, all of those things can be possible in the moment of pause and shift that--that a poem makes possible.

from Jeffrey Brown: PBS: Newshour: Poet Elizabeth Alexander Reflects on Inaugural Reading
also Jeffrey Brown: PBS: Newshour: Poet Profile: Elizabeth Alexander

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