Articles by Bo Mackison

The 2009 Inaugural Poet and Poem

Reading the Inaugural Poem

click During the Reading of the Inaugural Poem

https://bettierose.co.uk/307_baker_fotor/ (Photo is a TV shot from ABC News.)

https://anthonynewmancamps.com/tennis-camps/ Elizabeth Alexander is a poet, essayist, playwright, and teacher. She is a professor at Yale University and was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University this year. She was chosen to write and deliver the inaugural poem, only the fourth poet to have this privilege.

https://www.jacobysaustin.com/grandmas-strawberry-cake/ Robert Frost recited his poem, one he had written in the 1940s, The Gift Outright , at the 1961 Inauguration of John F. Kennedy, Maya Angelou wrote and read The Rock Cries Out to Us Today at Bill Clinton’s Inauguration in 1993, and Miller Williams wrote and read Of History and Hope at Clinton’s Second Inauguration in 1997.

https://www.52editions.com/referrals/ This is a transcription of Alexander’s poem, delivered at Barack Obama’s Inauguration, January 20, 2009. The poem will be available in a commemorative chapbook by Graywolf Press on February 6th.

Tramadol For Sale Online It’s an interesting study to read the four inaugural poems as a collection. (Interesting, too, that two of the poems have the word bramble in them. Bramble? Not your ordinary kind of word, but definitely a poet’s word.)

go go Praise Song for the Day.

Order Soma Online 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.

Eszopiclone Lunesta Buy Online 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.

The New President and First Lady, in Tune with the Nation

Singing the National Anthem

Singing the National Anthem

Of course, I did not go to the Inauguration. I watched it at home on the television, but I had to take photos of the big event anyway. So this photo comes off the ABC News feed from the television. I must admit though, I’m a bit pleased that I managed a photo that looks as if it’s been double exposed.

The President and his wife are singing the National Anthem, just minutes after Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.

Obama Shines during Inaugural Speech

American Flag - A Starburst in the Sunlight

Obama's American Flag Lapel Pin - A Starburst in the Sunlight

Thanks to television broadcasting, I felt like I was almost at the Inauguration. Wow, how the American Flag lapel pin gleamed in the sun.

And I cried. I’ve seen a lot of presidents come, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt quite this way upon seeing a new leader take office.

Hope. Such audacious hope!

It’s Winter in Iowa

Out Standing in a Field

Out Standing in a Field

When I was a kid, my sense of humor ran to the obvious. I thought it hysterical to show one of my (three) grandmothers a sheet of white paper, and ask them what they thought of my drawing. They, of course knowing the drill, as I did this once a winter, would kindly ask “What is it?”

I, in glee, would reply “White cows in a blizzard.”

So, here’s an adaptation of the same – but this time you can see the cows (cattle, really) in their dark coats. The rest of the photo is playing true to the original version.

The Weeklies

Isthmus and The Onion

The Isthmus and The Onion

If you were to define a city by its weeklies, this would be a solid description of Madison.