‘Praise Song For The Day’

I am so inspired ! I felt led to send this rendition.
I sit beside you on a city train or not, can you guess what I had for dinner?
Or not?
A deep breath would say its porkroast, or not?
The lunch grooves through the airways, perhaps.
The eyes burn from tears or not.
They fill with light from the oncoming car... Quick Move! Or not.
No you should move that's really a car.
My poem just flows like rivers of gassy moments, perhaps.
We sit at a table and eat. We walk down the street and fleet, we fly a kite while tea steeps, or not, or not.
My stomach it fills the bloat it also brings chills I see the hills I feel as if I cannot make it to the top until I sense a strange release from behind.
The air has changed... A small bird hits the ground singing songs of sorrow.
The crack in my grass has broken the swass perhaps, perhaps the man on the elevator knows the essence of the lunch I had perhaps?
Are you kiddin me?
The worst?

I am so inspired ! I felt led to send this rendition.
I sit beside you on a city train or not, can you guess what I had for dinner?
Or not?
A deep breath would say its porkroast, or not?
The lunch grooves through the airways, perhaps.
The eyes burn from tears or not.
They fill with light from the oncoming car... Quick Move! Or not.
No you should move that's really a car.
My poem just flows like rivers of gassy moments, perhaps.
We sit at a table and eat. We walk down the street and fleet, we fly a kite while tea steeps, or not, or not.
My stomach it fills the bloat it also brings chills I see the hills I feel as if I cannot make it to the top until I sense a strange release from behind.
The air has changed... A small bird hits the ground singing songs of sorrow.
The crack in my grass has broken the swass perhaps, perhaps the man on the elevator knows the essence of the lunch I had perhaps?
Are you kiddin me?
The worst?

The Borgen Project has some good info on the cost of addressing global poverty.

$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
$550 billion: U.S. Defense budget

A beautiful and uplifting poem about life, love, hope.

No words can express the breathless intensity I exhibited taking in the words of this very fine poem when it was given. I saw myself and my neighbors in Elizabeth's rhyme and verse. Good job..good job!!

Wow. What a supurbly written & perfect poem for the day!

I loved this poem and am so glad to finally see it in print. I sent it to all the family and friends who came to my open house on inauguration day, they can add it to the printed inaugural speech I presented them with on that same evening. Both these eloquent pieces of spoken word deserve reading and re-reading. There is a depth to their meaning that will resonate to each of us who will take them into our hearts in the way they are meant to be heard.

This is truly a fine poem - the delivery, I agree, might have been lacking towards the end but as with so many poets, when do we know when they're finished with the piece...might have left the audience wondering on the day of the Inauguration but I agree that, like Obama's speech, it is worthy of a second look. The lines are crisp and definitely invoke true images of America - Ms. Alexander did an amazing job at that "Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables."...and stanza by stanza each image represents citizens (or non-citizens, like myself) living in this country. To say that she delivers like a 3rd-grader dismisses her already-established talent and works published. Unlike prepared speeches for elected presidents, poetry is most difficult to deliver, especially to those who would prefer the predictability of rhyme and the reliable rhythm of same-count syllables per line. To any who criticize it, do yourself a favor and go back to the poem as it is on paper --- read it aloud yourself, over and over. You might see then, that it's no 3rd grade assignment after all.

This is truly a fine poem - the delivery, I agree, might have been lacking towards the end but as with so many poets, when do we know when they're finished with the piece...might have left the audience wondering on the day of the Inauguration but I agree that, like Obama's speech, it is worthy of a second look. The lines are crisp and definitely invoke true images of America - Ms. Alexander did an amazing job at that "Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables."...and stanza by stanza each image represents citizens (or non-citizens, like myself) living in this country. To say that she delivers like a 3rd-grader dismisses her already-established talent and works published. Unlike prepared speeches for elected presidents, poetry is most difficult to deliver, especially to those who would prefer the predictability of rhyme and the reliable rhythm of same-count syllables per line. To any who criticize it, do yourself a favor and go back to the poem as it is on paper --- read it aloud yourself, over and over. You might see then, that it's no 3rd grade assignment after all.

Thought provoking and stirring words, yet lacking.
The author truly puts forth her heart in her words but I found it hard to follow the flow.

as always,
wordsy.

Both this poem and Obama's inaugural address benefit from a second look. I was initially unimpressed with both, but when I went back and listened to Obama's speech again, and now when I reread Alexander's poem on the page, the power and import of the former and the grace and rhythm of the latter become clear. I think that, as with so many things in our modern, multimedia-driven world, it's too easy sometimes to overlook substance and beauty when they are not packaged as easily-swallowed byte snacks.

Flat and spiritless -- no song, no praise. It is Whitman without the (often raucous and hyperbolic) enthusiasm. Therefore -- second-rate Whitman at best. Typical of poets who have not taken the time to master their craft.

you, who are denouncing this poem are fools. this is an incredible poem - each line evokes an image, an experience common to us all, and the poem as a whole speaks of what america is and what it might be, with hope and accomplishment. the delivery was perfectly appropriate so that the words could stand on there own without distraction. i thought it was lovely - couldn't have been better.

This poem was an incredible disappointment as was Obama's speech. The powerful talent and Grace of Maya Angelou was clearly missing

What a terrible "poem" AND reading! Where was the USA poet laureate?

What a moving and beautiful poem. But what an ATROCIOUS reading! Every poet should be able to deliver the emotion and drama of the words they write. She was stilted, disjointed, disharmonious. She sounded like a 3rd grader trying to work out the phonics.