This poem by Richard Blanco struck me as a rather soulless attempt at political consolidation. Blanco seems less like an authentic poet than a focus-tested ploy to seem more open-minded this time around; after having Rick Warren do the benediction last time they needed someone like Blanco, a gay Latino, who could make sure everybody's happy.
The poem itself is amazingly boring and obvious. I know that a political moment like this is not the best time for interesting, thought-provoking poetry, but this is particularly egregious in its Pete Seeger Americana pabulum. It even brings up the Freedom Tower. This kind of sentimentality strikes me as kind of dangerous, because it makes the inauguration a big mythical moment instead of a political moment that should be taken seriously. It's fine for us to be proud of ourselves, but this is not 2008. We can't pretend it was some great mass movement that re-elected the President this time. By acting as if we are all working together as a nation, waiting to "name a constellation" in perfect harmony, it marginalizes dissent as some kind of anti-Americanism. It's a complacent poem.
The poem itself is amazingly boring and obvious. I know that a political moment like this is not the best time for interesting, thought-provoking poetry, but this is particularly egregious in its Pete Seeger Americana pabulum. It even brings up the Freedom Tower. This kind of sentimentality strikes me as kind of dangerous, because it makes the inauguration a big mythical moment instead of a political moment that should be taken seriously. It's fine for us to be proud of ourselves, but this is not 2008. We can't pretend it was some great mass movement that re-elected the President this time. By acting as if we are all working together as a nation, waiting to "name a constellation" in perfect harmony, it marginalizes dissent as some kind of anti-Americanism. It's a complacent poem.
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