Is the inaugural poem a new sub-genre of poetry? According to two practitioners of the form, the answer might be “yes.”
Poet Richard Blanco and Yale professor Elizabeth Alexander, two of only five poets in history to have created works for a presidential inauguration, came together on Feb. 5 for a poetry reading and dialogue about their unique shared experience. Blanco read his work “One Today” at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration, while Alexander read her “Praise Song for the Day” at Obama’s first. Their discussion was hosted by Ezra Stiles College master Stephen Pitti. (more…)
UA Professor Alison Hawthorne Deming is a highly regarded poet and essayist who, at most every turn, works to translate matters of science and nature into poetry and prose.
Consider your tactile and sensory reality.
For some, the sound of birds stirring awake with the dawn of day, the plop fish make when hitting water, the strong scent of sagebrush and moist pine or the feel of soft soil underfoot are all foreign.
Given the tremendous rate of scientific and technological advancements at a time when people are increasing moving to urban areas, the bond between humans and the natural world seems, at times – and is, indeed, for some – strained.
