For Something Blue, the final day of Freedom to Marry Week, I’m sharing a video of Elizabeth Alexander reading two poems: ‘Ars Poetica #92: Marcus Garvey on Elocution’ and ‘Ars Poetica #100: I Believe’ from American Blue.

http://www.youtube.com/v/7lC9Vyhir2Y&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

The Poetry Foundation has a nice sampling of Elizabeth Alexander’s poems to read, and includes a summary of her career to date.

Elizabeth Alexander read at Emory University in Atlanta Wednesday evening to an appreciative audience. The venue was Glenn Memorial Church, a large, neoclassical structure, with arched windows, Corinthian pilasters, and vaulted ceilings, everything washed in cream paint, lit with a golden light – an ideal location for a poetry reading.

She stood at a podium, dressed simply in a dark suit and white blouse, after first being introduced by Professor Kevin Young as a ‘poet of history.’

She read a cross-section of poems from several collections, many of which were recollections of her life, her family’s lives, and the history leading up her time, told with a vocabulary rich in metaphor and magical realism. Alexander expressed gratitude to her parents’ and grandparents’ generations for doing the hard work it took for her and her peers to realize their dreams.

Several times the audience broke out into applause after the reading of a particular poem, but the one that received the loudest appreciation was ‘Praise Song for the Day.’ While she was reading ‘Praise Song’ I felt Barack Obama’s presence in the room, and shivers went up and down my arms. Afterwards Alexander said, ‘I wasn’t ever going to read that poem again. I wrote it for that day, it was a part of the day, and now it is a part of history. Besides, I don’t want people to like it more than they like my other poems! But I’ve done it, I’ve gotten it out of the way.’

I liked ‘Praise Son of the Day’ from the moment I heard it, but I also agree with Alexander, that the poem is now infused with the memories of one of the greatest historical moments of our lifetime. Later generations will have to judge her poem as it is written. For me, there’s no separating my joy of the day from the poem. It’s all wrapped up in a glow of pride, relief, and awe.

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My recap of the reading wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Holly Dunlap, poet and author of Lost Kite, who met me at the reading. We went to a funky little sushi-falafel diner across from Emory after the reading, and had a nice time getting to know each other.

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