I had a lot more observations, but this one was the most important.

[sylvanstargazer]

I think everyone, of any political belief, can unite around how crappy that poem was

Comments

[arsinoea]

I dunno, I liked the message of it. But yes, could have been better.

[uncommondecency]

I agree, the poem was crap. /the benediction totally made up for it.

[kepod]

Agreed and agreed.

[sistahraven]

They picked her because she'd written great poems for him before. Oprah talked to her on Monday, and she said, "I've worked harder on this poem than on any I've ever written before."

I knew it was doomed.

But - I like the message. I just wish someone else would have written it, or she'd have stopped working and started writing

[dcltdw]

I turned it off after a few lines; the delivery was terrible. Now I want to read it, though. Generally, I think that master poets write masterful poems, and not necessarily have masterful deliveries. Although some of that may be my own boorishness: I remember hearing one poem read by the author which was done in apparently a traditional style that was almost like chanting. I found it really unnerving, but well, first exposure to anything different is likely to make me say "yuck, that's weird!", sooo...

or at least that awkward sentence structure =/= poetry.

Gawd, that needs to be branded onto some people's foreheads. Fortunately most of them are unpublished.

[safirerings]

I know! I mean, Obama's such a good speaker that he's a tough act to follow. But the combination of random mid-phrase pauses and labored images was AWFUL!!!