I can't tell you how delightful it was to be at home on Inauguration Day. Normally I'm at work and only get to see soundbites later in the day. It was fun to watch, from start to finish, the all-American hoopla that goes into inaugurating a president. It also restored a little of the faith and pride that I had lost over the manic past year of electioneering.
Inauguration Day 2013Tabatha Yeatts is hosting this week's Poetry Friday Round-Up. See you there!
Ardent speeches, prayers,
and poems are peppered with
references to diversity
and immigrants, Seneca
Falls, Selma, and Stonewall.
Meanwhile, TV cameras point
toward the mall scanning
the crowd of hundreds
of thousands swathed in
wool, cotton, and fleece.
Male, female, black, white,
and every shade of human,
young, old, gay, straight,
native born, recently arrived.
They are all there. All here.
Smiling, crying, silent,
or cheering--huddled masses
yearning to be seen and
to see what is truth--
We, the people. We. The People
have arrived at the party
while the invitation is still
being stuffed in an envelope.
© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.
Photo by Brian Gratwicke.
Another moment captured, Diane! I'm still hopeful that the change is coming.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your front row seat, Diane - it was inspiring on TV as well, but must have been so much more so to be there, to see "every shade of human" crowding the streets!
ReplyDeleteLove the last stanza, Diane. Didn't the White House look stunning?
ReplyDeleteRobyn, I was only there in spirit! I watched it on TV from home.
ReplyDeleteLaura, what I found positively stunning was the number of flags being waved on the mall. Still photos didn't catch it as well as the TV cameras. It was like watching a hive of bees swarm!
Yes, the inauguration is a nice antidote to the emotional exhaustion that comes from election campaigns!
ReplyDeleteYour poem captured the event so well I thought you were there as well! I had goosebumps start to finish. Thanks for sharing. =)
ReplyDeleteBridget, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your saying that! Have a great weekend.
ReplyDelete"They are all there. All here"
ReplyDeleteThat's how I feel when I look at the students in my classes. America is such an amazing diversity of life. People who live in neighborhoods or lives where everyone looks just like them just have no idea what the reality is...
Thanks for taking me to the inauguration. We were hiking in new-fallen snow and missed it. (but not really, seeing as we were hiking in new-fallen snow...)
Mary Lee, is there a poem coming related to new-fallen snow?
ReplyDelete