By all accounts, Elizabeth Alexander's Inaugural Poem, uh, sucked. We think you could do better. So, here's the deal. Take her poem. Remix it, shred it, speed it up, slow it down, reconstruct it, deconstruct it, warp it, bend it, twist it, scream it, rock it, set it to noise, obliterate it. You get the idea. And I'll play it on my show next week, Weds afternoon, Jan 28, noon-3 pm. I'll also post 'em here on this blog.
Note: sincere recitations will be discarded. Please send MP3 audio only!
Send an MP3 via YouSendIt to kg at wfmu dot org or post a link in the comments.
Here's the video:
Here's the link to the text.
Here's an MP3 of the reading for you to mangle (Thanks, Rokhausen!)
LISTENER VERSIONS
People Like Us "An Induction Is A Draft Is A Gust Of Air" (video version)
- PLU + RIAA "A Golden Induction"
- People Like Us "An Induction Is A Draft Is A Gust Of Air"
- People Like Us "Adjournment-Poem"
- Fatty Jubbo "Histrionic Inaugural Poem"
- Fatty Jubbo "Elizabeth Claire Prophet Inauguration"
- Fatty Jubbo "Riveting Inaugural Poem"
- Fatty Jubbo "A Precious Poem"
- Cy Kottick Channels Jackie Mason Channelling Elizabeth Alexander
- Nick The Bard "Heavy Metal Inaugural Poem"
- Volunteer Gordon "Pathetic Inaugural Poem"
- Reverend Hellbound Alleee "Inauguration Poem"
- Rokhausen "Praise-Song For Tomorrow"
- Sick To The Back Teeth "Take Out Your Boom"
- Sick To The Back Teeth "All at Once"
- Jonathan Wall "Some Someone Someone Someone Something Somewhere"
- Dogwater "Praise Song All About Us"
- Suzie Crews "Inaugural Poem"
- Big Kitty "Praise Sawng"
- DJ Bidet Spret and Rokhausen "Praise Songsmith Slumber Ball Mix"
- The Ubu Orchestra "Inaugural Poem Revisited"
- Nat Roe "Song of a Praise"
- James Urbaniak "What If"
- Giant Pygmy "Inaugural Poem (This National Grievance"
- Raging Horn "The Swearing in Poem (Burnt Bacon Right Remix)"
- Babs Toyfish "I Need to See What's On The Other Side or Inaugural Cough"
- Godxiliary "0 Cliffnote-Sum"
- Godxiliary "1 Cassettegirl-Ko"
- Godxiliary "2 Mikrosophst and Cassettegirl Make Love"
- Godxiliary "3 Cliffnote Synopsis"
- Godxiliary "4 Robot"
- Godxiliary " 5 Cliffnote Selections"
- Gwilly Edmondez "Inaugural Poems One"
- Gwilly Edmondez "Inaugural Poems Two"
- Gwilly Edmondez "Inaugural Poems Three"
- Paid in Puke "Inauguration 4 The
Beat Generation"
- DJ Man Rich "Praise Sitting in a Room"
- Tommy Mackay "Everybody's Heard About The Words"
- Babs Toyfish "Reconsider A Widening Pool of Light"
- Pflaphpschoen "Sparklesharp"
- Pflaphpschoen "All About Us Is Noise"
- norelpref "Wait A Minute"
- norelpref "Someone is Trying to Make Music Somewhere"
- norelpref "A Side of Ham is Love"
- I Am A Robot "Poem"
- Easy EW "Praise Song Praise Song"
- Dogwater "Last Minute Speechwriter"
- Daniel Konig "Elizabeth Alexander = Log Lady from Twin Peaks"
- Brian Joseph Davis "The First Ten Words"
- Webhamster Henry "Roses"
- Nosnibor "Lettuce"
- TriFocal "Praise Song For The Day (Cinderblock Dumbbell Mix)"
Full text after the jump...
Inaugural Poem
Praise song for the day.
Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."
We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.
We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."
We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.
Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."
Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.
What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.
In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.
it really did suck...
glad i'm not alone in this setiment...
Posted by: daniel | January 21, 2009 at 11:04 PM
The poem is far more affecting when read than when spoken. Then again, Alexander could have spoken it better, not in a more agressive tone but a more celebratory one. Her reading was very tepid.
Posted by: Jonathan Steinke | January 22, 2009 at 09:49 AM
Tewtally agree with Jonathan. The words are good, the delivery was not great.
Posted by: jenjen | January 22, 2009 at 10:10 AM
stitching up a ham?
Posted by: phil | January 22, 2009 at 10:20 AM
I got one.
Didn't care for da wordz at all. So I made my own translation.
https://www.yousendit.com/download/WnBUK0duQzNtNEtGa1E9PQ
Posted by: Rev. Hellbound Alleee | January 22, 2009 at 11:21 AM
I watched the inauguration live here in the UK. I looked forward to the inaugural poem: I was hoping for a truly memorable poem like "The Gift Outright”which Robert Frost read at Kennedy's inauguration. As Elizabeth Alexander read, "We cross dirt roads and highways"...I said aloud, "like a chicken." As she said, "that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side".. I said, "like a chicken".She continued, "I know there's something better down the road"..."like a chicken", I repeated. Actually, the poem is much better with the response added after the following lines. Viz:
We need to find a place where we are safe
Like a chicken.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see Like a chicken.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light
Like a chicken.
Posted by: Ivy | January 22, 2009 at 04:26 PM
http://www.yousendit.com/download/WnBTT205UnE1aWFGa1E9PQ
Posted by: Suzie Crews | January 22, 2009 at 09:50 PM
The line breaks are the only recognisable poetic feature in this poem; it is entirely prosaic in every other respect. It fails to evoke an emotion from the reader and while this poem may be following accepted standards of some extremely prosaic contemporary poetry, it cannot be classified as poetry; moreover, no audience will seriously believe that these insipid lines can be associated with art. Indeed, any audience could be forgiven for thinking that the reason that such prosaic poetry has become so prevalent is that anyone can now become a poet.
Posted by: Art Verschoor | January 22, 2009 at 11:56 PM
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&batch_id=WnBTT20wdkczMWtLSkE9PQ
Posted by: Jonathan Wall | January 23, 2009 at 02:03 AM
quick, somebody run it through songsmith!!
Posted by: rokhausen | January 23, 2009 at 08:39 AM
another obama poem
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvZ1AaZOnQo
Posted by: mick | January 23, 2009 at 10:34 AM
Er, stupid question: how do I get the straight mp3 of the poem to remix? Am I missing something?
Posted by: chris | January 23, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Chris - play the youtube footage from above and use some software that records your computer system sounds, and save it as an aiff or similar. For instance for Mac there is free software called WireTap. Someone please advise on software for PC.
Posted by: Vicki - DO or DIY | January 23, 2009 at 01:26 PM
On Windows computers you can go to your Volume Settings (the little speaker icon that very often sits in your taskbar), go to Options - > Properties, change "Adjust volume for" to Recording, and then make sure that "Stereo Mix" is checked. Then select "Stereo Mix" as your mic input. The volume needs to be really low usually.
Posted by: Jonathan Wall | January 23, 2009 at 01:58 PM
if chris or anyone wants an mp3 of the original, i upped a rip here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/9qols6
Posted by: rokhausen | January 23, 2009 at 02:29 PM
Cheers. This is gonna be fun.
Posted by: chris | January 23, 2009 at 07:18 PM
"by all accounts" it sucked? not by my account. wbai arrogrance and cultural fascism again rears its ugly head.
Posted by: sam | January 24, 2009 at 12:05 AM
Yikes! Clunky, awkward, and pedestrian, with a delivery to match. This is considered good poetry these days?
Posted by: PapayaSF | January 24, 2009 at 01:27 AM
I've seen better poems on poetrydaily.com- but overall I prefer contemporary poetry in the UK.
Posted by: Ivy | January 24, 2009 at 04:00 AM
Sorry, Poetry Daily has changed its url to http://poems.com/. It's a great site: it offers a new poem every day, has a good archive, interviews, and prose features. I subscribe to its free weekly newsletter.
Posted by: Ivy | January 24, 2009 at 04:04 AM
While all the new mixes are good ( and Fats, that Horshack rendition had me chuckling from the first sentence ), Rev Alleee really nailed it down. Makes me want to take a crack at it...hmmm.....
Posted by: K | January 24, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Jonathan Wall's remix was excellent. Very representative of the real thing.
Posted by: Jake | January 25, 2009 at 10:24 AM
tracks 2 and 16 don't work...
Posted by: martinf | January 25, 2009 at 04:42 PM
Here's my offering.
http://tinyurl.com/dnfcur
It's called "I Need to See What's On the Other Side" or "Inaugural Cough".
Backing drone from White Hills Gnod - Subordinate Contact
Posted by: Babs Toyfish | January 26, 2009 at 04:01 AM
I sent in mine via SendIt but thought I'd post the link too.
"Inaugural Poem (This National Grievance)"
Enjoy!
GP
Posted by: Giant Pygmy | January 26, 2009 at 09:22 AM