Praise for The Inaugural Poet, January, 2009
Word count: 140
Paragraphs: 9
Praise for The Inaugural Poet, January, 2009
for Elizabeth Alexander
Perhaps it’s an impossible task
On an impossible day. A young poet
Fixes her gaze along the plaza,
Looks at this latest version of America in the eyes,
Looks in the camera at all the places we’ve touched
Or torched.
Sees who’s come to this roll call:
The out of the wood-works, the I never dreamts,
The I never thought we’d live this longs,
Stands in the sharp report of weak January sun.
The poet probably knows
This family is hers.
The poet probably knows
Before she cuts history to forty-three lines,
Before the capitol has more proof
Of what bullets and ropes couldn’t stop,
She has to straighten her back. She needs to take
A deep breath. A black woman is here to sing.
All the black women in her are here to sing.
Cornelius Eady (he/him) is the author of Proof, a poem written for and read at the 2026 Inauguration of NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani. His poetry collections include: Victims of the Latest Dance Craze, winner of the 1985 Lamont Prize; The Gathering of My Name, nominated for a 1992 Pulitzer Prize; Hardheaded Weather, and is co-founder of the Cave Canem Foundation.