Starting Today
“I love this idea, and I love these poems. The poem-a-day breeziness of the work is instructive not only to poets but also to cultural and academic critics, and Starting Today will be an important cultural and historical document. The editors cast a wide net when considering poets for this project and then trusted the poets themselves to come up with quality work. In doing so, they have accomplished something amazing. Obama is known for assembling strong teams—and the editors have done this as well. The poets, representing various schools, approach their poetry ‘assignment’ with vigor, intelligence, and wit.”—Denise Duhamel, author, Ka-Ching! and Two and Two
“Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”—Barack Obama, inaugural address, January 20, 2009
Starting Today contains 100 poems written during—and responding to—Barack Obama’s first 100 days in office. The poems included in this anthology, except for Elizabeth Alexander’s inauguration poem, were all written no more than a day before they appeared on the popular blog, “Starting Today: Poems for the First 100 Days.” The result is a work that documents the political and personal events of those crucial days through a variety of contemporary poetic voices, from the ebullient to the admiring, from the pithy to the loquacious.
Editors Rachel Zucker and Arielle Greenberg explain in their enthusiastic introduction: “In those jittery, pre-inaugural hours, it became clear to us that our exhilaration stemmed, in part, from the knowledge that we were not alone in our enthusiasm. We knew others felt called to action just as we were. That same afternoon we compiled an e-mail list of poets—friends, acquaintances, and folks we admire—from across the country and across generations. Could we get one hundred poets to commit to writing a new poem during the first one hundred carefully watched days of the new presidency? And could we get them to respond overnight, so that our project would coincide with Barack Obama beginning his job? Yes, we could! Poets wrote back immediately and with gusto.”
Difficult to categorize but easy to enjoy, the poems in Starting Today offer something for every type of poetry reader, from the novice to the seasoned. This smart, timely collection offers a swirling portrait of the American Zeitgeist—a poetic reportage that demonstrates spontaneity, collaboration, immediacy, and accessibility.
Elizabeth Alexander
Craig Arnold
Marvin Bell
Mark Bibbins
Mark Doty
Cornelius Eady
Thomas Sayers Ellis
Brenda Hillman
Fanny Howe
Major Jackson
Allison Joseph
Wayne Koestenbaum
David Lehman
Michael Morse
Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Kevin Prufer
Matt Rohrer
Brenda Shaughnessy
Cole Swensen
Anne Waldman
Susan Wheeler
Foreword by Rita Dove xi
Introduction by Rachel Zucker & Arielle Greenberg xiii
DAY 1: Elizabeth Alexander, Praise Song for the Day 1
DAY 2: Matthew Rohrer, Poem 3
DAY 3: Martha Silano, His Springboard Resolve 4
DAY 4: Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Overwinter 5
DAY 5: Fanny Howe, Imagine All the People 6
DAY 6: Yvette Thomas, Missing Metaphor for Time 7
DAY 7: Patricia Smith, Man, Roll the Window Down! 8
DAY 8: Lyn Lifshin, Michelle’s Citrine Dress 10
DAY 9: Sasha Steensen, Wintry Weather and Job Slaughter 11
DAY 10: John Paul O’Connor, New Time Old Time 13
DAY 11: LesleÅLa Newman, Prayer for a President 15
DAY 12: Rebecca Wolff, The Most Famous Man in the World 16
DAY 13: Matthew Zapruder, Sad News 17
DAY 14: Cornelius Eady, Praise for the Inaugural Poet, January, 2009 18
DAY 15: Caroline Klocksiem, Do-Over Like Sky 19
DAY 16: Rachel Zucker, Dear Mr. President, I Thought You Should Know 20
DAY 17: BJ Soloy, Last Migration, a Dead, Common Yellow- 21
DAY 18: Cole Swensen, Taking Cover under the Sun 23
DAY 19: Laurel Snyder, The Greatest Public Works Program 24
DAY 20: Cate Marvin, Song of the Bad Bank 26
DAY 21: Michael Dumanis, Occasionally, I Write a Poem 27
DAY 22: Major Jackson, A General Theory of Interest & Money or
Getting the Country in Bed 28
DAY 23: Erin Belieu, H. Res. 23-1: Proposing the Ban of Push-Up Bras, Etc. 30
DAY 24: Craig Morgan Teicher, When the Real American 31
DAY 25: David Lehman, February 12 32
DAY 26: Nin Andrews, Hoi Polloi 33
DAY 27: Diane Wald, Nonromantic Obama Valentine for America,
February 14th, 2009 34
DAY 28: Lisa Samuels, At the Save the World Breakfast 36
DAY 29: Brian Teare, Citizen Strophes (Oakland) 38
DAY 30: Katy Lederer, I Think You Are a Good Manager 41
DAY 31: Joyelle McSweeney, Poem for Comrade Duch 46
DAY 32: Mark Doty, Skulls Are So Last Year 48
DAY 33: Elizabeth Scanlon, What People Say 50
DAY 34: Katie Ford, You Are No Messiah 51
DAY 35: Mark Bibbins, A Small Gesture of Gratitude 52
DAY 36: Lindsey Wallace, System Error 56
DAY 37: Todd Fredson, Air and Simple Things 57
DAY 38: Geraldine Kim, Ehhhbb, Ooo, Oommmoo, Eeeoooooooooo 58
DAY 39: Kevin Prufer, Behind the Barracks, after the War 60
DAY 40: David Roderick, In Some Places They Held Picnics 61
DAY 41: Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Poem for Barack Obama 62
DAY 42: John Beer, My Calamine Lotion 64
DAY 43: Ian Harris, Welcome to Hard Times 65
DAY 44: Nicole Cooley, Girl at the River 67
DAY 45: Erika Meitner, Slinky Dirt with Development Hat 69
DAY 46: Allison Joseph, Conservative Love in the Age of Obama 71
DAY 47: Linda Buckmaster, Harvest 72
DAY 48: Ann Fisher-Wirth, In Oxford, Mississippi 73
DAY 49: Jeff Encke, The Water in Which One Drowns Is Always an
Ocean 75
DAY 50: Anne Waldman, Shadow for Obama 77
DAY 51: Marvin Bell, The Book of the Dead Man (Day 51) 80
DAY 52: Catherine Wagner, Oh 82
DAY 53: Leah Souffrant, Imperfect Plenty 84
DAY 54: Patricia Spears Jones, What the Fates Allow 86
DAY 55: Kazim Ali, Random Search 88
DAY 56: Wayne Koestenbaum, Sick Poem 89
DAY 57: Sally Ball, Racial Parable with No Black People 91
DAY 58: Carmen GimeÅLnez Smith, Hey, Obama 92
DAY 59: Patrick Culliton, Song 93
DAY 60: Catherine Barnett, Small Parable for the Sixtieth Day 94
DAY 61: Amy Lemmon, Audacious: An Acrostic 95
DAY 62: Arielle Greenberg, Whose Mission It Is Only to Pray 96
DAY 63: Mendi Lewis Obadike, Parable of the Lucky Man 98
DAY 64: Jenny Factor, A Ghazal for Hope 99
DAY 65: Michael Morse, Void and Compensation (Wizards and Bulls) 101
DAY 66: Sarah Vap, Against One Another Like Glass 104
DAY 67: Brenda Shaughnessy, Citizen 105
DAY 68: Laura Mullen, Daisies 106
DAY 69: Elizabeth Hughey, The I Love You Bridge 108
DAY 70: A. Van Jordan, “The Farmers Have Won. Not Us.” 110
DAY 71: Dara Wier, Salmagundi Algorithm 111
DAY 72: Tony Trigilio, I Picked Up That Strange Light Again 112
DAY 73: MoÅLnica de la Torre, Onto the World Stage 114
DAY 74: Michele Battiste, What He Said 115
DAY 75: Susan Wheeler, Song of the G-20 Gone 117
DAY 76: Martha Collins, To Listen to Lead To 118
DAY 77: Betsy Fagin, “Not a Panacea but a Critical Step” 119
DAY 78: Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Rite (to Forge Armor for an Orphan) 120
DAY 79: Patricia Carlin, Thinking My Way Out of a Paper Bag 121
DAY 80: Chris Green, Today 122
DAY 81: Sean Thomas Dougherty, Elevator or Poem Written the Day after
Not Showing Up for a Reading at an Embassy Official’s House 123
DAY 82: Craig Arnold, Dear Steve 125
DAY 83: Kathrine Varnes, Some Kind of Secret Fruit 127
DAY 84: cin salach, The First Easter, 2009 128
DAY 85: Jen Hofer, who is speaking—nominal substances—who listening—
anchor, bluster, filter—to whom listen—flattering machinations fluster the
skies—substances—from the skies—operations fall—to be purchased—
inked into existence—information conveyed, trucked, stowed, migrated—
on the verge of 130
DAY 86: Becca Klaver, I Didn’t Buy It 133
DAY 87: John Gallaher, There Are Many Theories about What Happened 134
DAY 88: Susan Briante, Letter to a Former Presidential Candidate 135
DAY 89: Paul Killebrew, Varieties of Religious Experience 137
DAY 90: Joshua Corey, When I Heard the Learn’d Spokesmen 138
DAY 91: Jason Schneiderman, Oracular 139
DAY 92: Joy Katz, How Poetry Saved America 141
DAY 93: Robin Beth Schaer, Endangerment Finding 143
DAY 94: Laynie Browne, Obama Ps (alm) 144
DAY 95: Sean Cole, Freehand 145
DAY 96: Prageeta Sharma, Stalked by a Prisoner of Texas 146
DAY 97: Pimone Triplett, Market Storm 147
DAY 98: Brenda Hillman, Guilt Armada 148
DAY 99: Jenny Browne, 24 Hour Roman Reconstruction Project 150
DAY 100: Thomas Sayers Ellis, First Grade, All Over Again 151
Biographies and Process Notes 155
Acknowledgments 187
Index 189
From Day #58, "Hey, Obama" by Carmen Giménez Smith
My sister calls because we can get my mother health insurance for one thousand dollars a month. This is because my mother has dementia. This is because she has an upside down mortgage and no pension. Do you see where I'm going with this? I can hardly believe it myself; like David Plouffe is writing this for you through me. It's hard-core stump material. She's brown, by the way, which could help too if you put her up on a stage with you to sign a paper that said that she didn't have to pay half her wages to be insured. I'd write to Oprah, but I think they would just give her a makeover.