When I found out President-elect Trump did not have a poet laureate for his inauguration today, I thought it would be nice to write a poem for him. I really wanted to capture the true Trump creative spirit, so I copied lines from the first five inauguration poems and put them together into one poem. I hope you enjoy!
“Things I’ve Said Before, And Will Say Again.”
by Ryan Mentock (with help from some real poets)
1 We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
4 But where are we going to be, and why, and who?
3 All of us as vital as the one light we move through
4 To keep on going where we meant to go.
1 Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
4 We know what we have done and what we have said,
2 But seek no haven in my shadow,
4 If we can truly remember, they will not forget.
4 Believing ourselves toward all we have tried to become
5 Something we were withholding made us weak
3 The “I have a dream” we keep dreaming
4 Cannot become one people falling apart.
4 Cannot let chaos make its way to the heart.
2 I will give you no hiding place down here.
4 We mean to be the people we meant to be,
5 Until we found out that it was ourselves
2 Facedown in ignorance.
1 All about us is noise.
2 Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
1 Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
4 The great and all the anonymous dead are there.
1 I know there’s something better down the road.
4 We like the places they take us. Mostly we do.
5 Such as she was, such as she would become.
1 Any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
1 What if the mightiest word is love?
KEY:
1 Black Text – “Praise Song for the Day” by Elizabeth Alexander
2 Green Text – “On the Pulse of Morning, by Maya Angelou
3 Purple Text – “One Today” by Richard Blanco
4 Blue Text – “Of History and Hope” by Miller Williams
5 Red Text – “The Gift Outright” by Robert Frost
One thing that I noticed while reading these poems was that “Of History and Hope” by Miller Williams is incredible and everyone should read it twice. Thanks for reading!