A Sharp Sparkle

January 20th will live as a day to be remembered, regardless of anyone’s political standing, and I will not easily forget just how I spent it.

Obama was sworn in and gave a great speech. Yo Yo Ma was amazing, too. But it was almost painful to see old G-dubya up there with all the rest of them, though - painful if viewing him as a human being, a difficult task for many to do. All those people assembled there not for him, not to cheer him on, but to let him go. All of their fervor was directed at Obama and their negativity at Bush. What could possibly have been going through his mind when he heard the boos, which he did, from the audience? He made no speech, he needed nothing to prepare, just donned a smile and waved his hand for the last time, which is exactly what he did. When the ceremony was finished I saw the man ascend the stairs next to the Obamas with his head heavy on his shoulders, and with one last wave to the hundreds of thousands of people assembled in the National Mall, he was in the White House and out of sight. What a strange history!

Elizabeth Alexander’s poem was, indeed, enjoyable but I had an issue with its delivery. She did seem to me very composed when she approached the podium, as well as throughout her time before the audience but the poem she recited felt a bit flat, I thought. I could not help but chuckle at a comment I read while looking for the transcript.

On the Baltimoresun.com, a certain woman in response to the poem compared the delivery of Alexander to “William Shatner’s rendition of ‘Rocket Man’ – but a lot less enjoyable”. This did ring true to me for there definitely were many Shatner-like pauses between the words that took away from its message. Elizabeth Alexander was very forceful with each utterance, making sure to enunciate each syllable as clearly as possible, while my own ear wanted a more organic reading. I wanted to hear her speak naturally. During all this I was more distracted, my mind focused on the delivery, rather than absorbed in the message behind the words.

Aside from the flawed delivery, there were several enjoyable moments from this that I walked away with. However, I have to be honest: I did not ‘get it’ while watching the first time through Tuesday morning. Only after finding the transcript and absorbing her delivery a second time that evening did the message sink in, though I can say that several words stuck out the first time through. Alexander referred to that particular cold morning as a “sharp sparkle” and this drew my attention immediately, actually standing out above all else she said.

It is a great little piece of imagery, and I am surprised it has never been used before. Poetry has a great way of concentrating emotion, memory, and feeling into a very few words, and these two simple words were very evocative and indicative of that morning. This “sharp sparkle” is an excellent way to describe the cold and what people were willing to endure that morning for their new president - the sharp, biting wind that burned the throats of the hundreds of thousands stretching to the horizon before the white house, stinging nostrils and watering eyes. I don’t believe I have ever seen such a crowd!

All these associations with the cold perhaps evoke discomfort, and are maybe even indicative of the frost left behind by Bush, but it is air that is also charged with a certain magic, an expectation, a sparkle for the new administration. Now if that isn’t poetry, I do not know what is. It will be even more interesting to see if the administration sparkles in four years after getting their hands dirty.