Poetry Back in the White House for Inauguration

As the Washington Post reports, poetry will be part of the presidential inauguration after being absent for more than a decade; poet Elizabeth Alexander, professor of African-American studies at Yale, has been chosen to compose and read a poem that captures the Obama zietgeist. As expected, several poets interviewed in the piece did not seem envious of the task; it's hard enough to write poetry on demand in the best and blandest of times (i.e., the 1990s). She'll be part of a pretty artful crowd assembled for the occasion, including Aretha Franklin, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma,  Gabriela Montero, and Anthony McGill. Oh, and one more cool revelation from the Post: apparently Obama has been seen with Derek Walcott's poetry under his arm. —Stefene Russell