Barack Obama Inauguaration Poetry

On Tuesday January 20, 2009 the DePaul Humanities Center hosted a poetry reading in commemoration of President Barack Obama’s inauguration. The poetry reading was held in room 314 in DePaul’s Student Center.

Upon arrival I grabbed a huge amount of the free food that was offered to everyone. I was then greeted by a student at the entrance and I was handed a book of poems entitled, A writers’ Congress: Chicago Poets on Barack Obama’s Inauguration. This book of poems was the material used throughout the reading. Most of the poets that were within this poetry collection were at the reading themselves and recited their own poems for those in attendance. The poems spoke of hope, change, adversity, and optimism which were all ideals used throughout the Obama campaign. There was also a camera man in the middle of the room representing CAN TV which would be broadcasting the poetry reading.

I had watched the inauguration earlier in the day and I can say that the people who were at the poetry reading were deeply inspired by the achievements of President Obama. Everyone had a smile on their faces from ear to ear as if they themselves had just been inaugurated. It was easy to see that Obama was more than just the first African-American President to those in attendance by rather someone that would lead us out of difficult times.

With so many horrible things are happening in the world today it was refreshing to be in a room with people who were filled with optimism. If anyone would like to hear the reading in its entirety it can be found at http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/program_amp.aspx.