Poetry In The Public Space

You know, this is an interesting post. I like it. If we could have more of this and less of "Mitt Romney for auto czar" type stuff from you, it would be great.

Ah, Frost, who said "Colonialism is good," who said "I hate to hear them [the Brits] start to free India under fire."
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Here's one I'd like to hear Obama read:
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Sherman Alexie
"On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City"
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The white woman across the aisle from me says 'Look,
look at all the history, that house
on the hill there is over two hundred years old, '
as she points out the window past me
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into what she has been taught. I have learned
little more about American history during my few days
back East than what I expected and far less
of what we should all know of the tribal stories
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whose architecture is 15,000 years older
than the corners of the house that sits
museumed on the hill. 'Walden Pond, '
the woman on the train asks, 'Did you see Walden Pond? '
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and I don't have a cruel enough heart to break
her own by telling her there are five Walden Ponds
on my little reservation out West
and at least a hundred more surrounding Spokane,
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the city I pretended to call my home. 'Listen, '
I could have told her. 'I don't give a shit
about Walden. I know the Indians were living stories
around that pond before Walden's grandparents were born
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and before his grandparents' grandparents were born.
I'm tired of hearing about Don-fucking-Henley saving it, too,
because that's redundant. If Don Henley's brothers and sisters
and mothers and father hadn't come here in the first place
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then nothing would need to be saved.'
But I didn't say a word to the woman about Walden
Pond because she smiled so much and seemed delighted
that I thought to bring her an orange juice
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back from the food car. I respect elders
of every color. All I really did was eat
my tasteless sandwich, drink my Diet Pepsi
and nod my head whenever the woman pointed out
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another little piece of her country's history
while I, as all Indians have done
since this war began, made plans
for what I would do and say the next time
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somebody from the enemy thought I was one of their own.

As best I can tell, this is only the fourth inaugural poem. Kennedy, and Clinton twice, and now Obama. More often the nation reflects on the First Lady's hat.
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Laura nixed Clueless Leader's plan for an inaugural poem in 2001 when she heard the first line: "There once was a cowboy from Yale"

My favorite lit teacher from college started one of her courses with that Frost poem. And she said "It's wrong." Very good course on the Puritan influence on American lit...

Even though there are some that say that 'Yes We Can' video early in the campaign was sung by what some say are 'self serving' stars etc, I still like it for it's far superior flavor to what we have been served for the last eight years.
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I consider it pretty good poetry too.
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You guys in the GOP need to learn how to be happier individuals. It would do you some good...

But the Presidential Inauguration is still a time when the nation reflects on poetry.
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Well the comments pretty much put the lie to that statement.