Poetry Night at the White House May 12

Check back, 6 more performance videos to come!

Update: See Eric Lewis' performance here.
Update: See Maya del Valle's performance here.
Update: See Jamaica Osorio's performance here.

The Obamas hosted a night of poetry and spoken word that focused on theme of dialogue and communication. Performers included: Joshua Bennett, James Earl Jones, Eric Lewis, Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, Mayda Del Valle and Esperanza Spalding.

Students from the following universities also participated: American, Galludet, Georgetown, and Howard Universities.
Read some of Obama's poetry here.
Guest list:

POETRY, MUSIC AND THE SPOKEN WORK ATTENDEES MAY 12, 2009
President Obama and First Lady Michelle
Mr. Alexander Naro Abenchuchan
Yohannes Abrahams
Mr. Jordan Acker, Huntington Woods, MI
Yamiche Alcindor
Kurt Alexander
Ms. Tatiana Ali, Encino, CA
Ms. Anastacia Ali (Guest)
Chief Allen
Ms. Jessica Anderson, Stillwater, MN
Sekou Andrews
Ms. Jayde Ashford, Dallas, TX
Erica Austin
Ms. Maude L. Baggetto
Mr. Timothy Bainum, Washington, DC
Ms. Teal Baker, Washington, DC
Ms. Hilary Baltimore, Potomac, MD
Mr. Thomas Baltimore, Potomac, MD
Mr. Josh Bartell, GWU
Mr. Ian Bassin
Mr. Emmett Beliveau
Mr. Ashley Bell
The Honorable (Vice President) Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice President of the United States
Dr. Jill Biden, Spouse of the Vice President of the United States
Ms. Sara Blaisdell, American University
Mr. Richard F Bland
Ms. LaShondra Booker, Howard University
Ms. Natalie Bookey, Staff Assistant, Office of the First Lady
Mr. Joe Boswell, Executive Assistant to Jackie Norris, Office of the First Lady
Mr. Zach Braff, Los Angeles, CA
Mr. Joshua Radin (Guest)
Mr. Xavier Briggs, Associate Director, Office of Management and Budget
Cynthia Briggs
Joe Brings Plenty, Chairman of Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
Ms. Kendall Burman
Mrs. Angela Burt-Murray, Editor-in-Chief, Essence Magazine
Mr. Leonard Murray
Mr. Will Butler, Quebec, CA
Mrs. Jenny Shore Butler, Quebec, CA
Mr. Win Butler, Quebec, CA
Mrs. Regine Chassagne, Quebec, CA
Ms. Cassandra Butts, Office of the White House Counsel
Mr. Calvin Cafritz
Mrs. Jane Cafritz
Ms. Ali Campoverdi
Mr. Shawn Carter
Ms. Amilee (Shaila) Cattouse
Ms. Corrine Charity, Chicago, IL
Mr. Elvin Charity, Chicago, IL
Ms. Debra Martin Chase, Burbank, CA
Ms. Alexandra Kathleen Chema
Mr. Franklin Chi, Washington, DC
Ms. Emma Christman, President-Elect, Howard College Democrats, Bowie, MD
Mr. Jamie Citron, Washington, DC
Mr. Jared Clark
Ms. Maura Clark, GWU
Mr. Joshua Cohen
Mr. Steve Connell
Mr. Daniel P. Crawford, Washington, DC
Ms. Danielle Crutchfield
Ms. Ann Dailey, Washington, DC
Mr. Ian Davis, Austin, TX
Mr. Matthew Delligatti, Mayor of Fairmont, WV
Mr. Joshua Dubois
Mr. Mark Eleveld, Joliet, IL
The Honorable (Mr.) Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff to the President
Ms. Elisabeth Evans
Mr. Shepard Fairey, Los Angeles, CA Read the rest here

10 Poets Odes to Obama

The inauguration of a new president just seems to be a fitting time for poetry, and so 10 American poets accepted the AP's invitation to come up with a little something to mark Barack Obama's ascension to the presidency.

The poems came from an eclectic assortment of American wordsmiths, ranging from a former poet laureate and a Pulitzer Prize winner to a self-described "cowboy poet." IHT

Read them all here. 
Digital poet Christopher Funkhouser created 3 poems that you can SEE. They are definitely unique and I think I liked them, the first one, anyway.
What's interesting are the excuses of the people who were invited to write a poem but didn't:

New Yorker Sharon Olds deemed her efforts unworthy.

"It's as I suspected," she e-mailed. "I'm not able to come up with anything near good enough, tho I used a lot of paper!"

Andrei Codrescu, who was born in Romania and became a U.S. citizen in 1981, wasn't one even to venture a try.

"I voted for Obama, but I grew up under Ceausescu," Codrescu wrote of the former Romanian dictator. "The idea of writing poems for people in power gives me the creeps."

Here's Ted Newman's:

PLEA TO THE PRES

BAILOUTS FOR THE BIG GUYS

BUY BACK THEIR ROTTED FRUIT

FORGET THE CANOPY OF GOLD

IT'S THE PLATINUM PARACHUTE.

NO ONE INDICTS THE AUTHORS

GUYS LIKE FRANK AND DODD

THEY SAY SHOW ME THE MONEY

WE'LL BAIL YOU OUT BY GOD.

THE FRED AND FANNY WATCHDOGS

WITH OUR MONEY PLAY SO LOOSE

THEY BORROW US INTO SERFDOM

AS THEY KILL THE GOLDEN GOOSE.

THEY POSTURE AND PONTIFICATE

AS THEY DIVIDE THE LOOT

THEN REWARD THE BIG CONTRIBUTORS

WITH PLATINUM PARACHUTES.

THE DOUBLESPEAK AND DOUBLETALK

OF LEADERS PSUEDO-BRAVE

MORTAGAGE CHILDREN'S FUTURES

AS THEY TAX US TO THE GRAVE.

THANKS TO CORRUPT LEADERSHIP

AND IGNORANCE TO BOOT

THEY'LL SAVE US THE UNWASHED MASSESS

WITH PURE LEAD PARACHUTES.

SO PLEASE MR. OBAMA

DON'T LET THEM PLAY THEIR GAMES

DON'T LET THE LIES CONTINUE

DON'T LET THEM HIDE THE BLAME.

BE THE PRESIDENT OUR COUNTRY NEEDS

LET'S REALLY REARRANGE

THE POLITICAL HYPOCRACY

KEEP YOUR WORD AND BRING US CHANGE.

--By Ted Newman.

Poems Obama Published in 1981

The New Yorker published them in the current issue of the magazine.
Obama originally wrote them for the literary magazine, "Feast." I'll only post one and you'll have to go to the new yorker site to read the other. I feel kind of bad lifting it but I wanted to share.

Reaction to his poems.

Also, the new yorker rails against new york times' (which has endorsed clinton) front and center "drug" story about obama, which was really a non-starter and silly. but the photo was pretty cool

Pop, by Barack Obama

Sitting in his seat, a seat broad and broken
In, sprinkled with ashes,
Pop switches channels, takes another
Shot of Seagrams, neat, and asks
What to do with me, a green young man
Who fails to consider the
Flim and flam of the world, since
Things have been easy for me;
I stare hard at his face, a stare
That deflects off his brow;
I’m sure he’s unaware of his
Dark, watery eyes, that
Glance in different directions,
And his slow, unwelcome twitches,
Fail to pass.
I listen, nod,
Listen, open, till I cling to his pale,
Beige T-shirt, yelling,
Yelling in his ears, that hang
With heavy lobes, but he’s still telling
His joke, so I ask why
He’s so unhappy, to which he replies...
But I don’t care anymore, cause
He took too damn long, and from
Under my seat, I pull out the
Mirror I’ve been saving; I’m laughing,
Laughing loud, the blood rushing from his face
To mine, as he grows small,
A spot in my brain, something
That may be squeezed out, like a
Watermelon seed between
Two fingers.
Pop takes another shot, neat,
Points out the same amber
Stain on his shorts that I’ve got on mine, and
Makes me smell his smell, coming
From me; he switches channels, recites an old poem
He wrote before his mother died,
Stands, shouts, and asks
For a hug, as I shink, my
Arms barely reaching around
His thick, oily neck, and his broad back; ‘cause
I see my face, framed within
Pop’s black-framed glasses
And know he’s laughing too.