Meet Elizabeth Alexander - President-Elect Barack Obama's Inauguration Poet
Never heard of her, but that doesn't mean she isn't great. Anyone out there familiar with her work? If you a Elizabeth Alexander novice like me, check out her website. She's clearly very accomplished and successful. I wish her luck, she has a tough job ahead of her.
4 comments:
Thanks, I'll have to read up on her.
although Body of Life is her first book..I would start with The Venus Hottentot, her third collection...she is an amazing poet and superb scholar.
Elizabeth Alexander is an excellent poet! I am very proud of the Obamas for selecting her because it says a lot about their cultural investments as black Americans in this country. Her verses are thoughtful and intense, and draw on issues of race throughout history. One thing I notice about her poetry is how she takes the smallest observation and uses it to reveal meaningful issues. And I agree with anacostia_poet, The Venus Hottentot is her most well-known work and very good!
Hello professor tracey,
ta-nehisi coates (atlantic blog) has a few posts about alexander. This one features her venus hottentot poem:
http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/12/because_its_fridayand_elizabeth_alexander_is_great.php#more
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