If you can, take a moment to visit and read from the blog Starting Today: Poems for the First 100 Days at http://100dayspoems.blogspot.com. Two talented and accomplished poets, Arielle Greenberg and Rachel Zucker, have marshaled 100 American poets to write poems for each of the first 100 days of the Obama presidency – poems that respond in some way to the new president and the moral and political issues he’s facing.
I realize that a project like this runs the risk of hatching moral sentimentality and other species of naïve idealism, but I must say that the poets by and large have avoided these pitfalls. I deeply admire many of the poems Arielle and Rachel have published so far. At this point, I am unsure of the extent of the press coverage, but I do know Rachel was interviewed about the project for American Public Media's The Story on February 9 ("Poems for Obama").
Among the highlights for me have been the poems of two good friends, John O'Connor (Day 10) and Todd Fredson (Day 37), as well as those of Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Day 4), Cornelius Eady (Day 14), Cole Swensen (Day 18), Mark Bibbins (Day 35), and Kevin Prufer (Day 39). The first poem of the series is the one Elizabeth Alexander read during President Obama’s inauguration (Day 1).
I was slated for publication Day 50 but was bumped up to Day 49 (today), which explains the timing of this note. If you get a chance to read the poem, "The Water in Which One Drowns Is Always an Ocean," please sign the guestbook, so to speak, by saying hello underneath using the blog comments feature.
I would also be deeply grateful if you mentioned the project to anyone you know who might be interested. Projects like this only get attention by word-of-mouth; poets rarely write for pay, and these poets in particular are as concerned and engaged in current events as the passionate citizens of the Daily Kos community.
Warmly,
Jeff Encke
(author of Most Wanted: A Gamble in Verse)