INAUGRATION DAY POEMS from North Carolina Poets

On Inauguration Day last week, I posted two poems by North Carolina poets David Hopes and Carole Boston Weatherforld. Since then, I've received others and have even begun an interwoven group of Inauguration poems with my friend Penelope Scambly Schott, who lives in Portland. The first poem that I sent to Penelope is below. I will be posting other poems by NC poets celebrating Barack Obama's Inauguration, beginning with those from the Inaugural Celebration in Asheville, and I invite other NC poets to share their poems in our comments section.



SKY CHANT

(after the songs of our country’s first Americans)

The sky
on Inauguration Day
unblinking
down
on the millions
of faces
the sky stayed
and stayed
the sky had
not one word to say
the sky settled
down for the long
haul, the sky
hauling day over
and over
and over and
the sky on
Inauguration Day
opening
up for as long
as it took
to make millions
of faces turn
up now and
then to sing
ay! such a clear
day, the sky
there it is
where it’s always
been, but
so much more
sky than
we ever thought
possible.

KSB