Elizabeth Alexander

Obamas To Celebrate Artists With White House Poetry Night

AP | Posted 07.05.2011

Read More: Alison Knowles, Elizabeth Alexander, Billy Collins, Art, White House, Jill Scott, Barack Obama, Rita Dove, Common, Michelle Obama, Poetry Night, Obama, Artists, Musicians, Aimee Mann, Poetry, Kenneth Goldsmith, Arts News

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, will celebrate American poetry and prose with a gathering of poets, musicians and artists...

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Literature Leaps into the 22nd Century, Lands Awkwardly

John Lundberg | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Dna, Elizabeth Alexander, Literature Twitter, Literature, Robert Pinsky, Claudia Rankine, Twitter Literature, Twitter, Genome, Craig Venter, Genetics, James Joyce, Richard Frynman, Human Genome, Tattoos, Healthy Living News
John Lundberg

As scientists improve their ability to manipulate the genome, will a market might emerge for people who want to imprint quotes into their own DNA, or even their children's, as a sort of genetic tattoo?

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America's Most Prominent Emerging Poets Respond to the Obama Administration

Anis Shivani | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Empire, Political Ideology, Writing Workshops, Political Language, Hope, Elizabeth Alexander, Rachel Zucker, Obama, Creative Writing, Allen Ginsberg, Political Literature, Workshop Poetry, Poetry, Inaugural Poem, Arielle Greenberg, Change, Rita Dove, W. H. Auden, Democratic Party, Political Poetry, Starting Today: 100 Poems for Obama's First 100 Days, Books News
Anis Shivani

Rachel Zucker and Arielle Greenberg asked one hundred of the best-known emerging American poets to respond with a poem for each of Obama's first 100 days. The resulting anthology is very revealing.

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Great Poems for Black History Month

Travis Nichols | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Langston Hughes, Black History Month, Elizabeth Alexander, Nikki Giovanni, Kevin Young, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Nathaniel Mackey, Douglas Kearney, Maya Angelou, Poems for Black History Month, Books News
Travis Nichols

I humbly offer a brief selection of classic and contemporary poems that explore and celebrate the rich tradition of African-American poetry.

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Poetry Best Sellers Of 2009

Travis Nichols | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: W.S. Merwin, Wendell Berry, Best-Sellers, Nikki Giovanni, Elizabeth Alexander, Sherman Alexie, Mary Oliver, John Updike, Poetry, Books News
Travis Nichols

Every week, the Poetry Foundation compiles information from Nielsen Bookscan and puts together lists of the best selling books of poetry. Here are 2009's best selling books of contemporary poetry:

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"My Memory Curves Like a Watermelon Rind"

Christian Nwachukwu, Jr. | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Elementary School, Summer, Barack Obama, Elizabeth Alexander, Healthy Living News
Christian Nwachukwu, Jr.

The young students were washed in that end of year glow where everything is bright, and each day is a gift as life closes in on the season that makes everyone free: summer.

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Follow the Artists to Our New Democracy

Tanene Allison | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Lgbt, Langston Hughes, Art, Participatory Democracy, Elizabeth Alexander Inaugural Poem, Elizabeth Alexander, American Democracy, June Jordan, Democracy, Artists, Obama, Patti Smith, Justin Bond, Barack Obama, Politics News
Tanene Allison

It was a poet who gave our nation, and new President, the words that led to our visioning of how this time of potential and possibility could become real.

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HuffPost Readers, Hit It Home: Submit To Us A Poem That Inspires You During Hard Times

Verena von Pfetten | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Elizabeth Alexander, Poetry Ask, Favorite Poems, Poetry, John Lundberg, Healthy Living News
Verena von Pfetten

We spend a lot of time on the Living page focusing on all the different ways we can work on improving and bringing more meaning to our lives. And one ...

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A Closer Look At The Inaugural Poem

John Lundberg | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Inaugural Poem, Elizabeth Alexander, Inauguration Poem, Obama Poem, Huffington Post Inauguration Poem, Inauguration Poetry, Elizabeth Alexander Inaugural Poem, Praise Song for the Day, Obama Inaugural Poem, Poem Read at Inauguration, Healthy Living News
John Lundberg

I hope that, like me, you enjoyed Elizabeth Alexander's reading of her poem "Praise Song for the Day." I've gone back to read it again since the inau...

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Reflections on "The Poem"

Ben Rosen | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Robert Frost, Elizabeth Alexander, Inauguration Poem, Jfk Inauguration, Obama's Inauguration, Elizabeth Alexander Poet, Inauguration Day 2009, Obama Inauguration, Barack Obama Inauguration, Poetry, Elizabeth Alexander Poetry, Obama Inauguration Day, Obama Elizabeth Alexander, Elizabeth Alexander Inaugural Poem, Inauguration, John F. Kennedy Inaugural, Jfk, Healthy Living News
Ben Rosen

Let's compare Elizabeth Alexander's poem with one written for an earlier president. I dug up the 77-line poem, "Dedication", that Robert Frost wrote for JFK's 1961 inauguration.

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Two Parades. Two Coasts. One Hope.

Karen Bass | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: African-American, Civil Rights Movement, Obama's Inauguration, California, Elizabeth Alexander, Obama Inauguration, Martin Luther King Jr., Parades, Barack Obama Inauguration, ?€œI Have a Dream? Speech, California State Assembly, Los Angeles, Barack Obama, Aretha Franklin, Obama Inauguration Aretha Franklin, Politics, Eyes on the Prize, Dreams, Kingdom Day Parade, Martin Luther King, San Francisco Chronicle, Martin Luther King Day, Pride, African-Americans, African Americans, Politics News
Karen Bass

Just as Martin Luther King's dream could not have endured if it was his alone, President Obama's hope and promise can't endure if we don't help shoulder the burden.

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Take Me to the Intersection of Poetry and Journalism

Jane Dwyre Garton | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Library of Congress, Media Layoffs, America's Heartland in the Age of Globalism, Cornelius Eady, W. Dale Nelson, Elizabeth Alexander, Syracuse University Press, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Archibald MacLeish, Ted Kooser, Poetry Foundation, Richard C. Longworth, American Life in Poetry, Obama Inuaguaration Poet, Chicago News
Jane Dwyre Garton

Journalists today are often stressed rather than inspired. Bring on the poetry. Bring on new voices. Tell us something that matters with words that tell us about the world, about the human condition.

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Inaugural Poet Previews Obama Work

NY Times | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Elizabeth Alexander, Obama Poet, President Obama, Obama Poem, Obama Inauguration Poem, Obama Inauguration, Elizabeth Alexander Poetry, Obama Inaugural Poet, Politics News

"To have great poetry there must be great audiences, too," Walt Whitman said. He was talking about the quality of a poet's readers. But there is littl...

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Elizabeth Alexander: Obama's Pick For Inaugural Poet

John Lundberg | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Elizabeth Alexander, Obama Elizabeth Alexander, The Poetic Life, Obama Poet, Elizabeth Alexander Poet, Elizabeth Alexander Poetry, Obama Inaugural Poet, Healthy Living News
John Lundberg

Barack Obama has chosen Elizabeth Alexander to read a poem at his inauguration. A well-regarded poet and professor at Yale, Alexander is also a frien...

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Elizabeth Alexander, Obama Inauguration Poet, "Completely Thrilled"

AP | JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Obama Inauguration, Inauguration Day 2009, Elizabeth Alexander, Obama Inauguration Poet, Obama's Inaugural Poet, The Poetic Life, Barack Obama, Poetry, Obama Poet, Maya Angelou, Inaugural Poet, Poet and Obama and Inaguration, Media News

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Elizabeth Alexander was a toddler in a baby stroller when her parents took her to hear Martin Luther King's historic "I Have ...

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