Free Downloads For All Of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet's Journey
2014 International Latino Awards Winner: Best Biography – Spanish or BilingualFor All of Us, One Today is a fluid, poetic story anchored by Richard Blanco’s experiences as the inaugural poet in 2013, and beyond. In this brief and evocative narrative, he shares for the first time his journey as a Latino immigrant and openly gay man discovering a new, emotional understanding of what it means to be an American. He tells the story of the call from the White House committee and all the exhilaration and upheaval of the days that followed. He reveals the inspiration and challenges behind the creation of the inaugural poem, “One Today,” as well as two other poems commissioned for the occasion (“Mother Country” and “What We Know of Country”), published here for the first time ever, alongside translations of all three of those poems into his native Spanish. Finally, Blanco reflects on his life-changing role as a public voice since the inauguration, his spiritual embrace of Americans everywhere, and his vision for poetry’s new role in our nation’s consciousness. Like the inaugural poem itself, For All of Us, One Today speaks to what makes this country and its people great, marking a historic moment of hope and promise in our evolving American landscape.
Paperback: 112 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press (November 19, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0807033804
ISBN-13: 978-0807033807
Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.4 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #327,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #24 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > United States > Hispanic American #58 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Hispanic & Latino #79 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > Caribbean & Latin American
I am old enough to remember that blustery January 20th 53 years ago when the poem he had created for the inauguration of John F. Kennedy blew out of his hand. I loved the poetry of Robert Frost. And a few years later I would be living in Middlebury, Vermont, only a few miles from his Ripton farm. And I would also be earning my MA from Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English where Robert Frost had so often read his poetry. (He was no longer alive, of course, having died the same year as the president for whom he read his inaugural poem.) And decades later I was in awe of Maya Angelou when, in 1992, she uttered the word "gay" in her poem for Bill Clinton's first. And this year I was once again in awe when President Obama uttered the word "Stonewall" along with "Seneca Falls" and "Selma" and who had selected Richard Blanco to read his poem, "One Today."But unlike Frost and Ms. Angelou whose poems arose from what I knew not--as did "One Today" of course for several months, I have been given an inside-the-poet's-head in this wonderful little book of just over one hundred pages.I am not a poet, but I do teach writing and just happen to do so at the very college--Miami Dade College--where Mr. Blanco took writing courses. And when I read his poem "America" I laughed and laughed because I teach so many students whose roots are in Latin America. And when I first taught there when Thanksgiving arrived I gave them a piece for The New York Times that had something to do with turkeys only to discover that only one student in the class had a family that served turkey! What?! Nope. Pork! Lechon!This is a book that I think anyone who is sensitive will like, most especially if you found "One Today" touching as I did.
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