Mega thread on the history behind @TheAmandaGorman's glorious reading today at Biden's inaugural, bc of some confusion I've seen online about it. Gorman is the 6th Inaugural Poet in US history. JFK began the practice with Robert Frost at his 1961 inaugural..

Frost, then the most famous poet in the country, had never met Kennedy, but curiously prophesied his win months before he'd even entered the race! Frost was a celebrity poet (which nowadays seems a crazy thing, but was true back then). So his name-dropping Kennedy made news.

And Frost kept repeating it on his book tour (back when poets' book tours made press. Imagine that!). So when he won, JFK asked him to write a poem. Which he did. However, Frost never actually read the poem. It had snowed, it was too bright out, and he couldn't read the page...

So Frost recited one of his greatest hits, "The Gift Outright." That's the poem the people heard that day. So yes, technically Frost was the first inaugural poet. But technically the first poet to read an inaugural poem at an inauguration wouldn't happen for another 32 YEARS!

Why so long? Because no succeeding president after JFK had a poet. It *was* a new practice, and perhaps it would've seemed to copy Kennedy, but LBJ's sole inaugural had no poet. Neither did the inaugurations for Nixon (2), Carter (1), Reagan (2), Bush (1), until Clinton's in..

1993. It made big news when Clinton chose another celebrated poet, the iconic Maya Angelou, as his inaugural poet. It seemed fitting too because Clinton had often tried to emulate Kennedy (having met him as a young man). Angelou was world famous at the time and

again, depending on how you slice your history, Angelou was technically the first poet to read an inaugural poem. Her poem, "On The Pulse of Morning" is certainly the most well-known of the 6 inaugural poems and was later a best seller. I do love the anecdote that

Angelou sequestered herself in a hotel room with a deck of cards she kept shuffling as she composed the poem. I think I remember that right. Anyway, it had a big impact to the proceedings. Clinton chose Miller Williams, an accomplished Arkansas poet, to read at his 2nd in '97.

Clinton had known Williams from his time as Arkansas governor. His other great accomplishment was as dad to the Grammy award-winning legend Lucinda Williams ( @HappyWoman9) His poem, "Of History and Hope" can be found at the @PoetryFound website. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47107/of-history-and-hope

George W. Bush had no inaugural poets. None till 2009 when Barack Obama invited Elizabeth Alexander @ProfessorEA to read. Also great local pride that Alexander had grown up in DC. Watch her soaring "Praise Song for the Day" at

Richard Blanco made history as the first Latinx and first Gay inaugural poet at President Obama's second inauguration in 2013. I recall Blanco mention they'd asked him to turn in 3 poems for consideration and they'd chosen one.

Trump had no poet at his inaugural. Although I joked at the time of Larry the Cable Guy being his Inaugural poet, the tradition has consistently been one of Democratic presidents -- yet another way the GOP has largely abandoned the Arts. Who knows who Hillary would've chosen...

And now Amanda Gorman @TheAmandaGorman has moved and inspired a new generation with her poem, "The Hill We Climb," at today's inaugural. A few reflections...

There seems to be some confusion online about the inaugural poet and the Poet Laureate (PLOTUS), i.e. "Why wasn't Joy Harjo asked to read at the inauguration." The simple answer is they're two completely different positions. The PLOTUS is chosen by the Librarian of Congress.

The President has nothing to do with the Poet Laureate. Heck, Congress has nothing to do with it () other than appointing the person who makes the selection. ALSO, There is NO requirement on the PLOTUS to compose occasional poems. Their projects are totally up to them.

Also, we owe our having a Poet Laureate to the tireless work of the Senator from Hawaii, Spark Matsunaga, who SO loved poetry he fought for 20+ years to get Congress to create the position. It's a position with a fascinating history and (shameless plug time) here's

a link to a special issue on the subject I edited for Beltway Poetry Quarterly here: https://www.beltwaypoetry.com/poets-laureate-part-ii/
Anyway, back to the Inaugural Poet....

There's always been some talk about inaugural poems in general, i.e. their worth and or quality. "Occasional poems," poems written for events or observances, don't have as long of a history here. Certainly not like in other countries. It's a modern practice here...

The practice itself is seen with some suspicion by some poets, as poetry-on-demand. That's unfortunate because there's plenty of examples of great occasional poetry. And I feel like nothing should be off the table for poets. We contain multitudes and so should our poetry.

On a hopeful note, the practice of having poet laureates, many of whom compose occasional poems, has spread in recent years with many state & local municipalities adopting the practice and funding a position for a poet to lift up poetry in their communities.

As for US inaugural poems as a group, there just haven't been many to look at. There've been 5 recited, 6 if you count what Frost left on the page (see above). They've been composed differently too. Frost, for example, literally wrote his that morning in 1961. Occasional poems

are hella difficult to write and with perhaps the largest audience for a poem in the world, this may be the hardest one to deliver. Gorman knocked it out the park with a beautiful performance of a moving, elevating piece of verse. I'm so thankful to see poetry rise. Brava!

I'll finish with a plug for Split This Rock @SplitThisRock , a national poetry organization I've been involved with, that's dedicated to bringing poetry into public life, schools, and social justice activism. http://www.splitthisrock.org