The following is a transcript of the inaugural poem recited by Elizabeth Alexander, as provided by CQ transcriptions.
Praise song for the day.
and thank heaven we don't have to hear this junk very often
Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise.
But noise is preferable to bad poetry
All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues.
Eeeuu. This is even more disgusting than tongue piercing
Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.
and those things cause noise???
Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
Sure. I see people banging cellos on oil drums all the time
A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."
as 5th graders get failed for writing compositions with no coherent theme and then say its poetry because two verses have a similar metre
We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.
Words used in sentences that don't relate to each other
We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."
and why did the poet cross the road; well it wasn't done to inspire anyone with real poetry
We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
Of course some people open their eyes when they walk but that's just crazy talk to some other people
Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.
Most glittering edifices use glass and steel; also construction workers don't generally turn into maintenance crews
Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.
and here's hoping poets with talent haven't thrown up in this kitchen by now or committed suicide with the silverware
Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."
Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.
how come the first cliche was in quotes and the next two weren't???
What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.
Ready to pay royalties to Burt Bacharach
In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.
Of course it would be nice to also finish sentences
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.
What light? You were talking about noise, then words, then crossing the road, then love. Which verse is about light? 
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