An excerpt from One Today, a poem written
        for Barack Obama's second inauguration
                    January 21, 2013


One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,
peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces
of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth
across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.
One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story
told by our silent gestures moving behind windows...

Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling,
or whispers across cafe tables. Hear: the doors we open
for each other all day, saying hello | shalom |
buon giorno | howdy | namaste | or buenos dias
in the language my mother taught me - in every language
spoken into one wind carrying our lives
without prejudice, as these words break from my lips.

...We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight
of snow, or the plum blush of dusk, but always, always
home, always under one sky, our sky. And always
one moon like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop
and every window, of one country - all of us - 
facing the stars. Hope - a new constellation waiting for us to map it, waiting for us to name it - together. --Richard Blanco

Richard Blanco's books:
Looking for the Gulf Motel
City of a Hundred Fires
One Today
Place of Mind
The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood

Barack Obama's books:
Dreams From My Father
The Audacity of Hope
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters

What I'm reading now: The Meaning of Michelle: 16 Writers on the Iconic First Lady and How Her Journey Inspires Our Own, edited by Veronica Chambers.


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