Date: 2009-02-06 06:43 am (UTC)
I'd agree that the poem has more of a pan-tradition feel to me than being specifically pagan.

I don't know if it's intentional on her part, but I do know that Elizabeth Alexander is a teacher of African-American studies, and that the Yoruban word "Oriki" is often translated as "praise poetry" or "praise song" (One form of Oriki being praise songs to Orisa or the Creator.)

And though I suspect it's more likely a reference to the Hippocratic Oath, I could take "Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself, others by first do no harm or take no more than you need." to be read as "Some live by the Bible, some by the Wiccan Rede, and some by other philosophy of sharing with others".

"On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp" sounds very familiar to me, but I can't quite place it...

I don't know if it's great poetry, but I did like the sentiment it expressed to me.

I also found it interesting that Rush Limbaugh actually attacked the poem by playing sound bites and then making derogatory comments, but didn't (at least for the 10 minutes I could stand to listen) do the same for Obama's inaugural speech. Instead making a non-specific deriding comment about how the speech was meaningless and didn't say anything, and then returning to trashing the poem.
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