“One Today” is a poem by Richard Blanco. It was written and read as the inaugural poem for President Obama's second swearing in ceremony on January 21, 2013. I chose this poem because it takes me back to the dream I brought with me when I came as a sojourner many years ago and decided to stay in this country. Also, it reminded me of the struggles I have faced as well as the satisfactions I have experienced.
Click here to read and/or listen to "One Today" by Richard Blanco.
This poem's language is easy to understand. It is written in epic form and prose form, and is not too long. It has 69 lines that compose a total of 9 stanzas. The perfect use of punctuation gives this poem a touch of gracefulness and formality that makes the sentences flow from one to another, giving the reader clarity and an urgency to keep reading.
In “One Today,” Blanco's persona speaks to us. Through this poem, he makes an emotional connection to his readers by sharing his own experiences from his upbringing. He highlights the hard work and teachings of his mother in stanzas 2 and 6: “Ring up groceries as my mother did for twenty years, so I could write this poem for all of us today,” and “Buenos días in the language my mother taught me,” respectively. He also mentions the sacrifice of his father in stanza 4: “Hands as worn as my father's cutting sugarcane so my brother and I could have books and shoes.” In addition, he intentionally addresses diversity by using multilingual versions of “Hello” to include the whole world in this piece. By disclosing the struggles and background of his upbringing, Blanco helps readers from different backgrounds and social status to identify with him. I personally relate to this lyric-narrative poem. Like many others that come from abroad, I have worked hard to better myself and to help my daughters attain an education that will support them in accomplishing great success.
The voice of this poem helps us to easily create an image in our minds of happy and successful journey, since that many of us are living on a daily basis what the poet is illustrating in this lyric-narrative poem. The poem’s word pictures transport us to a land of prosperity and equality under a sunny sky that belongs to all. The expression of light in some of the stanzas, like “One light, waking up rooftops" (1), and “The one light we move through, one light breathing color” (3), makes me feel faith and hope for the future because of the brightness and colorfulness it brings to my thoughts.
A beautiful job of describing this poem, Rocio! The comparison of some aspects of your life and the life of the poet brings it to a personal level which I am discovering is one thing I am loving about poetry. It feels like synchronicity when someone is able to put to words something that I am experiencing. His vivid descriptions bring life and vitality to the poem.
ReplyDeleteRocio, I like the way you give an overview of this poem by describing the focus of each stanza. I remember this poem well and taught it in several of my classes last year. Blanco was trying to write a poem that was accessible to as many listeners as possible, writing a representation of America that included diversity and the daily experience of people doing their jobs, especially immigrants. Your sense of connection to this poem shows that he succeeded in this aim. Yes, the poem has a persona, but I think it's fair to say that Blanco is using his own voice and experience to create that persona. Your comment on punctuation is interesting because Blano does has a very fluent use of complex punctuation. Most of his stanzas include only one or two sentences, but he uses a lot of semi-colons: unusual for a poem! His stanzas have line breaks, so it's not quite prose, but the style reads like prose. Every stanza ends with a period, like a paragraph. A agree that his vivid imagery and his use of the light and the day make this poem easy to picture.
ReplyDeleteI like how you chose a poem that relates to your journey; it gives the poem an even greater meaning. I love how the author tells his story in the poem. By doing this the readers feel more connected to the poem and it become more personal.
ReplyDeleteBecca