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Thursday, November 13, 2008

Books / 2008 Our President-Elect Reads Poetry

Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 12:49 PM

I just found this news story from Saturday that reports Barack Obama was seen carrying a collection of poetry by Derek Walcott, specifically Collected Poems 1948-1984.

Walcott, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1992, is a great poet and a giant of Caribbean literature. I recommend Omeros, an epic poem that retells the Odyssey. I know that George Bush reads books, but I just can't get excited about his choices, which mostly lean to biographies and sports books. Obama reads poetry. For fun. Can I go back in time and vote for him again?

Comments (6) RSS

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Hey! I have that on my bookshelf! Proud to be an American...and an English Major...both in the same month!

And yes...it is a great read.

Posted by crap bag (formerly known as pablocjr) on November 13, 2008 at 1:06 PM

Paul, you won't need a time machine. We're all gonna have to vote for Obama again in less than 4 years, and probably in bigger numbers than this time around.
I plan on catching up on my Walcott reading by then, thanks for the post.

Posted by ReverendZ on November 13, 2008 at 1:07 PM

One of Bush's reads was "The Stranger" by Camus.

Funny!

Posted by Sleestak on November 13, 2008 at 1:12 PM

and in the salt chuckle of rocks
with their sea pools, there was the sound
like a rumour without any echo

of History, really beginning.

Posted by "The Sea Is History" Derek Walcott on November 13, 2008 at 3:02 PM

I can't be the only one who doesn't see Bush nose deep in "The Nine Parts of Desire".

Posted by :) on November 13, 2008 at 4:06 PM

If you like "Omeros" I recommend getting a hold of an audio of him reading it - I think I have one from a collection called "In their own voices' from Rhino records. He reads the first page or two and it sounds awesome.

Posted by Jude Fawley on November 13, 2008 at 5:36 PM