Blanco verse
It is not required that a poem be written and delivered for a presidential inauguration although, as with Robert Frost at JFK's big day or Maya Angelou as Bill Clinton took office for the first time, it's a nice touch.
In the case of President Trump in January, there was no poet at the ceremony. Trump's bard of preference, Snidely Whiplash, was unable to craft a verse in time. This does reminds us, though, of esteemed poet Richard Blanco, whose eloquent, determined and optimistic "One Day" was composed and delivered in commemoration of Barack Obama's second inauguration.
"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."
Blanco headlines spring's final gathering of the Arts Café Mystic Friday in the Mystic Museum of Art. He's the author of three collections of poetry: "City of a Hundred Fires," "Directions to the Beach of the Dead" (which won the PEN/Beyond Margins Award), and looking for the Gulf Motel" (winner of the Patterson Poetry Prize).
It's a wonderful lineup Friday that also includes musical guests Daphne Lee Martin and Thor Jensen, as well as opening voice Glenn Shea, who latest collection, "The Pilgrims of Tombelaine," is just out.
Arts Cafe Mystic, 7 p.m. Friday, Mystic Museum of Arts, 9 Water St., Mystic; $10, free students 21 and under; (860) 912-2444.