Contents
Foreword by Rita Dove....................xi
Introduction by Rachel Zucker & Arielle Greenberg....................xiii
Day 1: Elizabeth Alexander, Praise Song for the Day....................1
Day 2: Matthew Rohrer, Poem....................3
Day 3: Martha Silano, His Springboard Resolve....................4
Day 4: Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Overwinter....................5
Day 5: Fanny Howe, Imagine All the People....................6
Day 6: Yvette Thomas, Missing Metaphor for Time....................7
Day 7: Patricia Smith, Man, Roll the Window Down!....................8
Day 8: Lyn Lifshin, Michelle's Citrine Dress....................10
Day 9: Sasha Steensen, Wintry Weather and Job Slaughter....................11
Day 10: John Paul O'Connor, New Time Old Time....................13
Day 11: Lesléa Newman, Prayer for a President....................15
Day 12: Rebecca Wolff, The Most Famous Man in the World....................16
Day 13: Matthew Zapruder, Sad News....................17
Day 14: Cornelius Eady, Praise for the Inaugural Poet, January, 2009....................18
Day 15: Caroline Klocksiem, Do-Over Like Sky....................19
Day 16: Rachel Zucker, Dear Mr. President, I Thought You Should Know....................20
Day 17: BJ Soloy, Last Migration, a Dead, Common Yellow-....................21
Day 18: Cole Swensen, Taking Cover under the Sun....................23
Day 19: Laurel Snyder, The Greatest Public Works Program....................24
Day 20: Cate Marvin,Song of the Bad Bank....................26
Day 21: Michael Dumanis, Occasionally, I Write a Poem....................27
Day 22: Major Jackson, A General Theory of Interest & Money or Getting the Country in Bed....................28
Day 23: Erin Belieu, H. Res. 23-1: Proposing the Ban of Push-Up Bras, Etc....................30
Day 24: Craig Morgan Teicher, When the Real American....................31
Day 25: David Lehman, February 12....................32
Day 26: Nin Andrews, Hoi Polloi....................33
Day 27: Diane Wald, Nonromantic Obama Valentine for America, February 14th, 2009....................34
Day 28: Lisa Samuels, At the Save the World Breakfast....................36
Day 29: Brian Teare, Citizen Strophes (Oakland)....................38
Day 30: Katy Lederer, I Think You Are a Good Manager....................41
Day 31: Joyelle McSweeney, Poem for Comrade Duch....................46
Day 32: Mark Doty, Skulls Are So Last Year....................48
Day 33: Elizabeth Scanlon, What People Say....................50
Day 34: Katie Ford, You Are No Messiah....................51
Day 35: Mark Bibbins, A Small Gesture of Gratitude....................52
Day 36: Lindsey Wallace, System Error....................56
Day 37: Todd Fredson, Air and Simple Things....................57
Day 38: Geraldine Kim, Ehhhbb, Ooo, Oommmoo, Eeeoooooooooo....................58
Day 39: Kevin Prufer, Behind the Barracks, after the War....................60
Day 40: David Roderick, In Some Places They Held Picnics....................61
Day 41: Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Poem for Barack Obama....................62
Day 42: John Beer, My Calamine Lotion....................64
Day 43: Ian Harris, Welcome to Hard Times....................65
Day 44: Nicole Cooley, Girl at the River....................67
Day 45: Erika Meitner, Slinky Dirt with Development Hat....................69
Day 46: Allison Joseph, Conservative Love in the Age of Obama....................71
Day 47: Linda Buckmaster, Harvest....................72
Day 48: Ann Fisher-Wirth, In Oxford, Mississippi....................73
Day 49: Jeff Encke, The Water in Which One Drowns Is Always an Ocean....................75
Day 50: Anne Waldman, Shadow for Obama....................77
Day 51: Marvin Bell, The Book of the Dead Man (Day 51)....................80
Day 52: Catherine Wagner, Oh....................82
Day 53: Leah Souffrant, Imperfect Plenty....................84
Day 54: Patricia Spears Jones, What the Fates Allow....................86
Day 55: Kazim Ali, Random Search....................88
Day 56: Wayne Koestenbaum, Sick Poem....................89
Day 57: Sally Ball, Racial Parable with No Black People....................91
Day 58: Carmen Giménez Smith, Hey, Obama....................92
Day 59: Patrick Culliton, Song....................93
Day 60: Catherine Barnett, Small Parable for the Sixtieth Day....................94
Day 61: Amy Lemmon, Audacious: An Acrostic....................95
Day 62: Arielle Greenberg, Whose Mission It Is Only to Pray....................96
Day 63: Mendi Lewis Obadike, Parable of the Lucky Man....................98
Day 64: Jenny Factor, A Ghazal for Hope....................99
Day 65: Michael Morse, Void and Compensation (Wizards and Bulls)....................101
Day 66: Sarah Vap, Against One Another Like Glass....................104
Day 67: Brenda Shaughnessy, Citizen....................105
Day 68: Laura Mullen, Daisies....................106
Day 69: Elizabeth Hughey, The I Love You Bridge....................108
Day 70: A. Van Jordan, "The Farmers Have Won. Not Us."....................110
Day 71: Dara Wier, Salmagundi Algorithm....................111
Day 72: Tony Trigilio, I Picked Up That Strange Light Again....................112
Day 73: Mónica de la Torre, Onto the World Stage....................114
Day 74: Michele Battiste, What He Said....................115
Day 75: Susan Wheeler, Song of the G-20 Gone....................117
Day 76: Martha Collins, To Listen to Lead To....................118
Day 77: Betsy Fagin, "Not a Panacea but a Critical Step"....................119
Day 78: Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Rite (to Forge Armor for an Orphan)....................120
Day 79: Patricia Carlin, Thinking My Way Out of a Paper Bag....................121
Day 80: Chris Green, Today....................122
Day 81: Sean Thomas Dougherty, Elevator or Poem Written the Day after Not Showing Up for a Reading at an Embassy Official's House....................123
Day 82: Craig Arnold, Dear Steve....................125
Day 83: Kathrine Varnes, Some Kind of Secret Fruit....................127
Day 84: cin salach, The First Easter, 2009....................128
Day 85: Jen Hofer, who is speaking-nominal substances-who listening-anchor, bluster, filter-to whom listen-flattering machinations fluster the skies-substances-from the skies-operations fall-to be purchased-inked into existence-information conveyed, trucked, stowed, migrated-on the verge of....................130
Day 86: Becca Klaver, I Didn't Buy It....................133
Day 87: John Gallaher, There Are Many Theories about What Happened....................134
Day 88: Susan Briante, Letter to a Former Presidential Candidate....................135
Day 89: Paul Killebrew, Varieties of Religious Experience....................137
Day 90: Joshua Corey, When I Heard the Learn'd Spokesmen....................138
Day 91: Jason Schneiderman, Oracular....................139
Day 92: Joy Katz, How Poetry Saved America....................141
Day 93: Robin Beth Schaer, Endangerment Finding....................143
Day 94: Laynie Browne, Obama Ps (alm)....................144
Day 95: Sean Cole, Freehand....................145
Day 96: Prageeta Sharma, Stalked by a Prisoner of Texas....................146
Day 97: Pimone Triplett, Market Storm....................147
Day 98: Brenda Hillman, Guilt Armada....................148
Day 99: Jenny Browne, 24 Hour Roman Reconstruction Project....................150
Day 100: Thomas Sayers Ellis, First Grade, All Over Again....................151
Biographies and Process Notes....................155
Acknowledgments....................187
Index....................189
