ABOUT POETS FOR OBAMA

This Web blog is the creation of Poets for Obama curators Gregg Mosson and Reginald Harris, and features poets who have provided their words and want change. The site was active each week during the election, and welcomes Obama as president! and especially his message of change.

This site is no longer active, but has a great archive, so feel free to browse. As Barack Obama said in his presidential-elect acceptance speech on Nov. 4, 2008: We have proven that democracy is still alive in America! Yes we can!

Now it is up to the American people to remain engaged in the political process. We must end the Iraq war, provide decent and affortable health care for all, institute fair trade policies at home that protect jobs, grow new green jobs, cement multiple-day voting and fair elections, and ensure a better future for everyone.

This Web site has some wonderful poems already published for your perusal. Check them out: from Marvin Gaye singing the Star Spangled Banner, to the news of poetry, to the poem “The Hour Black is Beautiful.” Enjoy.

If someone wants to use this Web site to continue publishing poems of change, email us. Email poetsforobama [at] gmail.com. We may let you lead it!

If you just want to see your own poem here, you can put it as a “comment” to any post. We will consider more poems if they are sent to poetsforobama [at] gmail.com in the email text only. We especially want poems on the theme of change, and poems inspired by Obama’s speeches and ideas. These poems can even be critical of the president, if he fails to deliver change. That being said, include with any poem a bio of 2-4 sentences.

If you are a poet and support this effort, list your name and state in a comment below.

This blog specifically was inspired by Barack Obama’s convention speech. You can read it here (just click).

ABOUT BARACK OBAMA

Before he became president-elect on Nov. 4, 2008 and president on Jan 20, 2009, Obama served in the Illinois State Senate from 1997 to 2004. He then served in U.S. Senate from 2004 to 2009, and this gives him over 10 years of legislative experience to be President of the United States.

His background includes teaching constitutional law from 1992 to 2004 at The University of Chicago. He also studied law at Harvard University and became head of the Harvard Law Review, a prestiguous position only won by the best students. Obama’s background in constitutional law gives us hope he will repair the damage done to U.S. laws and the U.S. Constitution by the last administration. It certainly will provide him with the skills, experience, and knowledge of the rule of law to make our country better and more just.

Enjoy the poems.

An editorial list follows below.

Gregg Mosson is an American writer and author of Season of Flowers and Dust, a book of nature poetry from Goose River Press. He worked as a volunteer organizer in the 1996 elections for the late Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnisota, and volunteered in 2000 for two months in the operation research department of Hillary Clinton’s Senatorial campaign. Among his activities, he includes teaching and professional writing, and his writing can be found online at www.greggmosson.com.

Reginald Harris‘ book of poems 10 Tongues (Three Conditions Press, 2001) was a finalist for the Foreward Books of the Year and a Lambda Literary Award. He has received grants from the Maryland State Arts Council for both poetry and fiction. Recent work of Harris’ has appeared in the anthologies: Voices Rising: Celebrating 20 Years of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Writing and The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South.