Tossing Pebbles in the Stream

This blog is my place to sit and toss pebbles into the stream. The stream of Life relentlessly passing before us. We can affect it little. For the most part I just watch it passing and follow the flow. Occasionally, I need to comment on its passing, tossing a pebble at it to enjoy the ripple affect upon Life's surface.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

"Let America Be America Again"

The struggle of Barack Obama to become the Democratic candidate for President of the United States, reminded me of the poem "Let America be America Again" by Langston Hughes. I think Obama has tried to bring to the struggle the hope that the United States could once again recover its national mythic historical narrative expressed by Hughes in this poem.

To read the text of this wonderful poem visit http://plagiarist.com/poetry/2443/

If you want to compare it with Barack Obama message of "Yes, We Can" click on the video below.

8 Comments:

At 2:02 p.m., Tom said...: Hi Phillip.. one of if not the most moving peom I have ever heard... I can tell you now I will be listening to this many more times..

Tom
At 2:07 p.m., Peggy said...: love the poem just don't agree on Obama. What he says to the public and what he says in private are totally different. This election finds us with no good choices :(
At 8:57 a.m., Neal said...: I wish what you said about Obama was true. He's just another politician that will say what he thinks will get him elected. Just observe how he's treated Rev Wright....He's followed him and supported him for 20 years and now says he don't agree with what Wright says after he thinks it might hurt his election chances. Like I said, just a typical politician.
At 11:02 a.m., Tom said...: I called back and listened some more to Langston Hughes.. I followed the link and read a bit about him and noticed a free e-book in PDF. format. Looks like he's got a new fan of his words.
At 7:31 p.m., Ginnie said...: I decided to check you out...from AC's blog and I'm glad I did. I just posted a poem by Adrienne Rich which explains how I feel about my country (USA). It's a very scary time...but, as the Hughes poem states, it has always been so. Will we never learn?? I tend to feel that there's not much I can do but I will definitely vote for whoever opposes McCain.
At 2:46 p.m., Janet said...: As Ginnie said, I think we may never learn. Especially since Hughes could have written that poem today, and knowing that he wrote it over 40 years ago. I, too, am voting mostly against McCain rather than for someone else. Although Slouching Mom has an excellent post today about the way both Clinton and Obama have changed over the course of the campaign.
http://www.slouchingmom.com/2008/05/manchurian-candidates.html
Perhaps limiting the campaign times would help.
At 7:01 a.m., Gretchen said...: Can't agree on Obama at all. He happily threw his white grandma who raised him under the bus when she wasn't winning him vote. Then his "father figure" paster went under that bus when he didn't goose step right or keep his mouth shut. Then I read what his wife thinks about race (her thesis is a real eye opener). I don't see him as a warm and fuzzy uniter at all.
At 12:46 p.m., Anonymous said...: It's funny because I have always loved that Langston Hughes poem and you know how much I'm rooting for Obama... I never put the two together in my mind. Yes, the messages are identical. Awesome.