Diane Vogel Ferri’s full-length poetry book is Everything is Rising (Luchador Press). Her latest novel is No Life But This: A Novel of Emily Warren Roebling (Atbosh Media) Her essays have been published in The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Scene Magazine, and Yellow Arrow Journal, among others. Her poems can be found in numerous journals such as Wend Poetry, Blue Heron Review, Rubbertop Review, and Poet Lore. Her previous publications are Liquid Rubies (poetry), The Volume of Our Incongruity (poetry), and The Desire Path (novel). She has done many poetry readings locally. Diane’s essay, “I Will Sing for You” was featured at the Cleveland Humanities Festival in 2018. A former teacher, she holds an M.Ed from Cleveland State University and is a founding member of Literary Cleveland. Her poem, For You, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of The Net 2023

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Hope and Sizzle

Today is Inauguration Day for Barack Obama. I fancy myself a wordsmith but I was not going to write anything today because what can I say about this national event? This day that has brought "hope and sizzle" to America? I heard that phrase on NPR - so I can't take credit for it, but boy does it describe this day. Only once in my life have I felt a collective patriotism and that was of course after September 11th when every house had a flag flying.
But today, for the first time in my life, I feel a collective HOPE. It's a beautiful feeling. Today all the televisions in the school were on, the children were learning, the teachers we were proud. I have never experienced a school day such as this one. As adults we feel hope for our children and their children today.
Obama is a great orator. He has the gift of inspiring others. This alone will not make him a great president, but it will go a long way in uniting this country, which will in turn bring greatness to our country once again. In his inauguration speech he said that America's greatness is not a given - it is earned.
Obama referenced I Corinthians 13:11-12 When I was a child I talked like a child, I thought like a child. When I became a man I put away childish things. I think he was telling us to put away the past and move forward and that he is able and willing to do that as well.
Well, I have nothing more - just hope and sizzle - God bless America.

1 comment:

won said...

Diane,

You wrote:

"I think he was telling us to put away the past and move forward and that he is able and willing to do that as well."

That really hit my heart. There is a big part of me that hopes and prays to be able to do that, selectively and at will with some (most) things, but not in all.

To do that with the entirety of my past would be unthinkable, dishonoring and so forth.

Balance, it's got to be about balance with me. I am searching.