Common Performance at The White House for Poetry Night

The conservatives in this country HATE THE TRUTH. Conservatives wants everyone to think 'their' way and if you have a different thought, then you are the problem maker. Last night Common was invited to The White House for a celebration of American poetry along with Jill Scott and others. Conservatives were mad about a poem Common performed on Def Poetry Jam during the Bush-Cheyney run. When I say conservatives were upset, they are still trying to defend Bush's raid into Afghanistan looking for Weapons of Mass Destruction that weren't there. So even with the controversy from the right, Common performed a spoken word piece at the White House last night. This is how President Obama introduced the night of poetry at The White House:

For thousands of years, people have been drawn to poetry in a very personal way -– including me.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I actually submitted a couple of poems to my college literary magazine, and you will be pleased to know that I will not be reading them tonight.  (Laughter.)

But as a nation built on freedom of expression, poets have always played an important role in telling our American story.

It was after the bombing of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 that a young lawyer named Francis Scott Key penned the poem that would become our National Anthem.  The Statue of Liberty has always welcomed the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”  Soldiers going off to fight in World War II were giving -- given books of poetry for comfort and inspiration.  And whenever our nation has faced a great tragedy -– whether it was the loss of a civil rights leader, the crew of a space shuttle, or the thousands of Americans that were lost on a clear September day -– we have turned to poetry when we can’t find quite the right words to express what we’re feeling.

So tonight we continue that tradition by hearing from some of our greatest -– as well as some of our newest -– poets.  Billy Collins, who is here with us, calls poetry “the oldest form of travel writing,” because it takes us to places we can only imagine.  So in that spirit, I’d like everyone to sit back, or sit on the edge of your seats, and enjoy the journey.