We can all learn, from her example to come up from under, like a lotus from the mud.

Here’s another poet’s encomium, in the New York Times.

In a Commanding Literary Voice, Singing Out to the World

Excerpt:

She was a girl who was raped and did not speak for years after, so cognizant was she of the power of words as to believe they could actually make things happen. And so, with words, she rendered not only her own life visible but also nothing short of a history of black social movements in the second half of the 20th century and the participation of a woman, and women, who helped make it happen, against a million odds.

Inaugural Poem Video courtesy William J. Clinton Presidential Library: