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Take Two

Richard Blanco: Inauguration poet reflects on his journey

By Take Two Staff
Published Mar 21, 2014
In this Jan. 21, 2013 file photo, poet Richard Blanco speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington during the inauguration for President Barack Obama, left, and Vice President Joe Biden right. Blanco describes writing the inaugural poem in his new book, “For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet’s Journey.” A Cuban-American who grew up in Miami, Blanco says he was he was forced to re-examine his relationship with his adopted country in the weeks leading up to the inauguration. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
In this Jan. 21, 2013 file photo, poet Richard Blanco speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington during the inauguration for President Barack Obama, left, and Vice President Joe Biden right. Blanco describes writing the inaugural poem in his new book, “For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet’s Journey.” A Cuban-American who grew up in Miami, Blanco says he was he was forced to re-examine his relationship with his adopted country in the weeks leading up to the inauguration.
(
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
)

Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.

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Richard Blanco: Inauguration poet reflects on his journey

Poet Richard Blanco took a bit of a winding road to America.

As he describes it he was made in Cuba, assembled in Spain and imported to the United States.

Growing up in an insulated Cuban ex-pat community in Miami, in a neighborhood with the very Anglo Saxon name of Westchester, Blanco's eyes absorbed two distinct versions of the American dream.

One was through TV shows like "The Brady Bunch," the other one he was living everyday through the immigrant experience.

That upbringing was source material for his poems that reflected on these dual identities.

And eventually, those writings led him to the White House in 2013 when he was asked to speak at President Obama's second inauguration, joining poets such as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou to receive that honor.

Richard Blanco spoke with Take Two about his new book, "For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet's Journey."