There was no poem read at today's presidential inauguration.

John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama have all had poets read at their inaugural ceremonies, showcasing the likes of Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, and Richard Blanco.

Indeed, poets have only appeared in modern times at Democrat inaugurations, without a single Republican presidential request occurring in that period. No Nixon, no Reagan, and neither Bush, too.

The Atlantic makes note of this political disparity, and how Donald Trump continued the tradition of eschewing a poet at a Republican inauguration today. Why? Probably because he intends to kill funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. That has a way of putting a sour taste in most poets' mouths.

So, let's travel back to when poets were welcome at inaugurations.

First is an 86-year old Robert Frost at John F. Kennedy's 1961 ceremony.

Frost was to read 'Dedication,' an original poem he wrote for the festivities. The elderly poet struggled in the bright January sunshine to read the newly written words, though. The typewriter at the hotel he was staying at in Washington, DC, ran out of ink the night before, and the words were faded on the page. Richard Nixon, of all people, is the gentleman who arrives with a top hat to try and aid Frost:





After a few starts and stops, Frost recited his old classic 'The Gift Outright' from memory instead.

Footage of that moment from the inauguration is nonexistent, though, lost to time and the memory of those in attendance. As a result, here's Frost reciting the same poem years earlier:





Fast forward over thirty years, and we come to the 1993 inauguration of Bill Clinton, who asked Maya Angelou to read one of her poems. She chose 'On the Pulse of Morning'--which she told the Los Angeles Times had meaning for such an event.

"I suggest that we should herald the differences, because the differences make us interesting, and also enrich and make us stronger. The differences are minuscule compared to the similarities. That's what I mean to say,"





Presidents will come and go.

But poems will always remain.