Registry

Andrea Cohen directs the Blacksmith House Poetry Series and The Writers House at Merrimack College. Her most recent poetry collection is “Furs Not Mine.”

Trump inaugural puts artists in quandary

Several months ago, before the presidential election, San Francisco poet and author Dean Rader found himself engaged in a philosophical debate with some of his fellow poets: If Donald Trump were to win the presidency, and if he asked one of them to compose a poem to be read at the inauguration, would they do it? On the one hand, none of them supported Trump for the presidency. Rader didn’t know many politically conservative poets, in general, and his friends found the prospect of Trump’s election to be “terrifying” and offensive.