President Obama has selected poet Richard Blanco to read the inaugural poem in Washington DC on January 21st. Good editorial work, POTUS! Head over to the New York Times for an article on Blanco’s multicultural upbringing and why “his America is the same as the President’s America.”

And while you’re at it, here’s two poems from Blanco’s Directions to the Beach of the Dead, which was awarded PEN’s Beyond Margins Award in 2006.