Police Chief in Dallas Texas gives a loving talk based on lyrics of black musicians such as Al Green and Stevie Wonder.
Watched the live coverage from The White House channel.
Behind him were cops in white gloves, part of their dress uniform. The guy on the right kept watching the President. With amusement? Admiration? With "I can't believe I'm sitting here?"
"This is the America I know" was one of two refrains of Obama's long eulogy.
Presidential party.
Five empty seats for the five murdered police officers. Obama told a little about each of them. That's one of his most effective talking points. He got tears in his eyes at one point.
He also gave a civics lesson about how similar people really area. He spoke about Martin Luther King Jr and the two other recent killings of innocent black men.
Clergymen prayed at the beginning. And Obama went into his effective prayer mode, measured and calm, looking around, with a few pregnant pauses.
I watched the entire thing, though I did check my email.
Here's this morning's poem.
A GLIMPSE AND A CRASH
In my outfit of the day
hair washed and set
I trudged over in
a pair of ragged brown
clogs bought a decade
ago at an un-
remembered thrift shop
I pondered a sad email
I received this morning
as the yellow pitcher
grew heavier in my hand
Then flung the contents
over the compost heap
this morning's egg shells
yellow squash rind and
suddenly I heard it
loud, crashing, like
the forest come down
Me gasp, then see
three huge deer
their flanks
extraordinary
The color of the
almighty god
if there is one.
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