Proof by Cornelius Eady
- marychristinedelea
- Aug 12
- 3 min read
Proof
by Cornelius Eady
Written for the inauguration of Zohran Mamdani, Jan 1, 2026, NYC.
You have to imagine it:
Who said you were too dark/too
Large? Too queer/too loud?
Who said you were too poor/
Too strange? Too fat?
You have to imagine it:
Who said you must keep quiet?
Who heard your story, then
Rolled their eyes?
Who tried to change your name
To invisible?
You’ve got to imagine:
Who heard your name
And refused to pronounce it?
Who checked their watch
And said “not now”?
James Baldwin wrote:
“The place in which I’ll fit
Will not exist
Until I make it.”
New York, city of invention,
Roiling town, refresher
And re-newer,
New York, city of the real,
Where the canyons
Whisper in a hundred
Tongues,
New York,
Where your lucky self
Waits for your
Arrival,
Where there is always soil
For your root.
This is our time.
The taste of us/the spice of us
The hollers and the rhythms and
The beats of us.
In the echo of our
Ancestors,
Who made certain we know
Who we are.
City of Insistence,
City of Resistance,
You have to imagine:
An Army that wins without
Firing a bullet,
A joy that wears down
The rock of no.
Up from insults,
Up from blocked doors,
Up from trick bags,
Up from fear/up from shame,
Up from the way it was done before.
You have to imagine:
That space they said wasn’t yours.
That time they said you’d never own.
The invisible city lit, on its way.
This moment is our proof.
Click on the link above to read the NYT article that accompanies this photo. Click here for a video of Eady reading this poem at Mamdani's inauguration. Click here to buy the book that includes this poem as well as other poems about inaugurations and politics. This poem was published in Poetry in the May 2026 issue; you can see that here and, of course, read other poems by Cornelius Eady there.
I read the book this poem appears in today for the 2026 Sealey Challenge. The entire book is fantastic, and I encourage all of you to purchase a copy.
But this poem! The title is so unlike the titles of other inaugural poems. Here are the ones from recent presidential inaugurations:
"On the Pulse of Morning," Maya Angelou (Bill Clinton)
"Of History and Hope," Miller Williams (Bill Clinton)
"Praise Song for the Day," Elizabeth Alexander (Barack Obama)
"One Today," Richard Blanco (Barack Obama)
"The Hill We Climb," Amanda Gorman (Joe Biden)*
Great poems, all, and such hope-filled titles!
But Eady goes with "Proof." A mystery? A criminal case? The evidence needed in Human Resources? Something with Math????????
I love it. That sense of dislocation is immediately appealing.
After that, the poem is hopeful. But it does not (and this is true of most inaugural poems) shy away from hard truths. It is inclusive, contains a James Baldwin quotation, and--and you all know this brings me endless joy--it is a poem full of questions.
There are so many powerful lines/questions/statements in this poem. I will only mention a few of my favorites:
Who said you must keep quiet?
In the echo of our
Ancestors
An army that wins without
Firing a bullet
And the last line: This moment is our proof.
The book contains poems about Robert Frost reading at JFK's inauguration, Elizabeth Alexander reading at Obama's first inauguration, and a poem called "Aretha Franklin's Inauguration Hat," which is as delightful as it sounds. There are also poems called "The Racist Bone" and "The Second Amendment."
I hope if you were not aware of this poem, you enjoyed it as much as I did when I first read it. If you were already familiar, I hope you enjoyed revisiting it. Cornelius Eady is a favorite poet of mine, and I am thrilled Mayor Mamdani asked him to write a poem for this historic event.
*If you are wondering why I left out the poems/poets who read at the inaugurations of Republican presidents, first let me say, "Really?" I cannot leave out what does not exist.
JFK was the first president to have a poet read a poem; his was Robert Frost. However, Frost ended up reading an older poem of his that he knew from memory, rather than the one he had written for the inauguration because the snow created such a glare Frost could not read his own poem off the paper.
I don't just have great poems here on my blog--I also have fun facts!
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