"Yes We Can, Yes We Can, Yes We Can!"

MELISSA BLOCK, Host:

We have one more political note, a poetic one. Only three poems have been read at presidential inaugurations, and they've been serious and sweeping. Well, Nikki Giovanni has a different style. She's one of the poets we've commissioned to write unofficial inaugural poems. Giovanni is an award-winning poet and spoken-word artist, and she has written an inaugural rap. She says it's for President-elect Obama to deliver himself. But until that day, here's Nikki Giovanni.

NIKKI GIOVANNI: (Reciting) I'm Barack Obama And I'm here to say: I'm President Of the USA.

I'll walk the streets And knock on doors Share with the folks: Not my dreams but yours.

I'll talk with the people. I'll listen and learn. I'll make the butter, Then clean the churn.

My wife is pretty. My children are sweet. We need one puppy To be complete.

I represented in Springfield, Senated in D.C., Articulating all the while What change means to me.

Some folk said "wait." Some said "not now." But here I am quite ready To take that president vow.

The time is now For us to stand Because we all know Yes We Can, Yes We Can, Yes We Can.

BLOCK: That's Nikki Giovanni. Her most recent collection of poetry is called "Bicycles: Love Poems." She's a professor of English at Virginia Tech.