*Poet Maya Angelou, who recited one of her works at Bill Clinton's first inauguration, said she'll be at her home in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Jan. 20, watching – with pride – Barack Obama's ceremonies on television.
"I shall enjoy those and not miss one flicker of the camera. Not one flick," the 80-year-old writer told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "I shall be somewhere between crying and praying and being grateful and laughing when I see faces I know."'
For Clinton's inauguration in 1993, Angelou wrote and read her original composition, "On the Pulse of Morning." She was the first poet to read at an inauguration since Robert Frost did so for John F. Kennedy in 1961.
As previously reported, Angelou said she didn't expect to be called upon again and was eager to hear poet Elizabeth Alexander, whom Obama chose to be a part of his ceremony.
"It gives another person a chance to stand in that light, to have that kind of exposure, and she's a fine poet," Angelou said. "... I just know it's going to be great."