VITAL SIGNSrnMaya Angelou’srnInaugural Poemrnby John MeroneyrnPlagiarized or Inspired?rnWhen Bill Clinton picked writerrnMaya Angelou to create and readrna poem at his swearing-in ceremony, hernwas given kudos bv the media andrnacademia for the “diversity” and brilliancernof his selection. Many spoke ofrnhow a woman whose books (I Know Whyrnthe Caged Bird Sings and Swingin’ andrnSingin and Gettin Merry Like Christmasrnamong them) are about the strugglernof growing up in black America, her ownrnrape, and her life as a single motherrnwould bring an unparalleled depth ofrnunderstanding to the inauguration, farrnmore than what JFK offered when hernselected Robert Frost to create and readrna poem at his swearing-in ceremony 32rnyears earlier.rnAngelou’s poem, “On the Pulse ofrnMorning,” which opens with “A Rock, ArnRiver, A Tree” and uses those imagesrnthroughout as the structure of the poem,rnwas roundly acclaimed and said to be ofrntremendous depth, insight, and originality.rnI Hilary Clinton told Angelou, “Itrnis as if you have been looking in ourrnbrains for the last six weeks. You said itrnmuch better than we could.”rnOn the Wake Forest University campusrnin Winston-Salem, North Carolina,rnwhere Angelou was appointed professorfor-rnlife in 1982, there was also celebration.rnAs the editor of a student magazine,rnand one who has written aboutrnAngelou, I took special note of the reaction.rnOne prominent English professorrndescribed the poem as “remarkable . . .rnan eloquent call for justice, inclusion,rnand peace” and talked about how,rnmonths later, the “brilliant presentation”rnwas still “resonating for so many of us.”rnIn the alumni magazine, Angelou wasrngrouped yvith Frost, Walt Whitman, andrnRalph Waldo Emerson as “distinguishedrnvisionaries who appeared on deck as thernship of state was about to embark on arnnew course” and whose poetry was arnguide that offered courage for the longrnvoyage.rnThe reaction to Angelou’s poem,rnhowever, was not the same in all corners.rnOne of those listening in rapt attentionrnon Inauguration Day was NortonrnF. Tennille, Jr., Oxford student withrnClinton, Harvard Law ’68, and now anrnattorney in Washington, D.C., at Jones,rnDay, Reavis & Poguc, the second-largestrnlaw firm in the nation. Tennille, who wasrnraised in Winston-Salcm, educated at arnlocal high school and the University ofrnNorth Carolina, had a different reactionrnwhen he heard Angelou’s poem—onernof deja vu.rnIn 1985, after participating in a wildernessrnadventure sponsored by the NorthrnCarolina Outward Bound School, an educationalrnorganization that promotesrnself-reliance, Tennille was so profoundlyrnaffected that he wrote a poem about it—rna poem that begins, strangely enough,rn”Rock, rope, river, hands” and, like Angelou’s,rnuses those images, and that ofrnthe tree, as the structure of his poem.rnUpon hearing her poem, Tennille declared,rn”My God, that sounds very familiar.rnOne can see the manifest similarities.”rnHours after the Inaugural, Tennille,rnwho is reported to be a staunch Democrat,rnwrote directly to Angelou, whosernreal name is Marguerite Johnson, enclosingrncopies of both poems, wherein hernoutlined and diagramed what he calledrnthe “striking similarities.” When I carefullyrnexamined both poems, I found thatrneach was structured in a similar wav:rnAngelournI. RockrnII. RiverrnIII. TreernIV. HandsrnTennillernI. RockrnII. Rope (wrappedrnaround trees)rnIII. RiverrnIV. HandsrnTennille asked Angelou, very politely,rn”Did you ever read my poem, and didrnyou draw on its concept, structure, [and]rnimages in constructing your own?” Hernalso requested a meeting with Angelournto discuss the similarities.rnOne might expect a well-known writerrnlike Angelou simply to dismiss Tennillernby telling him that she hadn’t readrnhis poem and that it didn’t matter thatrnthey had expressed similar thoughts. Instead,rnfor the past eight months, Angelournhas maintained a suspicious silence,rnignoring Tennille’s letter as well asrnsubsequent ones he has sent to her publisherrnand employer.rnBy the time it became apparent tornTennille that he would not be receivingrna response from Angelou, he noticedrnthat her inaugural poem had been publishedrnby Random House and that anrnaudio cassette had also been released.rnIn April, Tennille sent a polite, certifiedrnletter to Random House in which he includedrna copy of his January letter tornAngelou along with the poems. “Enclosedrnis a copy of a letter I sent to MayarnAngelou in January concerning certainrnsimilarities between her Inaugural Poem,rnwhich you have now published, andrna poem that was published by the NorthrnCarolina Outward Bound School inrn1985,” wrote Tennille. “I have receivedrnno response from Ms. Angelou… Couldrnyou please make sure that she receivesrnthis copy?” It was a thinly veiled threat:rnhere was a letter, in effect, from an attorneyrnat the second-largest law firm inrnthe nation saying Random House mayrnbe publishing material that was merelyrnan expansion of a poem published andrndistributed nine years earlier. By June,rnboth Angelou and Random House hadrnfailed to respond, so Tennille sent a certifiedrnletter to Thomas K. Hearn, Jr., thernDECEMBER 1993/43rnrnrn