Thursday Morning Man: Richard Blanco!

Today’s Morning Man is Robert Blanco, a man who has just been chosen to do what such celebrated American poets as Robert Frost and Maya Angelo have in the past: write an original poem and recite it at the inauguration of a US president.

But Blanco has made history by being the first openly gay man chosen, the first Latino, and at 44, he is the youngest inaugural poet ever.

Blanco, a resident of Maine, will recite his poem at the swearing in of President Barack Obama on January 21 in Washington DC.

‘Since the beginning of the campaign, I totally related to [President Obama's] life story and the way he speaks of his family, and of course his multicultural background,’Blanco tells The New York Times. ‘There has always been a spiritual connection in that sense. I feel in some ways that when I’m writing about my family, I’m writing about him.’