BETHEL, Maine — The doorman at the Washington, D.C., hotel wanted a big hug. “Gimme some love!” he demanded.

The nation’s capital was full of people eager to embrace Richard Blanco after he read his poem “One Today” for President Obama’s second inauguration last month. When he got home to Bethel, Maine, the letters started pouring in. One, from a woman living in a senior center, said “it felt like the atoms were all rearranged” as he read.