Today is Black Poetry Day, a day designated to honor Black poets, both past and present. The commemorative day was first created in 1985 to celebrate the father of African American literature, Jupiter Hammon, who most notably became the first published Black poet in the U.S. in 1761. The trailblazing works of Jupiter and countless other poets and writers opened the door for modern-day poets like National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman.
At 25 years, Gorman’s resume is stacked – a New York Times best-selling author, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, cum laude graduate of Harvard University, the founder and executive director of a nonprofit that provides free creative writing programs for underserved youth, and the first poet commissioned to write a poem to be read at the Super Bowl. Gorman is a groundbreaking writer, poet and an activist whose work focuses on topics such as oppression, feminism, climate change, marginalization, and race.
While she is just getting started in her illustrious poetry career, here are five Amanda Gorman poems that stopped us in our tracks:
“The Hill We Climb”
Gorman first took the world by storm when she recited her poem “The Hill We Climb” after the swearing in of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice president. You could almost hear a pen drop at the 2021 U.S. presidential inauguration, as she closed the poignant, six-minute poem with the lines, “For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.”
“An American Lyric”
A few years earlier, in 2017, Gorman performed her original poem, ‘In This Place: An American Lyric’, at the Library of Congress’ inaugural celebration for Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith. This poem takes listeners on a journey through America and tells stories of loss, perseverance and hope. In this poem, Gorman eloquently writes:
There’s a poem in this place—
a poem in America
a poet in every American
who rewrites this nation, who tells
a story worthy of being told on this minnow of an earth
to breathe hope into a palimpsest of time—
a poet in every American
who sees that our poem penned
doesn’t mean our poem’s end.
“We Rise”
In 2021, Gorman delivered her poem “We Rise” at Variety’s Power of Women event presented by Lifetime in Beverly Hills, California. The poem was a call to action for women and people of color to have a seat at the table in the entertainment that is predominantly still dominated by white men. Her poem encourages women to rise up and use their voices to speak out.
“The Miracle of Morning”
Gorman originally wrote her poem, “The Miracle of Morning,” in the early days of the pandemic in 2020. She uses her words to propel listeners forward with the hope that, like the light of morning, healing and hope will spring from despair. She performed this poem on CBS This Morning. Her poem is a rally cry for listeners to give the pain a purpose and to use it to become stronger:
While we might feel small, separate, and all alone,
Our people have never been more closely tethered.
The question isn’t if we can weather this unknown,
But how we will weather this unknown together.
“An Ode We Owe”
Gorman unveiled a new poem for the 2022 U.N. General Assembly, “An Ode We Owe,” where she highlights the urgency of the climate crisis and the necessity for climate justice. She explains how a more sustainable future will ultimately lead to a more equitable future.
One moving stanza in her poem reads:
“For preserving the earth isn’t a battle too large
To win, but a blessing too large to lose.
This is the most pressing truth:
That Our people have only one planet to call home
And our planet has only one people to call its own.”