Daily US Times: Amanda Gorman has become the youngest presidential inauguration poet, calling for “unity and togetherness” in her self-penned poem.
The 22-year-old poet delivered her work The Hill We Climb to both the dignitaries present in Washington DC and a watching global audience.
Her five-minute poem began with “When day comes, we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never-ending shade?”
Amanda Gorman went on to reference the storming of the Capitol earlier this month.
“We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it, would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy,” her peom includes.
“And this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.”
In her poem, Amanda Gorman described herself as “a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother [who] can dream of becoming president, only to find her self reciting for one”.
The performer and writer, who became the country’s first National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017, followed in the footsteps of such famous names as Maya Angelou and Robert Frost.
“I really wanted to use my words to be a point of unity and collaboration and togetherness,” the poet told the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme before the inauguration ceremony.
“I think it’s about a new chapter in the United States, about the future, and doing that through the elegance and beauty of words.”
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