Inauguration Poem - 22 yo Amanda Gorman

Amazing. I couldn't do this in a million years. She is the first "Youth Poet Laureate", named such in 2017 when she was 19. I put the text from the end of the poem (the best part I think) after the video.

 

But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change, our children’s birthright.

So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left.
With every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the golden hills of the west.
We will rise from the wind-swept north-east where our forefathers first realized revolution.
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states.
We will rise from the sun-baked south.
We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.
In every known nook of our nation, in every corner called our country,
our people, diverse and beautiful, will emerge, battered and beautiful.
When day comes, we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.

Comments

[Valeria Kondratiev]

Hmmm. Kudos to her for the confidence on stage, but the poem doesn’t really do it for me as a poem. A political speech with a few poetic touches perhaps? “Bronze pounded chest” leaves me perplexed. I guess my tastes in poetry run more old fashioned, but again, good for her for having that confidence on stage