When you have to teach yourself how to say sounds, when you have to be highly concerned about pronunciation, it gives you a certain awareness of sonics, of the auditory experience.
AMANDA GORMANWhen you are learning through poetry how to speak English, it lends to a great understanding of sound, of pitch, of pronunciation, so I think of my speech impediment not as a weakness or a disability, but as one of my greatest strengths.
More Amanda Gorman Quotes
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Poetry is interesting because not everyone is going to become a great poet, but anyone can be, and anyone can enjoy poetry, and it’s this openness, this accessibility of poetry that makes it the language of people.
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I don’t want it to be something that becomes a cage, where to be a successful Black girl, you have to be Amanda Gorman and go to Harvard. I want someone to eventually disrupt the model I have established.
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It was so incredible meeting Lady Gaga. I mean I’m gaga for Gaga, literally. We kind of just each flew to each other like magnets after the ceremony ended and we were both just crying and hugging.
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I have to interweave my poetry with purpose. For me, that purpose is to help people, and to shed a light on issues that have far too long been in the darkness.
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Poetry is – it’s an art form, but, to me, it’s also a weapon, it’s also an instrument. It’s the ability to make ideas that have been known, felt and said. And that’s a real, I think, type of duty for the poet.
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I was writing since I can remember – I just didn’t know it was poetry yet, or that writing could be a career.
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What’s really funny about being National Youth Poet Laureate is that not everyone even knows it exists.
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When they tell you to go back to where you come from, tell them proudly that this is where you come from.
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No matter how you say it, the hill we climb is a hill we climb together.
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My mom wanted to make sure I was prepared to grow up with Black skin in America.
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I love Black poets. I love that as a Black girl, I get to participate in that legacy. So that’s Yusef Komunyakaa, Sonia Sanchez, Tracy K. Smith, Phillis Wheatley.
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I think it made me all that much stronger of a writer when you have to teach yourself how to say words from scratch.
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We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice.
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One of the most rewarding moments of my career is when I’m speaking to a child who tells me they have the same speech impediment that I had to overcome and that they’re going to keep writing or sharing their voice after hearing my story.
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Your daily challenge to not be like a boss, but the boss, in all things you.
AMANDA GORMAN