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If a woman doesn’t give herself permission, who will?

Amanda Gorman

I think it made me all that much stronger of a writer when you have to teach yourself how to say words from scratch.
AMANDA GORMAN

Myself Strong Teaching Thinking Word Writing Yourself
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.
AMANDA GORMAN

Enjoyment Greatness Language Poet Poetry
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.
AMANDA GORMAN

Black Love Myself Poet
Poetry and language are often at the heartbeat of movements for change.
AMANDA GORMAN

Change Language Poetry
The oration of poetry, I consider to be its own art form and tradition.
AMANDA GORMAN

Art Myself Poetry
Poetry is the lens we use to interrogate the history we stand on and the future we stand for.
AMANDA GORMAN

Future History Poetry
As a public poet, people often don’t see the reality of my life.
AMANDA GORMAN

Life People Poet Reality See
What contributed to my writing early on is how my mom encouraged it. She kept the TV off because she wanted my siblings and I to be engaged and active. So we made forts, put on plays, musicals, and I wrote like crazy.
AMANDA GORMAN

Activity Crazy Encouragement Family Mom Myself Writing
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.
AMANDA GORMAN

Darkness Help Issues Light Myself People Poetry Purpose
I am my own best mirror.
AMANDA GORMAN

Instagram Captions Myself One Liner Self Love
My Instagram doesn’t cover my insecurities, my lack of self-confidence, that week I spent crying, there’s a question of whether I should be sharing that online.
AMANDA GORMAN

Confidence Insecurity Internet Myself Social Media
I think we run into issues when our online brands are not rooted in who we are, and I think we need to have explicit discussions with ourselves about who we want to be, what we want to represent, and how we want to express that.
AMANDA GORMAN

Expression Issues Myself Need Ourselves Run Thinking
Through poetry we shall catch the conscience of a nation.
AMANDA GORMAN

Nation Poetry
Writing wasn’t just a form of expression. It was a form of pathology by embarking on spoken word over and over and over again and reciting my poems.
AMANDA GORMAN

Expression Myself Poem Word Writing
When you’re someone who’s lived a life where certain resources were scarce, you always feel like abundance is forbidden fruit.
AMANDA GORMAN

Life Live Yourself
As a young black woman, I notice at times in the mainstream media framing of the ‘me too’ movement you see a white female face or a white male face, and that type of questioning and interrogation needs to happen.
AMANDA GORMAN

Black Face Man Need White Woman Young

If a woman doesn’t give herself permission, who will?

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If a woman doesn’t give herself permission, who will?

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