When they tell you to go back to where you come from, tell them proudly that this is where you come from.
AMANDA GORMANWhen they tell you to go back to where you come from, tell them proudly that this is where you come from.
AMANDA GORMANIt 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.
AMANDA GORMANPoetry 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 GORMANI think it made me all that much stronger of a writer when you have to teach yourself how to say words from scratch.
AMANDA GORMANWe’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice.
AMANDA GORMANPoetry and language are often at the heartbeat of movements for change.
AMANDA GORMANWriting 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 GORMANThat’s kind of the challenging thing about writing an inaugural poem. You’re speaking to everyone, but you don’t also want to speak for everyone.
AMANDA GORMANI was writing since I can remember – I just didn’t know it was poetry yet, or that writing could be a career.
AMANDA GORMANI 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 GORMANYou don’t have to be a poet, you don’t have to be a politician or be in the White House to make an impact with your words. We all have this capacity to find solutions for the future.
AMANDA GORMANTruth is to act out of the best of ourselves.
AMANDA GORMANWhat 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 GORMANI try to approach reading in front of millions of people as I would reading in somebody’s living room.
AMANDA GORMANThe fight isn’t over – it’s just begun. It’s time to suit up for a battle that might determine the war.
AMANDA GORMANMy mom wanted to make sure I was prepared to grow up with Black skin in America.
AMANDA GORMAN