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Poetry and language are often at the heartbeat of movements for change.

Amanda Gorman

I try to approach reading in front of millions of people as I would reading in somebody’s living room.
AMANDA GORMAN

Myself People Performance Reading
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.
AMANDA GORMAN

Ability Art Ideas Poet Poetry Reality Thinking Weapon
I grew up at this incredibly odd intersection in Los Angeles, where it felt like the black ‘hood met black elegance met white gentrification met Latin culture met wetlands.
AMANDA GORMAN

Feeling Growth Myself Place
I was writing since I can remember – I just didn’t know it was poetry yet, or that writing could be a career.
AMANDA GORMAN

Career Myself Poetry Remember Writing
I am my own best mirror.
AMANDA GORMAN

Instagram Captions Myself One Liner Self Love
Through poetry we shall catch the conscience of a nation.
AMANDA GORMAN

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

Future History Poetry
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
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 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.
AMANDA GORMAN

Greatness Learning Poetry Sound Strength Thinking Understand Weakness Yourself
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
The fight isn’t over – it’s just begun. It’s time to suit up for a battle that might determine the war.
AMANDA GORMAN

Battle Beginning Determination Fight Time War
Give us the ballot, and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights.
AMANDA GORMAN

Control Government Ourselves Politics Right Worry
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.
AMANDA GORMAN

Black Establishment Girl Myself Success
To hone my voice, I read everything, from books to cereal boxes, three times: once for fun, the second time to learn something new about the writing craft, and the third time was to improve that piece.
AMANDA GORMAN

Books Improvement Learning Myself Pieces Reading Time Voice Writing
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice.
AMANDA GORMAN

Justice Learning Peace Quiet
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.
AMANDA GORMAN

Career Moments Myself Oneself Reward Story Voice Writing
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.
AMANDA GORMAN

Cry Each Other End Hug Kind Myself
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
When they tell you to go back to where you come from, tell them proudly that this is where you come from.
AMANDA GORMAN

Born Proud Yourself
One of my delays was in speech and speech pronunciation, and also the auditory processing issue just means I really struggle as an auditory learner.
AMANDA GORMAN

Issues Learning Myself Oneself Struggle
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
My mom wanted to make sure I was prepared to grow up with Black skin in America.
AMANDA GORMAN

Black Grow Up Mom Myself Preparation Skin
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
The oration of poetry, I consider to be its own art form and tradition.
AMANDA GORMAN

Art Myself Poetry
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

Poetry and language are often at the heartbeat of movements for change.

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Poetry and language are often at the heartbeat of movements for change.

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Popular Authors

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