My mom wanted to make sure I was prepared to grow up with Black skin in America.
AMANDA GORMANWhenever I listen to songs, I rewrite them in my head.
More Amanda Gorman Quotes
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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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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.
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As a public poet, people often don’t see the reality of my life.
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Let each dawn find us courageous, brought closer, heeding the lights before the fight is over.
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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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If a woman doesn’t give herself permission, who will?
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Truth is to act out of the best of ourselves.
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I am the daughter of Black writers who are descended from Freedom Fighters who broke their chains and changed the world. They call me.
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Give us the ballot, and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights.
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Poetry has never been the language of barriers, it’s always been the language of bridges.
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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.
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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.
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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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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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Poetry and language are often at the heartbeat of movements for change.
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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.
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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 close my eyes and I am with this army of young women standing in a line and I imagine us walking forward together.
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What a day. What a life. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you
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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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The fight isn’t over – it’s just begun. It’s time to suit up for a battle that might determine the war.
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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.
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Poetry is the lens we use to interrogate the history we stand on and the future we stand for.
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That’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.
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It wasn’t until I was named Youth Poet Laureate of L.A. in high school though that I officially began calling myself a poet. I just always loved writing, period.
AMANDA GORMAN