Using Your Voice is a Political Choice

For anyone who believes poetry is stuffy or elitist, National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman has some characteristically well-chosen words.

TedX talk by Amanda Gorman, 2019.

According to Amanda Gorman, poetry is for everyone, because at its core it’s all about connection and collaboration. In this fierce TedX Talk, Amanda explains why poetry is inherently political (in the best way!), she pays homage to her honorary ancestors, and she stresses the value of speaking out despite your fears. “Poetry has never been the language of barriers, it’s always been the language of bridges.”

Amanda Gorman captured the world’s attention when she recited her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20. While Gorman seemed confident on stage, she later admitted in her February 2021 interview with Time magazine that she gets “so terrified” when she performs. Of course, the 22-year-old poet has a special way to combat her nerves. Amanda Gorman’s inspirational mantra is actually so relatable, and it’s truly comforting.

“I really wanted something that I could repeat because I get so terrified whenever I perform,” she told Obama. She said the mantra is inspired by a song from the movie Moana where the lead character recites her lineage and family history to inspire herself to courage and action. The song lyrics read, “I am the daughter of the village chief / We are descended from voyagers/ Who found their way across the world / They call me.”

Gorman was inspired by those words to create her own mantra: “I’m the daughter of Black writers who are descended from Freedom Fighters who broke their chains and changed the world. They call me.” Gorman repeats this inspiring phrase before a performance to remind herself that her ancestors are all around her whenever she’s on stage.

Gorman’s mantra is especially inspiring for Black and brown communities in America, who have a long history of combating the hardship of diaspora by connecting with their ancestors in a spiritual way. In “The Hill We Climb,” Gorman mentioned being “descended from slaves.” This line, she revealed to Obama, was actually inspired by the former first lady’s speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, during which she stated, “I wake up in a house that was built by slaves.”

“Whenever I’m writing, I’m looking at the history of words,” Gorman said, noting how language has been continually “violated and used to dehumanize.” When writing the inaugural poem, she asked herself: “How can I reclaim English so we can see it as a source of hope, purification, and consciousness?”

In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Gorman described the vision behind her inaugural poem, which underlined marching on toward unity, hope and healing amid a damaged and divided nation. “Hope isn’t something that we ask of others, it’s something that we have to demand from ourselves.”