UPSIZE PH | Poet Amanda Gorman makes history with 'A Hill We Climb'

Jan 21

Jan 21 Poet Amanda Gorman makes history with 'A Hill We Climb'

This isn't the first time that Amanda Gorman is making history. In 2017, she was named the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States when she wasn't even 20 years old.

Gorman joined great poets Robert Frost, Elizabeth Alexander and Maya Angelou in the annals of US inaugural history.

In her inaugural poem titled "The Hill We Climb," Gorman spoke of unity and reconciliation.

"We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be. A country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free," said the 22-year-old Gorman.

The poem has been described as "both hopeful and realistic."

"And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it.

Somehow, we do it.

Somehow, we’ve weathered and witnessed

A nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished."

In a previous interview, Gorman, who has a speech impediment, said she practiced by reading the poem over and over.

In her poem, she described herself as a "skinny Black girl, descended from slaves and raised by a single mother."

Gorman read her poem on the steps of the US Capitol clad in Prada, with her yellow double-breasted coat (now sold out) and red satin headband catching the eye of fashion watchers. Under the yellow coat, Gorman wore a white shirt and black pencil skirt.

Gorman lives in Los Angeles.

On her Instagram stories, Gorman shared photos of herself with former Presidents Barack Obama and his wife, lawyer and author Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State and US Senator Hillary Clinton.