Amanda Gorman Quotes

The slain fueled the lamps of a world latched to nights, our whole century brightened by blood.

Sometimes, we must call our monster out from under the bed to see he/she/it carries our face.

Who are we, if not What we make of the dark.

Poetry is 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.” Inaugural poet
@TheAmandaGorman

Some distances, if allowed to grow,
Are merely the greatest proximities.

Just like a skill or any art, We cannot possess hope without practicing it. It is the most fundamental craft we demand of ourselves.

That even as we grieved, we grew,
That even as we hurt, we hoped,
That even as we tired, we tried.

And the norms and notions of what “just is”
Isn’t always justice.

Non-being, i.e., distance from society — social distance — is the very heritage of the oppressed. Which means to the oppressor, social distance is a humiliation. It is to be something less than free, or worse, someone less-than-white.

For what does the Karen carry but her dwindling power, dying & desperate? Dangerous & dangling like a gun hung from a tongue?

We ignite not in the light, but in lack thereof, For it is in loss that we truly learn to love. In this chaos, we will discover clarity. In suffering, we must find solidarity.

When asking how others were faring
We did not expect an honest or full response.
What words can answer how we're remaining alive?

The only way to correctly predict The future is to pave it, Is to brave it. The breakage is where we begin. The rupture is for remembering.

Perhaps to burn is the most basic
Purification there is.
Time said: You must transform to survive.
We said: Not over our dead body.
What can we call a country that destroys
Itself just because it can?
A nation that would char
Rather than change?
Our only word for this is
Home.

Who are we, if not
what we make of the dark

I hum with a hundred hearts,
Each of us lifting a hand.

I use my strengths and my smarts,
Take a knee to make a stand.