There is an old political saying: you campaign in poetry and you govern in prose.
That took on a more literal meaning Wednesday night when Amanda Gorman, the closest thing this country has to a famous poet, took the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The former youth poet laureate from Los Angeles, who now holds that position nationally, wrote a poem for the occasion. Gorman, 26, gained widespread attention in 2021, when she became the youngest inaugural poet in the nation’s history and read “The Hill We Climb” at President Biden’s inauguration.
His most recent poem, “A Fight for Our Freedoms,” is about “a race to test whether this country / that we hold dear will disappear from this Earth, / and whether our Earth will disappear from this country.”
Gorman did not make a speech, but merely read the poem, her recitation interrupted at times by applause.
The poem attempts to reclaim words like “freedom,” “liberty,” and “patriot,” part of a vision of pluralism and empathy, rather than the “America First” message promulgated by former President Trump.
An excerpt:
We redeem this sacred scene, ready for our journey from it.
Together we must give birth to this first republic.
And reach a supernatural summit.
Let's not just believe in the American dream
Let us be worthy of it.
Gorman takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
