Voices from the fringe: We mourn and we bend

The event that jump-started my theme for this year’s National Poetry Month postings was watching the amazing and thrilling performance by Amanda Gorman at the inauguration of President Joe Biden. The 22-year-old in brilliant colors reciting “The Hill We Climb” completely stole the event.

Considering that Lady Gaga and J-Lo were also on the program, I gotta say that poets totally rule.

As with yesterday’s poet, I feel that Gorman’s work is more powerful when she speaks it, when she adds her literal voice to her poetic voice. She has a hip-hop vibe that benefits from the audience hearing and watching her—her hands, her face, her body all support the message. Poets like Gorman and Giles are more than writers, they’re performance artists.

See if you don’t agree with me as she recites “The Miracle of Morning”, as she tackles Life after COVID. This is the poem I need after a year of pandemic and four years of chaotic authoritarianism. It stuns me that such a young woman has such wisdom and such clarity of communication. But, man, she gives me hope.