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Meet the young poet who stole the show at President Joe Biden's inauguration

By Bong Godinez
Published January 21, 2021 5:05 PM PHT

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Amanda Gorman


Amanda Gorman is the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate.

The inauguration of new United States of America President Joseph "Joe" Biden Jr. turned in a new leaf in American politics after four years of the Donald Trump administration.

The star of the moment, of course, is the 78-year-old Biden who officially became the country's 46th president, and 15th former vice-president to ascend to the role.

However, a young poet named Amanda Gorman stole the show with words that captured the weight of the current political climate, yet spoke of so much hope.

The poem, The Hill We Climb, was written by Amanda and has generated widespread admiration from people who watched the inauguration.

Amanda was not the first poet to grace an inauguration of an elected American president.

Others who came before her were Maya Angelou, Robert Frost, Elizabeth Alexander, and Richard Blanco.

But at 22, she became the youngest person to recite a poem during such an event.

Reports said that First Lady, Jill Biden, personally invited the young wordsmith to attend the historic occasion.

The poem that she wrote and read took shape in the aftermath of the violent Capitol riot that took place last January 6, where Trump supporters stormed Congress to halt the declaration of Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris's election victory.

Part of Amanda's poem reads:

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew.
That even as we hurt, we hoped.
That even as we tired, we tried.
That we'll forever be tied together, victorious.
Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division…
The new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
If only we're brave enough to see it.
If only we're brave enough to be it.

A native of Los Angeles, California, Amanda is the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate in the US.

Her works revolve around the issues of feminism, race, oppression, marginalization, and the African diaspora.

She's already a published poet after her book containing a collection of her poems titled, The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough, was released in 2015.

Interestingly, Amanda publicly said in 2017 that she wants to run as US president in 2036.

“When can we vote for Amanda Gorman,” a person named Lauren Bassett wrote on Twitter after seeing the inauguration.

Amanda's dream didn't sound too far-fetched after all.