AMANDA GORMAN

I begin early , mentally ready to seize the day with its  happy accidents and surprises.   Out walking with Amanda Gorman before 7.30 am on this  crisp  cool  morning.   My featured artist of the week.   Great choice.  I return dancing.   She has fired me up.  A buoyant spirit shot from the proverbial canon, thanks to the new FLOTUS ,  Jill Tracy Biden ( born June 3 , 1951 ) .   I love chance meetings and Amanda is definitely one of them.  
 
Amanda Gorman
Perky Piscean , born 7th March 1998 , Los Angeles California,
Poet laureate ** , at 22.
Studied at New Roads School, Santa Monica ,  from kindergarten to high school. Harvard her Alma Mater , pursued Sociology and Spanish. 
Youngest performer at a USA presidential inauguration
Self assured . Electrifying . Radiant . Charismatic , Inclusive.
Innate confidence. Sunny disposition. Crowd puller and involver.
Cutest speech impediment , rolls her R’s that often come out as W’s. I’m a sucker for speech nuances .
Her goal – to run for president in 2036.  She will be 38 years old when her dream comes true. 
C-Amanda-in-chief ? 
 
Raised by a single mom who banned television except for a couple of old 1950 programs.  They had to reason and justify why they wanted to watch something if they did. Her mom also scattered figurines of elephants in their home.  Elephants never forget. Elephants are matriarchal.  Joan Wicks, a 6th grade teacher , raised her two daughters alone.
 
What is it with speech impediments and hesitant orators , writers , performers ?  What is it with any challenge that is overcome and the treasures that surface after victory ?  No pressure -  no diamonds.   Amanda battles R’s  – like the wabbit in Bugs Bunny.    Joe Biden also overcame a stutter , as did James Earl Jones , Anthony Hopkins and a host of others.  What if they gave in to their limiting beliefs  ? To their speech ? to being raised alone ? to being black ?  to the death of a young wife , daughter and later a 45 year old son ?    What if they had chosen the path of self-pity ?  and self-effacement ?    
 
When Amanda writes and narrates , one is transported to another world.  She focusses on who the poem is for and the message she intends to convey.  She does not initially bother with the right words and meter and entertainment.   She is all about focus and specificity as a key to the success of  her task (as she says)   Vagueness achieves nothing solid.  I find small similarities between her recitation style and that of Rupi Kaur, though content is entirely different. Similar meter , drawl , repetition ?   Kaur more personal and relationship-oriented , Gorman largely political and country-oriented.   I love the currency and modernity of her writing , how close to home it all is.  The pictures she draws with her emphatic words and hidden rhymes.    I sit back , work out ,  walk and just enjoy the rhythm, the power and lull of her voice and quaintly synchronized passages. 
 
Yes , Amanda is lucky to have studied in Harvard , but Harvard , she says , is also lucky to have her.  She says that she says this without ego or pretentiousness.   Why should she understate and under-sell herself ? 
Amanda has a voice.
Amanda is a voice. 
Poetry is about politics .  It is about opinions . It is about taking a stand , and she would rather be opinionated and shot down , rather than an aimless bystander or fence-sitter.    ( A statement that hits a raw nerve with me – the diplomat , peace lover who stays clear of confrontation and hates to “offend” )
 
Amanda Gorman embodies confidence.  Confidence that she built like a muscle.   How many days and weeks and nights of grooming would have gone into the making of the articulate young lady reciting before us now?   Hope and inspiration to everyone out there facing a personal challenge, waiting for that hidden opportunity to show itself. 
 
Will I even be alive in 2036 to watch her fulfill her dreams and take the oath of office ?  I am so keen to follow the trajectory of her career.  A focussed young person who can make a difference, who can lead and influence for good.
 
Extracts from the inauguration poem “The Hill we Climb” that resonated with me.
“ quiet is not always peace”
“ what just is isn’t always just-ice”
“ a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished”
“ we lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another”
“ even as we grieved we grew , as we hurt we hoped”
“ the hill we climb if only we dare it”
“ while we have our eyes on the future , history has its eyes on us”
“ how can we possibly prevail over catastrophe ? now we assert – how can catastrophe possibly prevail over us ?”
“ we will not be turned out by intimidation”
“ if we merge mercy with might, and might with right , then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright”
“ there is always light , if only we are brave enough to see it, if only we are brave enough to be it”  
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** Definition of poet laureate. 1 : a poet honored for achievement. 2a : a poet appointed for life by an English sovereign as a member of the royal household and formerly expected to compose poems for court and national occasions.
www.merriam-webster.com
 

Amanda Gorman: Using your voice is a political choice | TED Talk

​Credit – Melissa Smitherman

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