African-American poet Amanda Gorman causes a stir at Biden's inauguration
Poet Amanda Gorman at Joe Biden's swearing-in ceremony in Washington on January 20.
REUTERS - POOL
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Dressed in yellow, her head capped with a red crown, young African-American poet Amanda Gorman captivated audiences Wednesday during Joe Biden's investiture ceremony, with her verses calling for the unity of the United States.
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Only 22 years old, the young woman from Los Angeles recited a poem of her composition, "The hill we climb", a reference to Capitol Hill, where supporters of Donald Trump have invaded the seat of Congress on January 6.
Her text, which she wrote in one fell swoop after this murderous assault, evokes “
a force that will break our Nation, rather than share it
.” “
This effort has almost succeeded / but if democracy can be delayed at times , it cannot be permanently deleted
”.
In a calm voice, she chanted her rhymes, accompanying them with graceful movements, not letting a stuttering pierce that, like Joe Biden, affected her in her childhood.
And who also pushed her to write, to compensate.
The poet described herself as "
a skinny black girl, descended from slaves, raised by a single mother
," who finds herself "
reciting
" before a president.
A child prodigy, she won her first poetry award at age 16, and was crowned the country's "best young poet" three years later, while studying sociology at prestigious Harvard University.
Before her, five other poets, including Robert Frost and Maya Angelou, attended the investiture ceremonies of US presidents, but none were so young.
According to the American press, his name was whispered to the organizers of the ceremony by Jill Biden, the wife of the 46th president, who had attended one of his readings.
Their order, placed in December: that she write an ode to “United America”, echoing the Democrat's speech.
His text bends to it, without denying the challenges of the present.
“
We are going to turn this wounded world into another, wonderful one.
""
There is always light if we are brave enough to see it.
If only we were brave enough to be
.
"
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