Hill We Climb

I am not normally one to read poetry, but this is exceptional.

It is beautiful, hopeful, strong, and honest.

The hope and faith Gorman shows through her writing makes reading it all the more painful, as we look at the state of the US and how we treat everyone domestically and abroad.

Call Us What We Carry is a poetry collection with emphases on the pandemic and BLM movement. I enjoyed a great deal of the poems and appreciated the historical facts and statistics. My only criticism is that the collection went on far too long. After a while, the pieces repeated themselves with little to no added value. I would have preferred this much more if it had been half the length.

Here are my two favorite quotes:
"We mourn the past more than we miss it." - from "In the Deep"
"What endures isn't always what escapes/& what is withered can still withstand." - from "Cordage, or Atonement"

I enjoyed reading this but preferred the delivery and emotion of the inaugural reading more.

This poem seems to have made Amanda Gorman into a household name overnight, and she absolutely deserves it. What an incredibly talented writer - we are blessed by her words.