When day comes we ask ourselves,

where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

Amanda Gorman is a 22 year old poet. For being so young, Gorman has many accomplishments. When she was 16, she was the first National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States. She also had the honor of being the youngest person to recite poetry at a presidential inauguration. 

When Gorman received the call that she was going to be reading, she said she wasn’t given any guidelines other than that the theme was “America United.” She wrote the poem to express how even though there are many issues currently in America, there can and will be change eventually. She highlighted how as these changes come, we will be united again. Throughout the poem, Gorman wrote about how America isn’t broken, but “unfinished”. 

And yet the dawn is ours, before we knew it

Somehow we do it

Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed

a nation that isn’t broken, 

but simply unfinished

We are striving to forge a union with purpose

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and

conditions of man

She wrote a little bit each day, and still wasn’t finished when riots broke out at the Capitol. She managed to include lines addressing the issue:

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation

rather than share it

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy

And this effort very nearly succeeded

But while democracy can be periodically delayed

it can never be permanently defeated

The Hill We Climb also represents her personal story. She has worked on her poetry since she was young, and she has overcome a speech impediment. She graduated from Harvard, where she said she sees herself running for president.

Gorman plans to run as soon as she is eligible, which will be 2036. If she wins the election, she would break new records. If she wins the 2036 election, she would be the youngest person sworn into office at 38 years old. Currently, the youngest president sworn in was John F. Kennedy, who was 43. Gorman would also be the first woman and woman of color to be president. 

We the successors of a country and a time

Where a skinny Black girl

descended from slaves and raised by a single mother

can dream of becoming president

only to find herself reciting for one

Gorman has already done so many amazing things, and her career is just taking off. She will definitely have a story to tell when she’s older. Inspiring many young girls, the future is very bright.

For there is always light,

if only we’re brave enough to see it

If only we’re brave enough to be it