At 18, Amanda Gorman made history when she was named the nation’s inaugural Youth Poet Laureate in 2017, a post that she felt had been a lifetime in the making. For Gorman, who published her first collection of poetry at 16, this literary honor afforded her a big open door — and a world stage.
“I’d been waiting for this moment to be able to connect with the youth around the country and to have a position where I could both be an activist in a community role, but also a writer.” In the years since completing that year-long post, Gorman continues to do all that. While a college student, she was commissioned to write a poem for Harvard President Larry Bacow’s inauguration.
Now 22, the sociology major, honor student and accomplished poet will graduate in May from Harvard University. But just as she was about to make her much anticipated glide into the finish line of her senior year, Harvard sent her and thousands of its students packing due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“It was March 11, a day that will live in infamy,” says Gorman of the day that her campus shuttered and the threat of the coronavirus suddenly felt frightening and big. Gorman is now in her native Los Angeles with her mother, sisters and miniature poodle, sheltering in place, writing, planting an indoor garden and studying for final exams. She returned from campus to a city that’s now a hotspot for the COVID-19 outbreak. Outside, across Los Angeles, infection and death from the coronavirus continue to take an uneven toll, especially on those who are Black.
Last week, though, Gorman used her gift of voice and lyricism to speak to a nation, reeling from a pandemic, about hope, love and courage. She performed “The Miracle of Morning,” what she considers her most important poem, for “CBS This Morning” at the Los Angeles Central Public Library.
As this year’s National Poetry Month comes to a close, Diverse spoke with Gorman about crafting her latest poem during a crisis, her writing life and what the future holds for the young woman who’s been heralded as “the next great figure in American poetry.”
For many writers, the writing process necessitates a kind of isolation and solitude. Does the presence of the pandemic and this unprecedented crisis impact the writing process for you?
