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The youngest inaugural poet ever set the perfect tone with ‘The Hill We Climb’

Oonagh Keating. Updated January 20th, 2021

As she was sworn in as the first US vice-president to be female, black and of South-Asian ancestry, Kamala Harris made history, but the record breaking didn’t stop with her.

The country’s first National Youth Poet Laureate, 22-year-old Amanda Gorman read her own poem, The Hill We Climb, to become the youngest inaugural poet by far.

At almost six minutes, it’s a fairly long watch – but it doesn’t feel that way.

These are some of the very poignant lines from her perfectly pitched work.

“We’ve braved the belly of the beast. We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace.”

“We seek harm to none and harmony for all.”

“We’ve seen a forest that would shatter our nation rather than share it. Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. This effort very nearly succeeded.”

Most movingly, perhaps, this very personal statement.

“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.“

It probably comes as no surprise that Amanda finished writing the poem on the day Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol, as the imagery of that assault appears so powerfully within her words.

The world watched, and people had these warm words for her performance.

Writer, Omid Scobie, was spot on with this assessment.

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