WATCH: Amanda Gorman debuts new poem 'An Ode We Owe' addressing hunger, poverty and illiteracy
By Jonathan Landrum Jr. // Interviews // EEW Magazine Online
LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Amanda Gorman was invited to read a newly developed poem at the U.N. General Assembly, the young sensation took a deep look at how several societal issues — such as hunger and poverty — have impacted Earth’s preservation.
Just like her stirring inauguration poem last year, Gorman felt compelled to express the impact of unity through her poetic words on the opening day of the 77th session Monday in New York. The 24-year-old poet created “An Ode We Owe” in hopes of bringing all nations together to tackle various issues of disparity along with preserving the planet.
“What I hope people can garner from the poem is that while issues of hunger and poverty and illiteracy can feel Goliath and are so huge, it’s not necessarily that these issues are too large to be conquered. But they’re too large to be stepped away from,” she said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press.
Gorman once again found herself at center stage in front of world leaders. Her fame exploded after she recited her poem “The Hill We Climb” at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, which made her the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. Her poem quickly topped bestsellers lists and made her one of the most in-demand poets, putting her on other big stages like the Super Bowl and in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.
With that success has come a loss of privacy—something she is trying to adjust to. “I’m still learning and growing so much. I think one of the things that changed so much for me was just privacy. All of a sudden I became someone — which I never really necessarily expected — who gets recognized on the street. If I go to a restaurant, even if I’m wearing a mask, people are very good at spotting my face and or my voice. I’m very grateful for that type of visibility, even though sometimes I do miss individual privacy because it means that I have a platform that I can use for good,” she said.
When speaking about her future aspirations she explained, “I’m just living and enriching my life with the understanding of ‘Wow, girl you are a weapon of cultural and poetic power. Here’s where you decide what to do with it.’ Whether that follows a specific table that’s explicit for the presidency or whether it’s one that’s a bit more unorthodox and nontraditional than we’ve seen, I think remains to be seen.”
Watch Gorman’s recite, “An Ode We Owe,” first read to the U.N. General Assembly below.
