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Fiction. Poetry. HTML:The instant #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller The breakout poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman Formerly titled The Hill We Climb and Other Poems, the luminous poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman captures a shipwrecked moment in time and transforms it into a lyric of hope and healing. In Call Us What We Carry, Gorman explores history, language, identity, and erasure through an imaginative and intimate collage. Harnessing the collective grief of a global pandemic, this beautifully designed volume features poems in many inventive styles and structures and shines a light on a moment of reckoning. Call Us What We Carry reveals that Gorman has become our messenger from the past, our voice for the future. .… (more)
User reviews
“It is east to harp,
“Even now handshakes and hugs are like gifts, something we are shocked to grant, be granted.”
She organizes her poems as if they played a part in a religious service or a piece of instrumental jazz. Contents include thematic sections like: Requiem, What a Piece of Wreck Is Man, Earth Eyes, Memoria, Atonement, Fury & Faith, and Resolution. Like any good poetess, she shows us our own souls, whether we are citizens of the world or citizens of America. These words contain potential to elevate our – your and my – collective rhetoric.
Each word is carefully chosen and dripping with meaning. She provides historical references to the American experience while reminding us that this American experience and aspiration is unfinished. She documents the recent pandemic while reminding us of pandemics past. She tells us of her “blackness” while reminding readers of their own uniqueness and our common humanity.
On January 20, 2021, Gorman read “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of Joe Biden to the US Presidency. That work closes this book. Just as when she read it in front of the Capitol, tears welled up in my eyes as I read it now. This entire collection is worthy of that performance and shows why Dr. Jill Biden recommended her to the inaugural committee to become the youngest person to recite an inaugural poem. Gorman’s words contain power to heal and to bring insight. Whether you are American or just a citizen of humanity, you ought to read them because they will inspire you.
Saying that I prefer to watch Gorman perform over reading these myself is almost a non-statement, in that the vast majority of poetry is better read aloud, but Gorman is
This is a worthy collection that continues to explore many of the themes from "The Hill We Climb." My favorite lines are closing of "The Unordinary World," near the end of the collection:
Who are we, if not
What we make of the dark.
Recommended for those needing some patriotic optimism that still engages with the difficult truths of this nation's history.
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811.6 |