Poet Amanda Gorman, 22, will read at Biden inaugural

NEW YORK (AP) — At 22, poet Amanda Gorman, chosen to read at inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, already has a history of writing for official occasions.

"I have kind of stumbled upon this genre. It's been something I find a lot of emotional reward in, writing something I can make people feel touched by, even if it's just for a night," says Gorman. Los Angeles resident has written for everything from a July 4 celebration featuring Boston Pops Orchestra to inauguration at Harvard University, her alma mater, of school president Larry Bacow.

When she reads next Wednesday, she will be continuing a tradition — for Democratic presidents — that includes such celebrated poets as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou. latter's “On Pulse of Morning," written for 1993 inauguration of President Bill Clinton, went on to sell more than 1 million copies when published in book form. Recent readers include poets Elizabeth Alexander and Richard Blanco, both of whom Gorman has been in touch with.

“ three of us are toger in mind, body and spirit,” she says.

Gorman is youngest inaugural poet in memory, and she has made news before. In 2014, she was named first Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, and three years later she became country's first National Youth Poet Laureate. She has appeared on MTV; written a tribute to Black athletes for Nike; published her first book, “ One for Whom Food Is t Eugh,” as a teenr, and has a two-book deal with Viking Children's Books. first work, picture book “Change Sings," comes out later this year.

Gorman says she was contacted late last month by Biden inaugural committee. She has kwn numerous public figures, including former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former first lady Michelle Obama, but says she will be meeting Bidens for first time. Bidens, apparently, have been aware of her: Gorman says inaugural officials told her she had been recommended by incoming first lady, Jill Biden.

She is calling her inaugural poem “ Hill We Climb” while orwise declining to preview any lines. Gorman says she was t given specific instructions on what to write, but was encourd to emphasize unity and hope over “denigrating anyone” or declaring “ding, dong, witch is dead" over departure of President Donald Trump.

siege last week of U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to overturn election was a challenge for keeping a positive tone, but also an inspiration. Gorman says that she has been given 5 minutes to read, and before what she described during an interview as “ Confederate insurrection” of Jan. 6 she had only written about 3 1-2 minutes worth.

final length runs to about 6 minutes.

“That day gave me a second wave of energy to finish poem,” says Gorman, adding that she will t refer directly to Jan. 6, but will “touch" upon it. She said last week's events did t upend poem she had been working on because y didn't surprise her.

“ poem isn't blind,” she says. "It isn't turning your back to evidence of discord and division."

In or writings, Gorman has hored her ancestors, ackwledged and reveled in her own vulnerability ("Glorious in my fragmentation," she has written) and confronted social issues. Her poem “In This Place (An American Lyric),” written for 2017 inaugural reading of U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, condemns racist march in Charlottesville, Virginia ( “tiki torches string a ring of flame”) and holds up her art form as a force for democracy:

____

Tyrants fear poet.

w that we kw it

we can’t blow it.

We owe it

to show it

t slow it