There were so many moments during yesterday’s inauguration which gave me goosebumps and made me tear up a lot. The moment when Kamala Harris took the oath of office, the first woman (and woman of color) to hold national office in America. The moment when President Biden took his oath of office, about 12 minutes before noon, and knowing that we were finally done with the Trump era. The moment when Vice President Harris saluted the men and women in uniform and walked into her offices in the Old Executive Office Building. And the moment when a young woman, only 22 years old, stood at the dais in a bright yellow coat and recited the poem she had written following the January 6th insurrection just two weeks before.
The young woman was Amanda Gorman, the Youth Poet Laureate, and a resident of Los Angeles. Gorman’s yellow ensemble was Prada. She wore Nikos Koulis’ Energy jewelry gifted to her by Oprah Winfrey, with a Of Rare Origin birdcage ring in honor of Maya Angelou. Gorman recited her poem, “The Hill We Climb” to an enraptured audience in person and watching at home.
I’ve watched her recitation/performance a few times and it keeps getting better and better. What do you love the most? I love the acknowledgement that we are not okay but we will be okay, that we have to keep working because none of this is over. “And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it/Somehow we do it/Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed/a nation that isn’t broken/but simply unfinished.” “A country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free.” You can read the full poem here.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious
Not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division
— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) January 20, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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