Amanda Gorman Recited A New Poem Welcoming 2022 That’s Filled With Good Vibes
2022 is our year, y’all.
To say Amanda Gorman has a way with words would be an understatement. The activist and poet has delivered so many beautiful poems to the world in recent years, and she was even the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate. It’s an impressive feat for someone who has just barely entered her early 20’s, and she only continues to inspire with each poem she writes. Her latest is a beautiful ode to the year ahead as we welcome 2022, and it’s the inspo we all needed.
“So excited to release my latest poem, New Day’s Lyric, with a fundraiser for the IRC @RESCUEorg which is responding to COVID & humanitarian crises worldwide,” Gorman tweeted on Dec. 29. Her poem, which was accompanied by a video of herself reciting it, began with a message about healing.
The intro read, “May this be the day / We come together. Mourning, we come to mend / Withered, we come to weather / Torn, we come to tend / Battered, we come to better /Tethered by this year of yearning, We are learning.”
Gorman’s poem, which you can read in full here, also looked to the future with an optimistic lens. “This hope is our door, our portal,” she recited. “Even if we never get back to normal, someday we can venture beyond it, to leave the known and take the first steps.”
The 23-year-old directly references the New Year and its traditional song (“auld lang syne”) in her verse that’s a nod to taking what we’ve learned in 2021 into 2022: “We heed this old spirit / In a new day’s lyric / In our hearts, we hear it/ For auld lang syne, my dear/ For auld lang syne.” Finally, she ends the poem with a positive outlook and what can come from helping one another.
Her ending verse reads, “For wherever we come together / We will forever overcome.” OK, wow, I needed that.
The year in review was an epic one for Gorman, and she solidified her spot as one of the most respected poets of today. She became the first-ever poet to perform at the Super Bowl in February 2021, where she read “Chorus of the Captains” to a packed stadium. Other highlights on her not-so-casual list of accomplishments this year included an invite to speak at Joe Biden’s inauguration and a spot co-hosting the Met Gala.
It may be time to say goodbye to 2021, but after reading Gorman’s poem, you’ll be ready to welcome 2022 with open arms.
