Call Us What We Carry | Amanda Gorman

Revviewed by her 10 December 2021

Including the inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb” Gormans debut collection truly encapsulates the grief we as a world have endured not only through the pandemic but through lifetimes of racism and greed, of violence and selfishness. But, as Gorman writes,

There is always light

If only we are brave enough to be it

This collection, her words, wonderfully and succinctly give a voice to the horrors of the pandemic and the fear and death we have endured. I think this will become a journal of our time, Amandas voice articulating the COVID pandemic in a way we can interpret and understand - my favourite “in the deep” commentates

“We swam through the news

Like a ship bucking at sea.

For a year our television

Was a lighthouse blinking

Only in warning & never in warmth…

….

Until

When

Back to normal

We repeat, an incantation

To summon the Before”

In her call for understanding, for unity in our collective grief and recognition of our history Gorman brings a remarkable tenderness and profound voice the world

through her literary prose and I for one embarked

on her journey, wiping tears from eyes and feeling hope in my heart.

A stunning collection of poetry by a very talented young woman. 5⭐️ a sincere thanks to penguin for the gifted copy.