Literary star Amanda Gorman, who captivated the country with an impassioned poem at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, is gracing the cover of Time magazine’s latest issue — a special “Black Renaissance” edition that also features a conversation between the young poet and Michelle Obama.
The 22-year-old National Youth Poet Laureate, who appears on the cover wearing a stunning yellow dress and a crown headband, talked about her inaugural poem, her love for poetry and the importance of art in the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Poetry and language are often at the heartbeat of movements for change,” Gorman told the former first lady in a virtual chat.
“If we look to the Black Lives Matter protests, you see banners that say, ‘They buried us but they didn’t know we were seeds,’ that’s poetry being marshaled to speak of racial justice,” she said. “If you analyze Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, it’s a great document of rhetoric that’s also a great document of poetry, of imagery, of song. Never underestimate the power of art as the language of the people.”
Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, went viral last month with her fiery delivery of “The Hill We Climb,” the poem about unity and reconciliation that she finished after a mob of violent Donald Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Interest in the Los Angeles-born writer has continued to grow since the inauguration. Two books and a poetry collection that she’s scheduled to release later this year are already Amazon bestsellers, and the NFL invited her to recite another original poem at the Super Bowl last weekend.
The Feb. 5 Time issue honors Black History Month and the expansion of Black culture across the nation. It was guest edited by author and activist Ibram X. Kendi.
The cover photo was captured by conceptual artist Awol Erizku, who described the image as a “very timely portrait.” A second photo featured inside the magazine shows Gorman holding a birdcage, a reference to the birdcage ring she wore at the inauguration, which was a gift from Oprah Winfrey.
Gorman said she was “honored” to be on the cover for a Black Renaissance edition.
“It’s truly humbling, because I don’t see myself as a singular anomaly, but as a part of a larger creative movement that puts Black life at the center of our art,” she told “CBS This Morning.”
Obama, who was sitting just feet away from Gorman at the inauguration, said she was “profoundly moved” by her performance.
“The power of your words blew me away — but it was more than that,” said Obama, who already met Gorman twice before, but in smaller events.
“It was your presence onstage, the confidence you exuded as a young Black woman helping to turn the page to a more hopeful chapter in American leadership,” she said. “I have to say I felt proud too; you’ve always had so much poise and grace, but seeing you address the whole country like that, I couldn’t help thinking to myself: Well, this girl has grown all the way up.”
