No one who saw President Joe Biden’s inauguration last January will forget inaugural poet Amanda Gorman. Striding confidently to the microphone at the U.S. Capitol, dressed in bright Prada yellow against the cold, her upswept hairdo crowned by a bold red headband, Gorman recited her poem “The Hill We Climb” with forthright diction and musicality. That musicality was accompanied by eloquent gestures, her hands keeping a steady beat yet adding varied emphases or sculptural air-arcs to underscore her poetic points and phrases.

Now Gorman, only the third Black inaugural speaker (after Maya Angelou and Elizabeth Alexander), has published her third best-selling book: first was a handsomely presented copy of “The Hill We Climb,” the second her uplifting children’s book Change Sings (with illustrator Loren Long). Call Us What We Carry is actually her second full collection, after 2015’s The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough. Quite a remarkable resume for a Harvard graduate (with honors), still only twenty-three years old, who’s already served as a National Youth Poet Laureate. While raised in Southern California by a single mother, Joan Wicks, Gorman has a Sacramento family connection: her proud grandmother, Bertha Gaffney Gorman, now retired, served as a reporter for the Sacramento Bee.

With Call Us What We Carry, Amanda Gorman confirms what many of us suspected after her inaugural reading: she is an authentic poetical genius. Call Us exhibits a many-layered, multi-media variety of poetic approaches, arranging strong visual presentations of line and stanza, evoking tactile sensations, yet always anchoring the poems upon rhythms and sonorities. These are quite speakable poems. But merely saying this does not do justice to her poetic individuality. What’s most remarkable is how Gorman sweeps up huge tracts of English and American poetical history in her verse. Her techniques include “shape” poems modeled after the seventeenth-century British poet George Herbert, as in “Essex I,” but the lines, arranged in the shape of a giant whale, are an homage to a sunken American whaling vessel (which inspired Melville’s Moby Dick). In its verses, “Essex I” distills the terrors of that ocean voyage to an extended metaphor on our imperiled and imperfect democracy.

Elsewhere, Gorman flexes her muscle and displays her eclecticism. Even the epigraphs she chooses (those little snippets of quotation whereby poets suggest what triggered a poem) are significant: Gorman is well acquainted with the work of Canadian poet and Greek scholar Anne Carson, whom she quotes on the connection between elegy (poems of loss) and history. Gorman’s alliterations (identical first letters of successive words) and rhymes, whether end-rhymes or internal rhymes, will evoke hip-hop for many listeners—a perfectly valid take—yet she may also be influenced by the Anglo-Saxon alliterative verses of Beowulf. She is undoubtedly shaped by such Black poetical ancestors as Lucille Clifton and Langston Hughes, especially Hughes’s moments of verbal jazz, yet the voice is Gorman’s throughout.

Gorman’s intellectual curiosity and flair for history inform a sequence of authentic diary excerpts by World War I soldier Roy Underwood Plummer, a corporal in a Black regiment of Army engineers. Typewritten entries on lined official notebook paper (photographed) by Plummer precede what must be superimposed verse lines by Gorman, crafted to mimic Plummer’s exact antique typeface. Here, too, Gorman’s command of multiple themes is on view: as elsewhere in the book, we learn about pandemics, and about flaws and failures in our democracy, including but not limited to systemic racism. So we read Corporal Plummer’s words on the 1918 Spanish influenza, juxtaposed with Gorman’s allusions to Covid-19:

[Plummer:] Date 1/20/19. Much colder. Epidemic, said to be the “Flu” raising sand with Co. “A”. Quite a number are sent to the Hospital.

[Gorman:] Gulps of our lives.

Gurgling from our treasured chests.

Going, going, gone.

Gestures like these tell us to look for other signs of Gorman’s presence: she is listed as co-designer of the book with Jim Hoover. She appends proper scholarly notes on borrowed phrases or other uses of source material, thus aligning her volume with culture-shaping predecessors like T.S. Eliot, who annotated his own The Waste Land. Like Eliot, she is staking a claim as “individual talent” engaged in altering the “tradition.”

Much of the book is properly concerned with the Black experience in America, but there is much else to ponder: like Walt Whitman, Gorman contains multitudes.

But in a capsule review like this one, we should hear directly from Amanda Gorman, in lines from her inaugural “The Hill We Climb,” and feel a surge of hope,

even the ghost of a millenary belief in a promised earthly paradise:

We lay down our arms

So that we can reach our arms out to one another.

We seek harm to none, and harmony for all.

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.

I feel certain that if Emerson had lived in our time and absorbed our modern context, he would say to Gorman, as he did say to Whitman, that this is one of the finest pieces of wit and wisdom our country has yet known.

Magnificently fluid and malleable applications of eclectic forms and approaches, with impressive polish and a flair for navigating deftly between the conversational vernacular, spoken word, slam traditions, and as ably tackling exalted verbiage demonstrating a particular talent for alliteration. The freshness of this incisive perspective from such an astute young voice gives the insights and reflections all the more impact, and instills serious encouragement about the generation rising up like a phoenix to hopefully improve upon this deplorable, imperfect society, environmentally ravaged world we unfortunately are delivering them. A sensational debut hopefully ushering in a long, rich and meaningful career ahead for this promising virtuoso! So many standout, unforgettable poems within, I think my personal favorite was "PLEASE". Normally I try to manage expectations, but admit had high hopes for this collection, and was not disappointed whatsoever. Buzz is completely deserved, highest recommendations!!

This review is less of a recapitulation of this work and more of a persuasive piece for you to buy and read it. Through her words, Gorman shows us what it means to be an American. Through her experiences – unabashedly black, unabashedly young, and unabashedly colored by the COVID pandemic – she weaves together a script that is unabashedly American and recalls moments in our history to point the way forward.

She organizes her poems as if they played a part in a religious service or a piece of instrumental jazz. Contents include thematic sections like: Requiem, What a Piece of Wreck Is Man, Earth Eyes, Memoria, Atonement, Fury & Faith, and Resolution. Like any good poetess, she shows us our own souls, whether we are citizens of the world or citizens of America. These words contain potential to elevate our – your and my – collective rhetoric.

Each word is carefully chosen and dripping with meaning. She provides historical references to the American experience while reminding us that this American experience and aspiration is unfinished. She documents the recent pandemic while reminding us of pandemics past. She tells us of her “blackness” while reminding readers of their own uniqueness and our common humanity.

On January 20, 2021, Gorman read “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of Joe Biden to the US Presidency. That work closes this book. Just as when she read it in front of the Capitol, tears welled up in my eyes as I read it now. This entire collection is worthy of that performance and shows why Dr. Jill Biden recommended her to the inaugural committee to become the youngest person to recite an inaugural poem. Gorman’s words contain power to heal and to bring insight. Whether you are American or just a citizen of humanity, you ought to read them because they will inspire you.

Amanda Gorman’s debut collection is a brilliant and smart compilation of pieces that speak to our time. Every word, phrasing, and the pacing matches the long drawn out struggle for harmony over the course of American history. Even the formatting and groupings are adept at encompassing the set and setting for a whole generation. I am grateful to know and have read this first collection of the current Poet Laureate. Someone who has memorialized precious moments so early in her prime.

This collection is heady in all the right ways and yet still accessible to anyone open enough to take a look. Gorman cleverly places references to broader discussions utilizing footnotes and similar to direct us to further reading that will only have you circling back again for another pass at the same poem. Each pass through unearths new meaning with additional contact provided by the outside reading. If this is what we get in her initial effort I cannot wait to see what comes next.

Most importantly, you should know that this is not a typical collection of poems. It’s a carefully put together retrospective, historical analysis, and time capsule. Amanda Gorman draws on various sources and her own beautiful creations to create a tapestry of what America is, has been, and could become. Key moments in America’s history are the brush strokes on the canvass of America’s promise. Too many brushstrokes are represented in blood, and not enough in hope.

If there are any words that capture the power of Amanda Gorman’s poetry collection, Call Us What We Carry, it is her own words in the poem, “Memorial”

“The poet transcends “telling” or “performing” a story &

instead remembers it, touches, tastes, traps its vastness.”

Less than a year after she stole the show at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration, Gorman released her long-awaited first collection. The poems eloquently capture what it has meant to be an American lately – particularly with all our reasons for grief. From the effects of the pandemic to the Black Lives Matter movement, she leads us through the last few years of trauma while carrying a light of hope.

In Good Grief, she highlights that our grief is evidence of a strengthening, writing in part:

“This means anguish can call us to envision

More than what we believed was carriable

Or even survivable.

This is to say, there does exist

A good grief.”

Gorman writes not just of recent days, but of history and the lessons we may or may not have learned, from slave ships to the Spanish flu epidemic, with historical references cited and inspirations noted. While she is young, she conveys deep wisdom that many who have lived long lives already may not have yet acquired.

We haven’t seen the last of Amanda Gorman. Brilliant poet!

"Call Us What We Carry" is a 4.5-star book. Several of the poems were excellent. "The Soldiers" used the memoirs of an African-American WWI soldier to form a foundation for a very touching poem. "Fury & Faith" was exceptional with its theme of African-American life in the face of White supremacy. "The Truth in One Nation" is probably my favorite in this collection. The poem conveys hopefulness but also an anger at present-day America. Gorman's inauguration poem, "The Hill We Climb" is included in this collection. All Americans should read it and watch the poet read it on YouTube. There weren't any real clinkers in this collection. "Monomyth" was interesting but not really a poem. "Coda in Code" didn't really do it for me. It seemed a bit contrived. Several of the poems were written during COVID and they reflect the frustration and sadness she experienced during that time. Highly recommended.

Gifted poet inspires.

I love the unique shape and presentation of these poems. There is a poem entitled "Essex". This poem is presented in the shape of a whale. This poem is about a fateful 19th century whaling ship and the death of many men. There is another poem entitled "America" in the shape of the American flag. "Fury and Faith" is another poem that stands out. This poem reminds me that I have a right to be angry. Anger will give me the energy I need to complete my goal or destination. I can have both fury and faith in my heart. "Every Day We Are Learning" is another poem I love. This poem implores me to enjoy the essence of the activities of daily life and not to indulge in material objects. The themes and the power of Amanda Gorman's word choice are the most enlightening aspects of this book.

I added three words to my vocabulary reading these poems. There is a poem entitled "Fugue". I didn't know the definition of this word before. I learned that a fugue is a loss of awareness or identity. I can certainly relate to the definition of this word because of my past failures. This poem is included in the group of poems grouped as requiem poems. I learned that a requiem is a poem of remembrance. There is a poem entitled "Augury or The Birds". I learned that an augur is a person in ancient Rome who determined the appropriateness of an action before it happened. The message of this poem is that the future is in my hands. I am inspired to write my own poetry again after learning how to use these three words. I love every aspect of "Call Us What We Carry" by Amanda Gorman.

Was how described with quick post very pleased.

Very bad print and paper quality.

From profound and insightful author, and spoken word artist Amanda Gorman, this is a book you will read and re-read.

A magnificent work. Worth reading it

Bought two copies for gifts, both really appreciated. Really great poetry.