One of Amanda Gormans most celebrated foremothers, Gwendolyn Brooks, said that poetry is life distilled.
Two months prior, we were both appearing on theTodayshow.
Of course, we did what our Black mothers taught us and said hello.
First there was a nod of acknowledgment, then proper introductions.
But as it turned out, she had been thinking of me.
They werent just preaching the gospel, they were rousing a community to action.
I think those things influenced my poetry and then even other aspects beyond it.
Gorman does everything with intention.
Even the way she holds her hands during a performance is choreographed.
It wasnt enough to just rely on my orality.
I had to siphon other instruments.
Photographed by Djeneba Aduayom.
Fashion stylist: Shibon Kennedy.
Hair: LaRae Burress.
Makeup: Joanna Simkin.
Manicure: Yoko Sakakura.
Set design: Evan Jourden.
But when the camera cuts off, there is a shyness there.
When we sit down for our interview, I feel I am spending time with the latter person.
When Gorman recounts her childhood, it sounds like a page torn fromLittle Women.
Why am I reading Herman Melville and not James Baldwin?
Both are representative of the human experience, one just happens to be Black.
Something that reflected what I knew to be true and represented the community I come from.
Why cant that voice of a generation come from someone who looks like me?
But this is an interview not a poem, and she abandons the search for perfect phrasing.
And when I do it, its called vanity.
Im not necessarily doing it to just hear myself or convert oxygen into carbon dioxide.
Im doing it because I want to make a difference that goes beyond myself.
Im like, yes, I have the right to be angry.
Why cant that voice of a people, a generation, come from someone who looks like me?
If anything, as a Black woman, I feel like that makes me the most hopeful.
I think a lot of fingers get pointed at Gen Z, she says.
That necessitates a long attention span.
It also necessitates, I think, empathy and understanding as a human being.
And where is the frivolity in that?
On each page ofCall Us What We Carry, you might see a balance between empathy and playfulness.
And she educates her reader as much as she entertains.
For me, its not enough to write lines that sound pretty.
The greatest challenge in my writing is doing all of that while bringing some deeper historical resonance with it.
In some way, everything Gorman does has deep roots that she acknowledges even putting on makeup.
[It] makes your features a lot more apparent to a watcher who might feel distant.
Hours before rolling up to the Capitol that day, Gorman applied highlighter and berry lip color herself.
It was nerve-racking, she recalls.
When I first engaged with makeup, it was from the idea of personality How does this represent me?
and also just, like, artistry and creativity.
But on Inauguration Day, her Prada coat andvertically styled braidswere also there to make a point.
The braids, too, were a powerful statement, Gorman says.
Everything about me, even my hair, my body, and my spirit is about defying gravity.
She was also honoring a tradition.
Thinking about the Civil Rights Movement, they marched in their Sunday best, she says.
People were getting arrested and beaten with their hair done, with their clothes pressed, with makeup on.
So I really tried to honor that.
I know I have been watching her rise with more than a little bit of fear.
Historically, the world has been a dangerous place for outspoken Black women.
Theres something really captivating about sci-fi.
So I have to ask: Does she feel safe being spotlighted as a beacon of hope in America?
Do I feel safe?
Especially given the violence that we see on a daily basis, both psychological and physical.
I try not to be controlled by my fear, but informed by it.
Its a first-of-its-kind partnership that will have Gorman doing much more than modeling makeup.
I didnt want to be constrained into the boilerplate ambassadorial relationship.
Im more than just a face.
Power that pays itself forward.
She has hope that her actions will change the world for the better.
Knowing this, it doesnt surprise me that music fromThe AvengersandStar Trekare on Gormans shoot-day playlist.
The music soars as she poses in sculptural Schiaparelli earrings.
Somehow that fits well with Gormans own ethos.
It isnt What if?
Its really thinking about what could be.
Dries Van Noten bra.
Jasmin Sparrow and Page Sargisson rings.
