Name: Amanda Gorman On Being A Young Poet & Advice From Oprah Winfrey | In So Many Words | Harper's BAZAAR
Uploaded: 2023-01-07T18:50:26.000Z
Duration: 8 min 53 s
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- Something that I learned as a young poet

is that there's no such thing as an aspiring writer.

If you write, you are doing the work, you're showing up.

And so in all technical terms, you've made it.

So every single time that I have the fortune

of being able to pick up a pen and write,

I know that I've arrived exactly at the spot I need to be.

and I'm on set for my cover shoot with Harper's BAZAAR.

It means a lot to me to be one of the icons for this issue.

I remember three or four years ago being at a dinner party

with now editor in chief of Harper's BAZAAR, Samira Nasr.

I would have the opportunity of seeing her again,

no one in that room really knew who I was.

And so feeling in the trajectory of looking up

and coming to terms with the fact that my art means so much

The word icon to me means someone who represents something

One icon from the past that I would've loved

to have had the privilege of meeting would be Maya Angelou,

and I just would've loved to have a conversation with her

I feel the most iconic when I feel the most like myself.

I will say some instances that really take me back

are when I see murals or drawings or artwork

about the person that's writing the poems,

Poetry has always been integral to my life,

although I didn't always know that's what it was called.

I remember being five or six years old and writing poems

but not knowing that there is actually a name

can actually be a career for me in my life.

so much as there was a time I realized I had a desire

and I was reading "Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury.

And I remember seeing his talent in that piece of art

and knowing instantaneously I wanted to work

so one day I, too, could harness the craft

but I think I have reached certain mountain tops

and locations where I felt like for the first time,

of the power that my poetry could have on people

and how that power could be used for social change.

But what it typically consists of is me sitting down

I like looking at archives, newspapers, interviews,

Then from that, I create a word cloud of,

what is all this information, history, data telling me?

I then try to create something that has reason,

but out of a deep, long heritage of African American writers

who have used both the written and spoken word tradition

So I look up to icons like James Baldwin,

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Amanda Gorman On Being A Young Poet & Advice From Oprah Winfrey | In So Many Words | Harper's BAZAAR

assume

privilege

iconic

realize