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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
This is such a stunning collection of poems. It's delicately crafted into sections that entwine past and present, hope and hurt, current events and diaries from a century ago. There is lots of focus on race in America and how Black people live in a society built on racism. This coincides with the COVID pandemic, a topic that is retold through poems that reflect on the 1918 Spanish Influenza.
Considering today's political climate and the general sense of doom and unease we're all feeling, I think this is a book every should be required to read. If you're seeing this, then it's a sign for you to pick up a copy and let each word sink into you.
Considering today's political climate and the general sense of doom and unease we're all feeling, I think this is a book every should be required to read. If you're seeing this, then it's a sign for you to pick up a copy and let each word sink into you.
This is the only book I’ve read by Amanda Gorman but I’ve loved her public speaking. Her poetry is beautiful and interesting and the format of this printed book contained lots of artistic touches—I’m not sure if an electronic version of her book would carry that through. Some poems were as visually striking as they were literary…if that makes sense. Most of these relate to that dystopian stretch of time when we were paralyzed by COVID but also mobilized by protests against racial injustice—and two years after publication it was interesting to return to that headspace.
I don’t often read a book of poems. But this book is a gem. Defiantly a zeitgeist of 2020. I wonder how these poems may have changed or grown more, since the pandemic is still not over.
Amanda’s words wash over you like a relentless wave. Hard and raw, but with a cadence and insight all her own. A triumph, capturing and contextualizing the pandemic years, and looking before and beyond to what might come next.
I did not mean to read this in one sitting…but I think it will prove hard to not.
I did not mean to read this in one sitting…but I think it will prove hard to not.
This is not my usual genre so it took some getting used to. Poems are a bit harder for me as I enjoy hearing them read to see what words are emphasized to understand them the way the author wants to convey them. This collection of poems is incredibly thought provoking and drew out plenty of emotions. She speaks about race, gun violence, the pandemic, government and so much more. While this was published in late 2021 many of the poems I read felt like they could also be in response to the newest SCOTUS decision. My favorite section was the erasure section where she took letters and speeches that are already out there and removed portions while still trying to convey the meaning. There were also some poems that were structured differently as to help visualize things (like the capitol building) -- a really cool concept
emotional
inspiring
reflective
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Really torn because she uses thoughtful imagery, beautiful language, and extremely clever structure to the book. However I think most of the time her language hinders her meaning, like you’re solving a puzzle, and since I lived through these things, she also tends to focus on the grand, overstating, so it becomes disconnected with my lived experience. I tend to prefer poetry focusing on smaller details. What do you expect from a laureate, though, I guess?
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
All of Gorman’s poems are expertly crafted. Some play with form, some are the compositions of excited youth. Most were of an incomparable wisdom that sits beyond time and age. “Call Us What We Carry” displays a mighty intellect spilling over with a verve to share with the world her compassion, insight and utterly unique way of weaving the liminal threads of our collective experience into a gorgeous tapestry; showing how we might reconcile the past as we try to grasp the future.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced