Poet with an eye on the White House

POWERFUL Amanda Gorman

THE youngest poet ever to recite at a presidential inauguration, Amanda Gorman impressed the world with her powerful words and her poise.

The 22-year-old captivated the global audience as she read her show-stopping poem, The Hill We Climb.

And as her words made clear, the Youth Poet Laureate dreams of one day returning to Washington as president.

Poetry and politics are inseparable for Amanda, who was raised in Los Angeles with twin sister Gabrielle by their teacher mother, Joan Wicks.

At 16 she was inspired to become a United Nations youth delegate after hearing a speech by Nobel prize winner Malala Yousafzai in 2013.

A year later she published her first collection of poetry, The One for Whom Food is Not Enough, and became the first Los Angeles Youth Poet.

GOAL

In 2017, after becoming America’s first National Youth Poet Laureate, she said: “This is a faraway goal, but 2036 I am running for office to be president of the United States.”

She had to overcome a childhood speech impediment – just like Joe Biden, who struggled with a severe stammer in his youth.

She also suffers from an auditory processing disorder and is hypersensitive to sound.

Invited by First Lady Jill Biden to recite at Wednesday’s inauguration, she struggled at first to find the right words, but was inspired when pro-trump protestors stormed the Capitol building on January 6.

She said: “I really wanted to use my words to be a point of unity and collaboration and togetherness. I think it’s about a new chapter in the US, about the future, and doing that through the elegance and beauty of words.”

The yellow jacket and oversize red hairband she wore for the occasion, both from Prada, have since sold out.