The Hill We Climb

Well, I'm a shell of a person now. The one thing that I think people should try is to read this book with have a physical copy wail listening to to audio. With the book there are some really interesting ways that the poems are layout that you would miss just listening to the audio. A few examples, there is a poem written on an image of a mask, there is another poem shaded into a whale, and a poem that starts on a black page and keeps getting lighter as you read on. However, if you just read the physical copy you loose the rhythm of the poems. Amanda Gorman does reads the audio book. Though if for some reason that you rather just pick audio OR physical, I would defiantly have to choose the audio.

There's no doubt about it Amanda can write, and beautifully. I really wish there weren't so many definitions in there though, like it was every 3 poems and I w as like PLEASE. Also I understand saying where the words are from if you're using them from someone else, but that was also like every 3 poems please I just want no context and to just appreciate your beautiful writing here Amanda. Also Reading that this came out in 2021 not later in 2022 like I thought makes me less annoyed at the abundance of pandemic poems, because there were too many for me even if they were well written I just found myself getting worn down.

Exploring a variety of issues such as racism, climate change, and living through the early days of the pandemic, this book of poetry is a difficult but beautiful read. Gorman captures the mounting frustration that came with something that should be uniting us ultimately dividing us further, as well as the power of hope and perseverance and words. I was going to quote all of my favorite lines, but that would be approximately 80% of the book, so here's a random one:

It's said that ignorance is bliss.
Ignorance is this: a vine that
sneaks up a tree, killing not by
poison, but by blocking out its
light.

“Erasure demands a lifetime of rehearsal. Do you really understand what it is to be this disposable body. We recognize the sobs now for the flags they were. The jerk of our heads, as if waking from a dream–or a nightmare. You decide. This is not the nation we built, at most not the nation we've known. Know. Oh, no. This is the nation we've sewn. It is our right to weep for the wound we've always been. A silent shock out of the blue: a hand hung to another or a head pillowed by a shoulder is by far worth more than anything we've won or wanted. When told we can't make a difference, we'll still make a sound.”


“Last year we stepped onto an elevator.
We politely asked the white lady behind us
If she could please take the next lift
To continue social distancing.
Her face flared up like a cross in the night.
Are you kidding me? she yelled,
Like we'd just declared
Elevators for us only
Or Yous must enter from the back
Or No yous or dogs allowed
Or We have the right to refuse
Humanity to anyone

Why it's so perturbing for privileged groups to follow
restrictions of place & person-hood.
Doing so means for once wearing the chains their power
has shackled on the rest of us.

It is to surrender the one difference that kept them separate & thus superior.

Meanwhile, for generations we've stayed home, [segre] gated,
kept out of parks,
kept out of playgrounds,
kept out of pools,
kept out of public spaces,
kept out of outside spaces,
kept out of outer space,
kept out of movie theaters,
kept out of malls,
kept out of restrooms,
kept out of restaurants,
kept out of taxis,
kept out of buses,
kept out of beaches,
kept out of ballot boxes,
kept out of office,
kept out of the army,
kept out of the hospitals,
kept out of hotels,
kept out of clubs,
kept out of jobs,
kept out of schools,
kept out of sports,
kept out of streets,
kept out of water,
kept out of land,
kept out of
kept in
kept from
kept behind
kept below
kept down
kept without life.

Some were asked to walk a fraction / of our exclusion for a year & it almost destroyed all they thought they were. Yet here we are. Still walking, still kept. To be kept to the edges of existence is the inheritance of the marginalized.”

― Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry

I picked this book at the library because its blue cover fitted my Spring Challenge. I didn't know she was the poet who read at Biden's presidential inauguration. The poems are all about Covid, the suffering, the separation. To me, it goes overboard, maybe because it hasn't be as bad as it has been for this author. Read 1/3 and dnf. No interest in reading about something that is still happening.

Read and reviewed: 2022-05-16

I fell in love with Amanda Gorman's poetry when she spoke at President Bidens' inauguration and have been following her since. When I heard that she was releasing a book I was excited to get my hands on it.
I was not disappointed. This poetry collection is incredible. It covers love, loss, the pandemic, and the insurrection. It is at points hopeful, and at others angry. I was stunned after reading the poem titled ‘Survey' as the inspiration behind it is so shocking.
All in all, Amanda Gorman has created a wonder, lyrical, and brutally honest collection of poetry that I would recommend anyone interested in society in America, or the perspective of young people of color should read.

Such a beautiful book of poetry. Amanda has perfectly captured the nuances of what we have been facing these past years and I believe that this volume will be something people study one hundred years from now when they are learning about our time. I really enjoyed reading it.

Two of my favorite excerpts from this collection:

“It's said that ignorance in bliss.
Ignorance is this: a vine that
sneaks up a tree, killing not by
poison, but by blocking out its
light.”

“Strength is separate from survival.
What endures isn't always what escapes
& what is withered can still withstand.”

It's good! Not one of my favourites because I don't care that much about politics in the US, but it's nice to have read it.

The chills I got when hearing Amanda Gorman read this live was...unreal. I felt like she wrote a poem that spoke directly to me and to the heart of Americans (especially the younger generation who has to continue to build on the ruins we've been given) I felt strength I thought I didn't have for the first time in a long time.

Def. will seek to buy this book when I see an opportunity.

Every bit as impactful and necessary now as it was when I first heard it read to the nation - to the world.
The power, the purpose, and the message of the words still resonates, half a world away, and bears as much meaning for us here in Aotearoa / New Zealand as it does for its own audience.

With a foreword by Oprah Winfrey, this is a great book to spend time with for National Poetry Month (April 2021). Gorman's poem is sure to be studied in classrooms of the future as a moment of when the country chose to go one way or the other. Her words are powerful, with subtle allusions to popular culture and events, in a way that represents our time. A great read and definitely a good add to a home library.