NEW YORK (AP) – Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old poet who rocked America at the inauguration of President Joe Biden last month, was once again in the spotlight at one of the nation’s biggest stages, the Super Bowl.
Gorman read an original poem on Sunday at the pregame festivities in Tampa, Florida. The poem, entitled “Chorus of the Captains,” paid tribute to three people for their contributions during the pandemic: educator Trimaine Davis, nursing manager Suzie Dorner, and Navy veteran James Martin.
Gorman did not perform on the field but did appear a recorded video message that combined Gorman’s lecture with images of Davis, Dorner and Martin. Recited Gorman:
Let’s walk with these warriors,
Carry on with these champions,
And carry out the call of our captains.
We celebrate them by acting,
With courage and compassion,
By doing what is right and right.
While we honor them today,
They are the ones who honor us every day. “
Gorman’s bringing poetry to the Super Bowl was an almost unimaginable collision of grace and glitter. But if the Super Bowl, an annual outrageous ritual, was an unlikely platform for a poet, it showed how much Gorman has grabbed the nation’s attention since its inauguration.
Formerly the country’s first National Youth Poet Laureate, Gorman was the youngest person ever to recite a poem at the inauguration of the US President. Her reading of ‘The Hill We Climb’ on the Capitol became an instant sensation. An illustrated book of her poem quickly zoomed to the top of bestseller lists. Shortly after the inauguration, she signed with IMG Models, an agency representing supermodels, tennis star Naomi Osaka and playwright Jeremy O. Harris. This week she covers Time Magazine, in an interview with Michelle Obama.
Gorman’s performance in the Super Bowl was scheduled before the inauguration. She seemed to understand the improbability of her pre-game reading, the first in Super Bowl history. And with potentially 100 million viewers on the CBS broadcast, it ensured a very well-attended poetry recital.
“Poetry in the Super Bowl is an achievement for the art and for our country because it means thinking imaginatively about human connection, even when we feel in silence,” Gorman said on Twitter on Sunday. “I will honor three heroes who are the best of this effort. Here’s to them, for poetry and for a Super Bowl like no other. “