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Alexandra Huynh of Sacramento, California is the nation's new youth poet laureate. The 18-year-old's appointment was announced Thursday night in a virtual ceremony hosted by Urban Word and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Here & Now learned more about the four laureate finalists on Thursday, and now has more about Huynh and her future plans.

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Nation's New Youth Poet Laureate On The Power Of Poetry: 'I'm Able To Process Darker Emotions'

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Alexandra Huynh of Sacramento, California is the nation's new youth poet laureate. The 18-year-old's appointment was announced Thursday night in a virtual ceremony hosted by Urban Word and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Here & Now learned more about the four laureate finalists on Thursday, and now has more about Huynh and her future plans.

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NEW YORK (AP) - An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate. Alexandra Huynh, 18, is a second-generation Vietnamese American from Sacramento, California, who sees poetry both as a means to self-expression and social justice.

She was selected from among four regional finalists for a position first held by Amanda Gorman, who read at President Joe Biden's inauguration. Huynh will serve for one year, working with arts organizations around the country.

"We are so very proud of Alexandra. Her words, poise, and brilliance speak to the heart of what our nation needs to hear right now," Michael Cirelli, founder of the youth laureate program, said Thursday. "Each of our finalists represents their best of poetry in their regions and the national community of young leaders in the literary arts. They will each continue to inspire audiences and readers of all ages with their words and art. We congratulate Alexandra and each finalist for their hard work and achievements."

Established in 2017, the national youth poet laureate program is an initiative of the literary arts and development organization Urban Word.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Political Cartoons

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Alexandra Huynh, 18, Is the New National Youth Poet Laureate | New York News | US News

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NEW YORK (AP) - An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate. Alexandra Huynh, 18, is a second-generation Vietnamese American from Sacramento, California, who sees poetry both as a means to self-expression and social justice.

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NEW YORK (AP) - An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate.

Alexandra Huynh, 18, is a second-generation Vietnamese American from Sacramento, California, who sees poetry both as a means to self-expression and social justice.

"I spend a lot of time in my head, so poetry is for me a sort of survival mechanism," Huynh said Thursday night during a telephone interview from her home. "I wouldn't be able to move through the world with the same amount of clarity had I not worked it out first on the page."

Her appointment to a one-year term was announced Thursday during a virtual ceremony presented by the Kennedy Center and by the literary arts and development organization Urban Word, which established the national youth laureate program in 2017. In her new position, she will visit with students and hold workshops around the country. She counts among her goals passing on her own experiences to others.

Huynh was selected from among four regional finalists for a position first held by Amanda Gorman, who became an international celebrity in January after reading at President Joe Biden's inauguration and for Huynh became an inspiration.

"Her trajectory has changed what I thought was possible for a poet," she says, noting that Gorman has appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine and read at this year's Super Bowl. "She has encouraged me to dream big."

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Alexandra Huynh, 18, is the new National Youth Poet Laureate

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NEW YORK (AP) - An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate. Alexandra Huynh, 18, is a second-generation Vietnamese American from Sacramento, California, who sees poetry both as a means to self-expression and social justice.

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The following guest post was written by 2020 National Youth Poet Laureate Meera Dasgupta, who just finished her year-long laureateship.

This year has been unprecedented to say the least. In many ways, I have watched the world renew countless times-where issues made themselves known, I have also seen the resiliency of my fellow humans and countless young people worldwide. From police brutality came the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement across the globe. In the midst of a pandemic, stronger bonds were formed between families and their surrounding communities. For every obstacle came a generation filled with sustainable solutions, ready to paint the world anew.

Despite being the current United States Youth Poet Laureate, I wasn't sure what to write at first. How do you explain a year's work-a year that had many more tribulations and triumphs than I have ever known-onto the page? Despite this, I arrived at a realization: you don't. You cannot write about an experience without being inclusive of those who you have experienced every single day with.

Though I was able to perform for the United Nations countless times, in addition to the Ford Foundation, Rotary International, and many others, the most valuable lessons I have learned have come from the very communities which I, myself, had started. I will always remember the feeling of cooking lunch for my family right before zoom meetings; I will remember the sound of silent laughter as the people on my computer chuckle at my dad-adjacent jokes. In a decade, I know that I will still recall the night that my spoken word family from Urban Word NYC rehearsed poems on zoom until 2 in the morning. From the affirmations in the chat box to the fire emojis lighting up my screen, they made me sure that the people who I met during my tenure as a laureate are those who I will continue to call upon for life.

My advice to all of you-educators and students, local changemakers and future presidents, artists and researchers-is to not only set a goal for the future, but to relish the moments that you have together within the present moment. Use your privilege to uplift those beside you so that we, together, do not have to build new ladders. Rather we, united, can become one.

To cement a few other names here, those other than myself, who are also empowering their communities, I would like to uplift:

Urban Word NYC and the current National Poet Laureate Regional Finalists (Alexandra Huynh, Alora Young, Faye Harrison, and Serena Yang), The Climate Museum, The Human Impacts Institute, Powerplay NYC, Girl Be Heard, Dr. Camea Davis, Shanelle Gabriel, Dustin Liu, Marley Dias, Nupol Kiazolu, Shreya Ramachandran, Deja Foxx, and Jamie Margolin, amongst many others.

These are but a few of the millions of people working every day to cultivate an equitable future for all. Whether through small kindnesses, providing for one's family, and/or tackling larger issues, your work is needed. This letter is a time capsule of my thoughts; so, on May 13, 2021, let it be said that I see you. I hear you. I appreciate all you do for the good of us.

Because there is good in all of us. I believe this to be true, as in all of us is a need to survive and our survival is dependent now, and forever, on each other. We have sowed the seeds of tomorrow. Now it is time to water them so that as global citizens, it is on this inherited soil that we can someday flourish.

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A Letter to All Present and Future Artivists

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The following guest post was written by 2020 National Youth Poet Laureate Meera Dasgupta , who just finished her year-long laureateship. This year has been unprecedented to say the least. In many ways, I have watched the world renew countless times-where issues made themselves known, I have also seen the resiliency of my fellow humans and countless young people worldwide.

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Alexandra Huynh, the 18-year-old Sacramento poet recently named the National Youth Poet Laureate, said that she hopes to use her position to create change and inspire others to use their own voice. Huynh, who is a second-generation Vietnamese American, described having felt shy in class and afraid to speak out while growing up. "I always had opinions about things but I never felt brave enough to share them. And at some point, I think that I felt like I was going to explode. So I turned to songwriting to kind of explain how I was feeling," she said. She started writing songs in fifth grade to express her feelings and had a life-changing moment after sharing her work with her class."I remember I shared it with my class for a creative group project and everyone loved it," she said. "I made a promise to myself that I would keep speaking up even when it was hard because someone had to hear exactly what I was saying." Huynh sees poetry as a means of self-expression and also a platform to advance social justice. | Video below | Sacramento native and National Youth Poet Laureate Alexandra Huynh recites poemsAs the new poet laureate, she hopes to create change by getting people out of their comfort zone to face some hard truths. "You can tell someone that something is wrong but unless you can take them through the thought process and the feeling that comes up when these injustices happen, it is hard to make it stick with them," Huynh said. Huynh, a Mira Loma High School graduate who will be an incoming first-year student at Stanford, said she was inspired by another young poet with Sacramento ties. | Video below | Amanda Gorman reads poem at President Biden's inaugurationShe said that seeing Amanda Gorman's rise "completely changed what I thought was possible for poetry.""She showed me that poetry can be a performance at the Super Bowl. It can hold a national audience's attention and really demand that people see with their hearts," Huynh said. Asked what she would say to another shy girl in class who might be afraid to speak up, Huynh said that it took her a long time to be comfortable speaking her truth. "Remember that speaking up is a muscle and the more you practice it the easier it is going to get," she said. "But whether or not your voice is loud, whether or not your voice is shaking, your words matter because they are unique to you and you are able to tell your story in a way that no one else can."

Alexandra Huynh, the 18-year-old Sacramento poet recently named the National Youth Poet Laureate, said that she hopes to use her position to create change and inspire others to use their own voice.

Huynh, who is a second-generation Vietnamese American, described having felt shy in class and afraid to speak out while growing up.

"I always had opinions about things but I never felt brave enough to share them. And at some point, I think that I felt like I was going to explode. So I turned to songwriting to kind of explain how I was feeling," she said.

She started writing songs in fifth grade to express her feelings and had a life-changing moment after sharing her work with her class.

"I remember I shared it with my class for a creative group project and everyone loved it," she said. "I made a promise to myself that I would keep speaking up even when it was hard because someone had to hear exactly what I was saying."

Huynh sees poetry as a means of self-expression and also a platform to advance social justice.
| Video below | Sacramento native and National Youth Poet Laureate Alexandra Huynh recites poems
As the new poet laureate, she hopes to create change by getting people out of their comfort zone to face some hard truths.

"You can tell someone that something is wrong but unless you can take them through the thought process and the feeling that comes up when these injustices happen, it is hard to make it stick with them," Huynh said.

Huynh, a Mira Loma High School graduate who will be an incoming first-year student at Stanford, said she was inspired by another young poet with Sacramento ties.
| Video below | Amanda Gorman reads poem at President Biden's inauguration
She said that seeing Amanda Gorman's rise "completely changed what I thought was possible for poetry."

"She showed me that poetry can be a performance at the Super Bowl. It can hold a national audience's attention and really demand that people see with their hearts," Huynh said.

Asked what she would say to another shy girl in class who might be afraid to speak up, Huynh said that it took her a long time to be comfortable speaking her truth.

"Remember that speaking up is a muscle and the more you practice it the easier it is going to get," she said. "But whether or not your voice is loud, whether or not your voice is shaking, your words matter because they are unique to you and you are able to tell your story in a way that no one else can."

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Sacramento's Alexandra Huynh on impact she hopes to make as National Youth Poet Laureate

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Alexandra Huynh says that "whether or not your voice is loud, whether or not your voice is shaking, your words matter because they are unique to you and you're able to tell your story in a way that no one else can."

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Alexandra Huynh, an 18-year old poet from Sacramento, was named the new National Youth Poet Laureate on Thursday.

The poetry of Huynh, a Mira Loma High School graduate and Sacramento native whose passions include youth empowerment, climate action and creative writing, was described by officials as "a tool of self-reclamation and social justice for marginalized communities."

Since Thursday's announcement, Huynh said she's been "swimming in a pool of gratitude" from the outpouring of support from friends, family and community members. In an interview Friday afternoon, she said she hopes her writing will inspire others to look to poetry as a way to "process emotions and create change in communities."

Huynh, who is a second generation Vietnamese American, previously told The Sacramento Bee that poetry was a means empowering her to take ownership of her cultural identity, beating back the normative narratives around the South East Asian community.

"It does feel a lot of the times that to be a Vietnamese American is to live a contradictory truth," Huynh said Friday. "And what I mean by that is that I am constantly balancing two identities, and they can exist in parallel."

The former Western Regional Ambassador and Sacramento Youth Poet Co-Laureate said poetry provides "a really wonderful space to try to explore" questions of identity and belonging.

"You can warp time, and you can build in silence, and not feel like you always have to be saying something as coherently as you would if you were to write it in essay form, for example," she added. "That's what allows us to paint ourselves as human on a page, as opposed to something that is supposed to be digestible product."

Her senior year was cut short because of the pandemic, and has since taken a gap year that has allowed her to reflect on herself, and reignite her love for poetry again.

"What makes me happy? What's enough for me? What do I want out of this lifetime? The pandemic provided me with a lot of reflection space to get some clarity on those questions," she said. "But I think, importantly, for my poetry journey, it gave me so much reading time. ... I realized that I cannot write from an empty well."

Poems she wrote last summer wove together feelings of loneliness and grief stemming raging wildfires in California, deadly floods in Vietnam, and a devastating global pandemic. In one poem, titled "It Does Not Matter Any Longer Where You Live" and performed Thursday, Huynh wrote:

"It just struck me as so tragic that we were having these tremendously devastating natural disasters happening on other opposite sides of the world, but they're being caused by fundamentally the same thing - climate change," she said. "We are not paying attention to the ways in which our planet is asking for help."

Huynh, an alum of the Sacramento Area Youth Speaks, is the fifth National Youth Poet Laureate, which is presented by New York-based youth literary arts and youth development organization Urban Word.

The position gained national attention after Amanda Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate, stunned the country with her deeply affecting performance at the presidential inauguration this year. (Gorman's grandmother, Bertha Gorman, is a Sacramento resident and former Bee reporter.)

As Poet Laureate, Huynh will participate in a number of performances through May 2022, but she said she's most excited about getting into school classrooms and connecting with students about the joys of poetry.

Huynh is heading to Stanford University this fall, and will focus her studies on civil or chemical engineering. She said she knows that may seem unconventional, given her poetry work, but she said she wants to "push myself to problem solve and think in a way I've never had to before."

"I think it's fascinating how the environment that we build can really shape the lives that we lead," she said. "And I want to take part in building a world, a physical world, that creates more connection, and that is more equitable and sustainable."

The full National Youth Poet Laureate ceremony, including all the poems read by finalists, can be viewed here.

Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks covers equity issues in the Sacramento region. She's previously worked at The New York Times and NPR, and is a former Bee intern. She graduated from UC Berkeley, where she was the managing editor of The Daily Californian. Support my work with a digital subscription

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Sacramento teen Alexandra Huynh named National Youth Poet Laureate

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Alexandra Huynh, an 18-year old poet from Sacramento, was named the new National Youth Poet Laureate on Thursday. The poetry of Huynh, a Mira Loma High School graduate and Sacramento native whose passions include youth empowerment, climate action and creative writing, was described by officials as "a tool of self-reclamation and social justice for marginalized communities."

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NEW YORK - An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate.

Alexandra Huynh, 18, is a second-generation Vietnamese American from Sacramento, California, who sees poetry both as a means to self-expression and social justice.

"I spend a lot of time in my head, so poetry is for me a sort of survival mechanism," Huynh said Thursday night during a telephone interview from her home. "I wouldn't be able to move through the world with the same amount of clarity had I not worked it out first on the page."

Her appointment to a one-year term was announced Thursday during a virtual ceremony presented by the Kennedy Center and by the literary arts and development organization Urban Word, which established the national youth laureate program in 2017. In her new position, she will visit with students and hold workshops around the country. She counts among her goals passing on her own experiences to others.
Poetry: Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in US history, calls for unity on Inauguration Day
Huynh was selected from among four regional finalists for a position previously held by Amanda Gorman, who became an international celebrity in January after reading at President Joe Biden's inauguration and for Huynh became an inspiration.

"Her trajectory has changed what I thought was possible for a poet," she says, noting that Gorman has appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine and read at this year's Super Bowl. "She has encouraged me to dream big."

Huynh says she has been writing song lyrics since age 7 and became serious about poetry in high school, especially after performing during a local poetry slam and sensing the added power of words when said out loud. She cites Ocean Vuong and Diana Khoi Nguyen as among her favorite writers, and she hopes to eventually publish her own work and see it translated into Vietnamese, her "mother tongue."

"Vietnamese itself is a very poetic language," she said. "In Vietnamese culture, poems are spoken every day. They're pop culture references. For me, having poetry in my life never felt like I was going against the grain."
Amanda Gorman's inauguration poem: Read the full text of 'The Hill We Climb'
Words are so natural to her that in college she plans to study engineering instead of literature because she doesn't need a classroom to encourage her to read. At Stanford, she hopes to challenge herself to think in ways she hasn't before and work out ideas "across disciplines."

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Alexandra Huynh, 18, is the new National Youth Poet Laureate

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NEW YORK - An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate. Alexandra Huynh, 18, is a second-generation Vietnamese American from Sacramento, California, who sees poetry both as a means to self-expression and social justice.

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Alexandra Huynh is the new National Youth Poet Laureate

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Alexandra Huynh is the new National Youth Poet Laureate

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NEW YORK (AP) - An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate.

Alexandra Huynh, 18, is a second-generation Vietnamese American from Sacramento, California, who sees poetry both as a means to self-expression and social justice.

"I spend a lot of time in my head, so poetry is for me a sort of survival mechanism," Huynh said Thursday night during a telephone interview from her home. "I wouldn't be able to move through the world with the same amount of clarity had I not worked it out first on the page."

Her appointment to a one-year term was announced Thursday during a virtual ceremony presented by the Kennedy Center and by the literary arts and development organization Urban Word, which established the national youth laureate program in 2017. In her new position, she will visit with students and hold workshops around the country. She counts among her goals passing on her own experiences to others.

Huynh was selected from among four regional finalists for a position first held by Amanda Gorman, who became an international celebrity in January after reading at President Joe Biden's inauguration and for Huynh became an inspiration.

"Her trajectory has changed what I thought was possible for a poet," she says, noting that Gorman has appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine and read at this year's Super Bowl. "She has encouraged me to dream big."

Huynh says she has been writing song lyrics since age 7 and became serious about poetry in high school, especially after performing during a local poetry slam and sensing the added power of words when said out loud. She cites Ocean Vuong and Diana Khoi Nguyen as among her favorite writers, and she hopes to eventually publish her own work and see it translated into Vietnamese, her "mother tongue."

"Vietnamese itself is a very poetic language," she said. "In Vietnamese culture, poems are spoken every day. They're pop culture references. For me, having poetry in my life never felt like I was going against the grain."

Words are so natural to her that in college she plans to study engineering instead of literature because she doesn't need a classroom to encourage her to read. At Stanford, she hopes to challenge herself to think in ways she hasn't before and work out ideas "across disciplines."

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Alexandra Huynh, 18, is the new National Youth Poet Laureate

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NEW YORK (AP) - An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate. Alexandra Huynh, 18, is a second-generation Vietnamese American from Sacramento, California, who sees poetry both as a means to self-expression and social justice.

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An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate.

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An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate.

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An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate

NEW YORK -- An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate.

Alexandra Huynh, 18, is a second-generation Vietnamese American from Sacramento, California, who sees poetry both as a means to self-expression and social justice.

"I spend a lot of time in my head, so poetry is for me a sort of survival mechanism," Huynh said Thursday night during a telephone interview from her home. "I wouldn't be able to move through the world with the same amount of clarity had I not worked it out first on the page."

Her appointment to a one-year term was announced Thursday during a virtual ceremony presented by the Kennedy Center and by the literary arts and development organization Urban Word, which established the national youth laureate program in 2017. In her new position, she will visit with students and hold workshops around the country. She counts among her goals passing on her own experiences to others.

Huynh was selected from among four regional finalists for a position first held by Amanda Gorman, who became an international celebrity in January after reading at President Joe Biden's inauguration and for Huynh became an inspiration.

"Her trajectory has changed what I thought was possible for a poet," she says, noting that Gorman has appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine and read at this year's Super Bowl. "She has encouraged me to dream big."

Huynh says she has been writing song lyrics since age 7 and became serious about poetry in high school, especially after performing during a local poetry slam and sensing the added power of words when said out loud. She cites Ocean Vuong and Diana Khoi Nguyen as among her favorite writers, and she hopes to eventually publish her own work and see it translated into Vietnamese, her "mother tongue."

"Vietnamese itself is a very poetic language," she said. "In Vietnamese culture, poems are spoken every day. They're pop culture references. For me, having poetry in my life never felt like I was going against the grain."

Words are so natural to her that in college she plans to study engineering instead of literature because she doesn't need a classroom to encourage her to read. At Stanford, she hopes to challenge herself to think in ways she hasn't before and work out ideas "across disciplines."

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Alexandra Huynh, 18, is the new National Youth Poet Laureate

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An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate NEW YORK -- An incoming first-year student at Stanford University has been named the new National Youth Poet Laureate. Alexandra Huynh, 18, is a second-generation Vietnamese American from Sacramento, California, who sees poetry both as a means to self-expression and social justice.

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Youth laureates share their‘Poetry of the Pandemic’

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Youth laureates share their‘Poetry of the Pandemic’

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(Vikki Zhang for The Washington Post)
April 28, 2021
Three up-and-coming spoken-word poets helped judge this year's KidsPost poetry contest. Alexandra Huynh, Alora Young and Serena Yang started writing poetry in elementary school and are finalists for the 2021 National Youth Poet Laureate, who will be announced in May. They each shared a recent poem they have written.

Click the arrow button next to each poem to hear the poets read their work.

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FOLKTALE

Serena Yang is the New York City Youth Poet Laureate. The 19-year-old says she remembers spending a lot of time writing in second grade, shortly after moving to the United States from Singapore and starting to learn English as a second language. Much later, she realized what she had written was poetry.

(noun.) a story circulated among a people by word of mouth,

sometimes passed down from parents to their children,

often considered to be false or based in superstition.

in every version of this story,
my people have a poor memory.
i. CORRECTION
my people trade memories like tongues, worthless until cut out. better the tongue than the teeth, or the throat, or our stomachs. i have never seen my grandmother's tongue, but every night her teeth float in a little cup on the sink, pretending to be bone. before 1899, millions of oracle bones were ground into dust and swallowed as medicine. then we learned of how they once told the future, and so we stopped eating our ghosts.
ii. MODERN DAY RETELLING
my chinese teacher keeps asking me if i remember. if i remember this word that means history or poem, the hour or a room. careful how you hold your tongue, or time collapses into just the space between four walls, or you hear a poem once and it becomes your ancestor. the moral of this story: my grandmother's teeth will survive her, but tongues are less bloodless. example: a white man with a phd in asian studies keeps asking me where i'm from so he can tell me the name of every chinese city he's ever been to. these men always have perfect memories, and so he says: once i spent three weeks in shanghai. twice, i spent two days in wuhan. i bet i've been to more chinese cities than you have, girl with a chinese name, a chinese face.
but these are not the only things i've inherited

from my people: my people have a poor memory.

my dad, who likes to start all his stories with

i remember, who never knew how to remember

without lying -- his favorite story is the one

where he meets my mother for the first time: in wuhan,

when they were five. in shanghai. beijing. wuhan again,

but this time they were seven and it was still summer.

iii. THE TRUTH
chang jiang meets the eastern sea just outside my mother's childhood home in shanghai, and in the west it floods xishui every summer, the dirt floor of yeye's old house growing damp beneath my dad's feet, the ground soft enough to hold the memory of his body for just a minute. the truth is my dad learned to swim by not drowning, and this is how he really met my mother, and what is memory but a second chance? some branches of my family tree end in nothing. and you may have a perfect memory but chang jiang means long river and water never forgets anything it touches.
in one version of this story,

i am born without a tongue.

in another,

my mom gives it away for a pound of white rice and a green card.

in another, you bleach my tongue, then ask me to make your language

beautiful. and so i cut it out myself. ask me again, where i'm from.

i'll tell you i'm a shapeshifter. poet-liar. truth-teller story-teller.

myth-weaving legend-breathing living folk tale.

& what is a folk tale but an oracle bone that survived fire

by splitting itself in the shape of the future?

& what is a poet but the last witness to the fire?

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ADVICE POEM

Alora Young is the Nashville, Tennessee, Youth Poet Laureate. The 17-year-old remembers writing her first poem at age 7 about being upset at her family's move from New Jersey to Nashville. She says her poems have always been written to be performed.

To every

Body

In America

That is young

and melinated I

Lay before you

Some advice.

From 25 black women,

who have survived this fight.
Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't be More often than not, foundations set you free Love yourself, love recklessly Forget the naysayers, do what makes you happy Don't be afraid you use your voice When god hands you a gift, take it. Do not be conquered by self-doubt Too many people don't want you to make it Find confidence inside yourself Don't you dare let fear shake it. Stay true to who you are Get yourself an education Don't depend on anybody else to lift you above your station In this world, you must observe, because some set out to harm you Be safe, and be a child, change comes so fast it will alarm you You have all you need to make it god has given you your tools Don't change to be like the crowd Don't ever become cruel You are everything you're meant to be I promise. You're enough. Don't let creepy old men steal your joy Being a young black girl is tough But through all the trials that you'll find, all the aching and the sorrow Know that just because you're down today Doesn't mean you'll be down tomorrow.

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IT DOES NOT MATTER ANY LONGER WHERE YOU LIVE

Alexandra Huynh is the Sacramento, California, Youth Poet Co-Laureate. The 18-year-old became involved in spoken-word poetry in high school. The first poems she wrote - in first or second grade - were in the form of songs.
from news reports on the fires in California and the floods in Vietnam.
I. THEY WAITED FOR THE ANSWERS THEY DIDN'T WANT TO HEAR BUT KNEW WERE REALITY

from my living room

i watch as tiny yellow men

march into the worst darkness

& pretend not to hear

when they have names

witness an unprecedented use

of the word unprecedented

-the state of California

has swallowed Connecticut

like fever

leaving behind

a scorched footprint

the shape of neglect-

there are streetlights in the forest now;

the forest is a city

with wildfire for veins

& a steady churn of smog

vehicles spill onto highways

to escape the color of death, but

even the lucky ones

wake up to smudged sun

& sepia

classic Western:

villainize nature

defend your honor

reduce the brown people to

accessory

this is the work

of a century's suppression

of a creature that feeds

on its own dead

when there is nothing

left to breathe, you produce

the opposite of oxygen
don't need a crystal ball
return the trees

to their cradles

burn the land

clean of history

seethe warning

blaze insurrection

do not slow, do not slow

let them see

the inferno they created.

II. LOCAL RESIDENTS NOW LIVE IN A WAY THAT IS PREPARED FOR NATURAL DISASTER

in the country my mother loves

in its naked heart

coastlines unravel

into starving hands

drawing anything with mass

into wet embrace

include the slippers:

whose tattered pockets

kept our feet from catching wind

& the plastic:

collected to prove

we exist

include the caution tape,

the bamboo, the dining tables,

the books, the altars, the rice,

the fields they grow in,

the ao dai, the photos

& the children:

who have now found mothers

in this soft earth.

they say it sounds like a bomb

when the mountain

that is not actually a mountain

explodes

& it weeps burials

for the willowed bodies

who watch water rise

to fool their conscience

who recite Buddha's name until

synonymous with mosquito hum

who hold real hands

in the dark of electricity

while millions of hummingbirds

crash into sheet-metal roof

& herds of baby elephant

swarm at the ankles

which, of course,

the meteorologists

will call rainfall

& the parents

will call temporary,

will call home.

III. THEIR ONLY DESIRE WAS TO BE TOGETHER IN THE HOME THEY LOVED

the structures are empty now

either because the people fled

or endured baptism by flame/flood

an elderly couple is found

in the charcoal of their farm

a boy recognized

under comic shop sludge

the men on the news

say climate change isahoax

i talk back:

hold the objects they inhabit

break them

About this story

Editing by Christina Barron. Art directing by Alla Dreyvitser. Audio editing by Maggie Penman. Design and development by Yutao Chen. Copy editing by Annabeth Carlson and Brian Cleveland.
Christina Barron is the editor of KidsPost, a section of The Washington Post for ages 7 to 13. She joined The Post in 2001 as a copy editor on the National Copy Desk. She later worked on the Features Copy Desk and was a reporter for KidsPost.

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Youth laureates share their 'Poetry of the Pandemic'

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Warning: This graphic requires JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript for the best experience. (Vikki Zhang for The Washington Post)April 28, 2021 Three up-and-coming spoken-word poets helped judge this year's KidsPost poetry contest. Alexandra Huynh, Alora Young and Serena Yang started writing poetry in elementary school and are finalists for the 2021 National Youth Poet Laureate, who will be announced in May.

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National youth poet laureate finalists found confidence and friendship through words

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National youth poet laureate finalists found confidence and friendship through words

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Finalists for the 2021 national youth poet laureate are, from left, Faye Harrison of Ann Arbor, Michigan; Alexandra Huynh of Sacramento, California; Serena Yang of New York; and Alora Young of Nashville, Tennessee. (National Youth Poet Laureate/Urban Word; Emmy Phan; Stephanie Yang; family photo)

Millions of TV viewers were mesmerized by Amanda Gorman's reading of her poem "The Hill We Climb" at President Joe Biden's inauguration in January. If you have seen it, you may have thought, "How can she share something she wrote in front of a huge crowd?"

The answer is that Gorman, who turned 23 years old on Sunday, has had a lot of practice. She began writing poetry as a kid. In high school, she got involved with the literary arts group Urban Word, which hosts writing workshops and slam poetry competitions. Gorman became Los Angeles youth poet laureate at age 16 in California, and three years later the first national youth poet laureate.

Amanda Gorman learned the power of poetry early on

But Gorman is just one of many young poets eager to share their work and inspire others. Faye Harrison, Alexandra Huynh, Serena Yang and Alora Young are the finalists in this year's National Youth Poet Laureate program. They're also judges in the KidsPost Poetry Contest. (Entries are due March 22 at wapo.st/kidspostpoetry2021.) We wanted to learn about how they became poets and what advice they have for kids. Huynh, Yang and Young were able to meet recently on Zoom to share their thoughts.

All three mentioned that writing became a way of expressing their feelings early in elementary school. But they didn't necessarily intend to write poetry.

"I realized that the first poetry I ever wrote was in the form of song. I think I started when I was in first or second grade. . . . I loved Hannah Montana, and I wanted to be like Hannah Montana," Huynh says of Miley Cyrus's Disney Channel character.

Both were California girls, but unlike brash Hannah, Huynh was shy. She thought that adults expected her to struggle with English because she learned Vietnamese first.

"So the combination of being extremely introverted, but then also not being seen as someone who could dominate language, motivated me to really use it as a way to express my truth and make a place for myself," says Huynh, who is 18. "Being able to perform songs or poems for people made me feel I had value."

Yang, whose family moved from Singapore to New York when she was in first grade, says she was embarrassed about her foreign accent. She spent a lot of time writing.

"I remember in second grade, I didn't have any friends. I was a very lonely child, and I became very close to my second-grade teacher," she says. "She would write things in my writing notebook, like 'Serena, you're going to be a great writer one day.' "

Yang still has that notebook, and the 19-year-old recently realized that her earliest writings were poems.

Young remembers writing her first poem at age 7 to express how she felt about her family moving.

"I moved to Nashville [Tennessee] from New Jersey, and I was really mad about that. So I wrote a poem called 'Stars of Sorrow See You Tomorrow,' " she says, laughing.

That poem, and every other she wrote, were intended for an audience.

"I would write poems down, but my poems were written to be performed in front of my family," Young says. "So it had been actually very difficult learning how to write poems for the page."

In middle school, an experience with bullying led her to perform poetry outside home and school.

"That's why I started doing competitions . . . to find friends because I didn't have any," she says.

Huynh and Yang didn't start performing poetry until they were in high school.

Yang attended an Urban Word NYC poetry slam as a junior, ready to "chicken out" but ultimately performing.

"The energy in the room was so infectious and so supportive. . . . I felt that anything was possible," she says.

The Urban Word community helped Yang consider herself a poet. She encourages kids not to wait until high school to think of themselves that way. And, she says, don't worry about the "rules." "If you follow what your heart tells you, really there are no rules in poetry."

Find out about the D.C. Youth Poet Laureate Program at the Words, Beats & Life website, wblinc.org/dcypl.

Kids share poetry in new ways to make their voices heard

Kids write in verse to honor planet Earth

Haiku explored the highs and lows of life as a squirrel

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National youth poet laureate finalists found confidence and friendship through words

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Millions of TV viewers were mesmerized by Amanda Gorman's reading of her poem "The Hill We Climb" at President Joe Biden's inauguration in January. If you have seen it, you may have thought, "How can she share something she wrote in front of a huge crowd?"

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NYC 2021 Youth Poet Laureate Serena Yang recited an original poem that reflected on the Coronavirus deaths.

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NYC 2021 Youth Poet Laureate Serena Yang recited an original poem that reflected on the Coronavirus deaths.

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On March 14, 2020, New York City recorded its first death from the coronavirus, and in one year, that toll skyrocketed to over 30,000 lives lost -- more than 10 times the number of people killed on Sept. 11, 2001.

On Sunday, New Yorkers of all walks of life marked this grim anniversary with several events to honor and memorialize their fallen neighbors on some of the city's iconic locations.

Earlier in the afternoon, Lincoln Center premiered a music video featuring the Young People's Chorus of New York City performing "You'll Never Walk Alone," from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical "Carousel."

In the evening, candles were lit around the fountains and stayed on for 30 minutes, one minute for every thousand New Yorker deaths.

Later Sunday night, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio hosted a memorial service that streamed live and included photos and videos of New Yorkers who died.

"Voices from across the city will join as one to stand in solidarity and demonstrate how we remain strong, hopeful and determined," de Blasio said in a statement.

The New York Philharmonic played "Dectet" as black and white images of New Yorkers killed by the virus were projected onto the Brooklyn Bridge in a memorial service called "A COVID-19 Day of Remembrance."

Bishop Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship choir performed and more images were projected as spiritual leaders gave remarks and prayed for the victims.

NYC 2021 Youth Poet Laureate Serena Yang recited an original poem that reflected on the deaths.

"A city that never sleeps is a city that never forgets," she said.

Carolina Juarez Hernandez, of East Harlem, wiped away tears as she spoke about losing her father to the virus.

She and the rest of her close family members were also diagnosed with the virus last March, but her father became severely ill, was hospitalized and eventually died.

Hernandez said she was not allowed to give her father one last hug before he passed in April.

"To this day I cannot remember when I hugged him the last time," she said.

Hernandez said that she and her family have been able to move on thanks to the support of her fellow New Yorkers and reassured people that they can get through the rest of the pandemic.

"I want anyone who has struggled to know you are never alone," she said.

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New York City marks COVID-19 death anniversary with memorial services

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On March 14, 2020, New York City recorded its first death from the coronavirus, and in one year, that toll skyrocketed to over 30,000 lives lost -- more than 10 times the number of people killed on Sept. 11, 2001.

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Former National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman will read poetry.

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Former National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman will read poetry.

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One of tech's most powerful women wants to modernize your book club

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The Broadsheet, Fortune Most Powerful Women by Kristen Bellstrom, Claire Zillman, and Emma Hinchliffe

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Amanda Gorman, the country's first National Youth Poet Laureate, has been selected to recite her work at President-elect Biden's inaugural 

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Amanda Gorman, the country's first National Youth Poet Laureate, has been selected to recite her work at President-elect Biden's inaugural 

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WASHINGTON - Vice President Mike Pence has called Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to offer his congratulations and assistance with her transition into office.

That's according to two people who weren't authorized to publicly discuss the private conversation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pence's call comes less than a week before President-elect Joe Biden and Harris are set to take office. Inauguration Day is this coming Wednesday.

The call is the first contact between elected officials from the outgoing and incoming administrations. President Donald Trump hasn't reached out to Biden and has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of Biden's win.

Trump won't attend the inauguration. Pence will be there.

The AP is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, as a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members, it can maintain its single-minded focus on newsgathering and its commitment to the highest standards of objective, accurate journalism.

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VP Pence congratulates Harris and offers assistance on transition into office

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WASHINGTON -- Vice President Mike Pence has called Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to offer his congratulations and assistance with her transition into office. That's according to two people who weren't authorized to publicly discuss the private conversation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Oakland Youth Poet Laureate Greer Nakadegawa-Lee

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Oakland Youth Poet Laureate Greer Nakadegawa-Lee

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Datebook | San Francisco Arts & Entertainment Guide

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"Oakland Salutes," is a commemorative virtual inauguration ball celebrating Madame Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris. Born in Oakland, Harris will be sworn in as the 49th Vice President of the United States on Jan. 20. While the pandemic is keeping all of us from gathering in Washington, DC and in other places, the Oakland Symphony has produced this online event to help celebrate this historic transition of power.

Curated by Oakland Symphony conductor and music director Michael Morgan and hosted by Oakland Port commissioner Michael Colbruno, "Oakland Salutes" will feature a performances and words from members of the Oakland arts community. The show includes a message from Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf as well as contributions from the Oakland Symphony, Oakland Symphony Chorus, Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra, Jazz Mafia ensemble, pianist Tammy L. Hall, vocalist Tiffany Austin, the Oaktown Jazz Workshop, Oakland Ballet Company's Ashley Thopiah, Oakland Asian Cultural Center Artists Van-Anh Vo, Chitresh Das Institute and Leela Dance Collective, Shawnette Sulker, cellist Emil Miland, organist Jerome Lenk, the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Chorus, Oakland Youth Poet Laureate Greer Nakadegawa-Lee, the Piedmont East Bay Children's Chorus, Oakland Museum of California, The Great Wall Youth Orchestra, Project Bandaloop, Oakland Art Murmur, Oakland Youth Chorus, East Bay Family Defenders, Bananas, and the League of Women Voters.
Courtesy of the Oakland Symphony

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Oakland Symphony Presents: Oakland Salutes Virtual Inauguration Ball and Hometown Celebration

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"Oakland Salutes," is a commemorative virtual inauguration ball celebrating Madame Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris. Born in Oakland, Harris will be sworn in as the 49th Vice President of the United States on Jan. 20.

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National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman will recite her poem “The Hill We Climb.”

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National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman will recite her poem “The Hill We Climb.”

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Big names in the entertainment world -- including Garth Brooks, Tom Hanks, Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Lopez and John Legend -- will take part in events planned on Jan. 20 for Joe Biden's inauguration as the 46th president of the United States.

Lady Gaga plans to sing the national anthem at the swearing-in ceremony for Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on the West Front of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks will perform at this event, as well. National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman will recite her poem "The Hill We Climb."

The action starts at 10:30 a.m. CT and will be live streamed at https://bideninaugural.org/watch/ and social media accounts for the Biden Inaugural Committee on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Twitch. All major TV networks are expected to air the swearing-in ceremony, as well.

At 7:30 p.m. CT, Tom Hanks will host star-studded TV special, "Celebrating America," with appearances by Bruce Springsteen, John Legend, Foo Fighters, Justin Timberlake, Demi Lovato, Jon Bon Jovi, Eva Longoria, Ant Clemons and Kerry Washington. The 90-minute program will feature "remarks and performances" by the celebrities, according to the Biden inaugural website. Biden and Harris will speak at the event, as well.

According to Variety, the special will air on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, MSNBC and PBS. Live streams can be found at https://bideninaugural.org/watch/ and via social media accounts for the Biden Inaugural Committee on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Twitch.

Other events are planned during the day, such as a wreath laying at Arlington National Cemetery and a virtual "Parade Across America." These also will be livestreamed by the Biden Inaugural Committee. See the full schedule of events here. The theme for Biden's inauguration is "America United."

"The inauguration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and Kamala D. Harris will showcase the American people's resilience, heroism, and unified commitment to coming together as a nation to heal and rebuild so that we emerge as the indomitable force that a united America represents," the inauguration website says.

There's also an official inauguration playlist, curated by the inauguration committee, DJ D-Nice and Raedio (an "audio everywhere company" founded by Issa Rae). It's available on streaming services Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and Amazon Music. A total of 46 tracks are featured, by artists ranging from Steely Dan to Dua Lipa.

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Big stars to come out for Biden's inauguration events

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Big names in the entertainment world -- including Garth Brooks, Tom Hanks, Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Lopez and John Legend -- will take part in events planned on Jan. 20 for Joe Biden's inauguration as the 46th president of the United States.

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First national youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman

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First national youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman

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President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in on Wednesday, Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C. Biden is expected to be sworn in around 10 a.m. Mountain time.

How to Watch

All major broadcast and cable networks will air inauguration day events live. The events will also stream live on these social media channels: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch. Visit bideninaugural.org/watch for links.

Will People Attend in Person?

Yes, although the number of tickets to in-person Inauguration Day are limited due to the pandemic. Historically, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies provides 200,000 tickets for the event. However, Biden's inaugural committee has reduced the number of tickets significantly and appointed Dr. David Kessler as a chief medical adviser to ensure health and safety guidelines are followed amid the pandemic.

Who Will Perform During the Ceremony?

Lady Gaga will sing the National Anthem at the swearing-in ceremony. Jennifer Lopez will also give a musical performance on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol when Biden in sworn in as the 46 th U.S. president. Former Georgetown University president Rev. Leo O'Donovan will give the invocation, firefighter Andrea Hall will lead the Pledge of Allegiance, Rev. Silvester Beaman of Bethel African Methodist Church will give the benediction, and first national youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman will give a poetry reading.

Other Events Include "Celebrating America" TV Special

The night of the Presidential Inauguration, actor Tom Hanks will host a prime time special titled "Celebrating America." The show will air live on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and MSNBC starting at 6:30 p.m. Mountain time on Jan. 20. Other performers include Foo Fighters, Jon Bon Jovi, John Legend, Demi Lovato, Bruce Springsteen, and Justin Timberlake. Throughout the night, Eva Longoria and Kerry Washington will introduce segments about young people making a difference in their communities. "Celebrating America" will also be streamed on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch.

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When Is the Presidential Inauguration and How Can I Watch? - CU Denver News

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President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in on Wednesday, Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C. Biden is expected to be sworn in around 10 a.m. Mountain time. All major broadcast and cable networks will air inauguration day events live.

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Poet Amanda Gorman, 22, will read at Biden inaugural

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Poet Amanda Gorman, 22, will read at Biden inaugural

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NEW YORK - At age 22, poet Amanda Gorman, chosen to read at the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, already has a history of writing for official occasions.

"I have kind of stumbled upon this genre. It's been something I find a lot of emotional reward in, writing something I can make people feel touched by, even if it's just for a night," says Gorman. The Los Angeles resident has written for everything from a July 4 celebration featuring the Boston Pops Orchestra to the inauguration at Harvard University, her alma mater, of school president Larry Bacow.

When she reads next Wednesday, she will be continuing a tradition - for Democratic presidents - that includes such celebrated poets as Robert Frost and Maya Angelou. The latter's "On the Pulse of Morning," written for the 1993 inauguration of President Bill Clinton, went on to sell more than 1 million copies when published in book form. Recent readers include poets Elizabeth Alexander and Richard Blanco, both of whom Gorman has been in touch with.

"The three of us are together in mind, body and spirit," she says.

Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in memory, and she has made news before. In 2014, she was named the first Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, and three years later she became the country's first National Youth Poet Laureate. She has appeared on MTV; written a tribute to Black athletes for Nike; and has a two-book deal with Viking Children's Books. The first work, the picture book "Change Sings," comes out later this year.

Gorman says she was contacted late last month by the Biden inaugural committee. She has known numerous public figures, including former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former first lady Michelle Obama, but says she will be meeting the Bidens for the first time. The Bidens, apparently, have been aware of her: Gorman says the inaugural officials told her she had been recommended by the incoming first lady, Jill Biden.

She is calling her inaugural poem "The Hill We Climb" while otherwise declining to preview any lines. Gorman says she was not given specific instructions on what to write, but was encouraged to emphasize unity and hope over "denigrating anyone" or declaring "ding, dong, the witch is dead" over the departure of President Donald Trump.

The siege last week of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to overturn the election was a challenge for keeping a positive tone, but also an inspiration. Gorman says she has been given 5 minutes to read, and before what she described during an interview as "the Confederate insurrection" of Jan. 6 she had only written about 3 1-2 minutes worth.

The final length runs to about 6 minutes.

"That day gave me a second wave of energy to finish the poem," says Gorman, adding that she will not refer directly to Jan. 6, but will "touch" upon it. She said last week's events did not upend the poem she had been working on because they didn't surprise her.

"The poem isn't blind," she says. "It isn't turning your back to the evidence of discord and division."

In other writings, Gorman has honored her Black ancestors, acknowledged and reveled in her own vulnerability ("Glorious in my fragmentation," she has written) and confronted social issues. Her poem "In This Place (An American Lyric)," written for the 2017 inaugural reading of U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, condemns the racist march in Charlottesville, Virginia ( "tiki torches string a ring of flame") and holds up her art form as a force for democracy:

____

Tyrants fear the poet.

Now that we know it

we can't blow it.

We owe it

to show it

not slow it

_____

Gorman has rare status as a poet, and has dreams of other ceremonies. She would love to read at the 2028 Olympics, scheduled to be held in Los Angeles, and in 2037 wouldn't mind finding herself in an even more special position at the presidential inauguration - as the new chief executive.

"I'm going to tell Biden that I'll be back," she said with a laugh.

The AP is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, as a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members, it can maintain its single-minded focus on newsgathering and its commitment to the highest standards of objective, accurate journalism.

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Poet Amanda Gorman, 22, will read at Biden inaugural

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NEW YORK - At age 22, poet Amanda Gorman, chosen to read at the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, already has a history of writing for official occasions. "I have kind of stumbled upon this genre.

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Nat’l Poetry Slam Champion, former TEDx speaker selected as Richmond’s 1st poet laureate

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Nat’l Poetry Slam Champion, former TEDx speaker selected as Richmond’s 1st poet laureate

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RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - The City of Richmond has selected its first poet laureate, a role that will develop projects and promote poetry in the city during a two-year term.

Douglas Powell, better known as Roscoe Burnems, has been selected for the role and says he can't wait to get started.

"It is the diversity of the city and the adversities that we are able to overcome as a community that cultivate our resilience as people," Burnems said. "This is the soil for change and progression to sprout and expand into a tree that blooms the fruit of our tenacity. We decide if that fruit is sweetened with peace or embittered with division."

Burnems has volunteered at the St. Joseph's Villa Alternative Education Program, University of Richmond's Partners in the Arts, and ART 18. He also regularly leads poetry workshops at middle and high schools in Richmond. He is a National Poetry Slam Champion, a former TEDx speaker and the founder of the Writer's Den Art Collective.

Burnems proposed interweaving poetry into public visual art projects, hosting youth-oriented spoken-word competitions, and partnering with the Richmond Public Library system to organize poetry workshops.

"The Richmond Poet Laureate should relish showing kids, teens and adults the healing, restorative power of the written word," said Mayor Levar Stoney. "Roscoe has exhibited time and again his interest in bringing poetry to the people, and his list of ideas for engagement projects tells me he's the Richmonder for the job."

The Richmond Poet Laureate made his public debut at the Poe Museum's Birthday Bash, a virtual celebration of Edgar Allan Poe's 212th birthday, on Jan. 16.

To learn more about Burnems and his work, visit this link. To learn more about Burnems and his role as poet laureate, click here.

Copyright 2021 WWBT. All rights reserved.

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Nat'l Poetry Slam Champion, former TEDx speaker selected as Richmond's 1st poet laureate

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RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - The City of Richmond has selected its first poet laureate, a role that will develop projects and promote poetry in the city during a two-year term. Douglas Powell, better known as Roscoe Burnems, has been selected for the role and says he can't wait to get started.

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Joe Biden's inauguration: Everything to know about date, time, performers and how to watch live

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Joe Biden's inauguration: Everything to know about date, time, performers and how to watch live

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WASHINGTON -- The world's eyes will be on the nation's capital as President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office as the country's 46th president. Here's a look at everything we know about Biden's inauguration ceremony and how to watch the event live.

When is Inauguration Day 2021? What time is the inauguration?

Per the Twentieth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Inauguration Day is set for January 20 every four years -- that's a Wednesday in 2021.

The outgoing president's term ends at noon local time on the 20th. Biden is expected to take the oath of office at noon Eastern time.

The theme of this year's inauguration is "America United," an issue that's long been a central focus for Biden but one that's taken on added weight in the wake of the violence at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month. The Presidential Inaugural Committee said that the theme "reflects the beginning of a new national journey that restores the soul of America, brings the country together, and creates a path to a brighter future.

The "Celebrating America" primetime event will air from 8:30-10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

How to watch the inauguration live

ABC News will present live coverage of the inauguration on Jan. 20. You can watch live coverage on television, here on our website or on our streaming apps for Apple TV, Android TV, Fire TV and Roku.

Who's performing or participating in the inauguration ceremony?

Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez will both perform at the inauguration, with Gaga singing the national anthem and Lopez giving a musical performance.

The invocation will be given by the Rev. Leo O'Donovan, a former Georgetown University president, and the Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Andrea Hall, a firefighter from Georgia. There will be a poetry reading from Amanda Gorman, the first national youth poet laureate, and the benediction will be given by Rev. Silvester Beaman of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Delaware.

Later that evening, Tom Hanks will host a 90-minute primetime TV special celebrating Biden's inauguration that will air on ABC and other networks.

Justin Timberlake, Foo Fighters, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Demi Lovato and Ant Clemons will offer remote performances.

Lin-Manuel Miranda will "recite a classic work," the Presidential Inaugural Committee announced Sunday.

Eva Longoria and Kerry Washington will introduce segments of the event. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Chef José Andrés, labor leader Dolores Huerta, and the first woman MLB general manager Kim Ng will also take part on the event.

Additionally, the committee announced it will celebrate a number of the everyday Americans who have stepped up in their communities, including Anthony Gaskin, a UPS driver from Viriginia, Mackenzie Adams, a kindergarten teacher from Washington state, and Sarah Fuller, the first woman to play and score in a Power Five college football team.

Which former presidents will attend the inaugural ceremony?

President Donald Trump announced in early January that he intends to skip Biden's inauguration. Traditionally, the incoming and outgoing presidents ride to the U.S. Capitol together on Inauguration Day for the ceremony, a visible manifestation of the smooth change of leadership. Vice President Pence will attend President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, a person familiar with his decision told ABC News.

Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton will be there to stand witness to the rite of democracy. The only other living president, 96-year-old Jimmy Carter, who has spent the pandemic largely at home in Georgia, will not attend but has extended "best wishes" to Biden.

After the inauguration, the Bidens, Harrises, Obamas, Bushes and Clintons will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. It will be one of Biden's first acts as president, and a show of bipartisanship at a time when the national divide is on stark display.

What will security look like in Washington for the inauguration?

The inauguration will be held on the same risers in the same spot at the U.S. Capitol where a violent, pro-Trump mob descended earlier in the month. But the two events aren't even comparable from a security standpoint, said Michael Plati, U.S. Secret Service special agent in charge, who is leading the inauguration security.

The inauguration is designated as a "national special security event," which clears the way for communication, funding and preparation between multiple agencies in Washington, like the Capitol Police, Pentagon, Homeland Security and District-area police. Other such events are the State of the Union, the Super Bowl and the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

Law enforcement officials never go into too much detail about security so would-be attackers aren't tipped off. But Plati said they've taken into account the siege: "It's a poignant reminder of what can happen.

What else is going to be different? And what's going to be the same?

Almost everything!

The outgoing president traditionally attends the inauguration to symbolize the peaceful transfer of power. But Trump, who falsely claimed that the election was riddled with fraud, has refused to be there. Vice President Mike Pence plans to attend.

Forget a parade with crowds of people cheering on the new president and vice president. And there will be no inaugural balls for Biden, Harris and their spouses to dance the night away.

Planners had originally sought to retain some time-honored aspects of a normal inauguration, just less crowded and within the boundaries of COVID-19 protocols. But in the wake of the violent Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, all semblance of normality might be gone.

Downtown Washington D.C. has been turned into an armed camp. The National Mall is sealed to the public and the Washington Monument has shut down. 21,000 National Guard troops will be on the job on Jan. 20, alongside D.C. police and multiple federal law enforcement agencies.

Like their predecessors, Biden and Harris will take their oaths of office outside the Capitol Building. Jennifer Lopez will perform and Lady Gaga will sing the national anthem. Biden, according to the inauguration website, will give a speech to the nation, "laying out his vision to defeat the pandemic, build back better, and unify and heal the nation."

Afterwards, Biden and Harris will complete the traditional "Pass in Review" inspection of troops from all service branches, a ritual that symbolizes the peaceful transfer of power to a new Commander in Chief.

Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Harris and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff will later visit Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They will be joined by former presidents and first ladies Barack and Michelle Obama, George W. and Laura Bush, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Joe Biden's inauguration: Everything to know about date, time, performers and how to watch live

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The world's eyes will be on Washington as Joe Biden is sworn into office as the country's 46th president. Here's a look at everything to know about Biden's inaugural ceremony and how to watch the event live on Inauguration Day 2021.

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Daly City launches new youth poet laureate program

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Daly City launches new youth poet laureate program

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Young poets from Daly City have the opportunity to represent their city via a Youth Poet Laureate program.

Launched in October, this is the first Youth Poet Laureate program in San Mateo County, the Daly City Public Library Associates announced via a press release.

Applications are due Jan. 31 and a winner will be announced April 17 at a virtual event.

In addition to representing Daly City at community events from May 2021 to May 2022, the winner will receive a $5,000 cash award and publication in the National Youth Poet Laureate annual anthology by Penmanship Books.

Applicants must be Daly City teen poets between 13 and 18 years old, and they must live or attend school in the city. Students must show a "commitment to artistic excellence, civic engagement, leadership, and social justice," the press release said.

The program is a partnership between the Daly City Public Library and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program by Urban Word.

San Mateo County's poet laureate Aileen Cassinetto said Daly City's youth program "amplifies the role of youth in the community and the power of the literary arts in inspiring civic engagement."

"I see the Youth Poet Laureate as the city's literary ambassador, creating necessary spaces so that the voices of other young people can be heard," Cassinetto said in a statement. "I see this role as giving shape to our young people's hopes, fears, perspectives, sense of purpose, and sense of community."

Cassinetto is one of the newest members of the board of the Daly City Public Library Associates (DCPLA), a "Friends of the Library" group that supports the library with fundraising.

DCPLA executive director Victoria Magbilang said that one of her visions for the organization is to reach middle and high schoolers who are difficult to engage.

"This program was a perfect way for DCPLA to remain relevant in a way that lends itself to distanced engagement while the libraries are closed and to encourage the arts in our community, something I'm extremely passionate about," Magbilang said in a statement.

There are 12 youth poet laureate programs in California. In the Bay Area, there are programs in Oakland, Sonoma County, Santa Clara County and Daly City.

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Daly City launches new youth poet laureate program

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Young poets from Daly City have the opportunity to represent their city via a Youth Poet Laureate program. Launched in October, this is the first Youth Poet Laureate program in San Mateo County, the Daly City Public Library Associates announced via a press release. Applications are due Jan.

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Youth poet laureate crafting 'message of joining together' for inauguration

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Youth poet laureate crafting 'message of joining together' for inauguration

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Youth poet laureate crafting 'message of joining together' for inauguration | CNN Politics

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Amanda Gorman was about halfway through writing the poem that she'll deliver at President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration next week when she watched in horror the deadly siege on the US Capitol.

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This video gallery celebrates the achievement of 2019/20 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate, Wei-Wei Lee, and the public release of her first poetry collection, In the Footsteps of a Thousand Griefs (Poetry NW Editions). The gallery opens with Wei-Wei reading from her debut, followed by conversation between Wei-Wei and her YPL mentors, Aaron Counts and Matt Gano.

Following this celebration, we welcome the incoming 2020/21 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate cohort in a series of videos. Click through the galleries below to see and hear select videos from 2020/21 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate Bitaniya Giday; the 2020/21 Seattle Youth Poet Ambassadors Helena Goos, Nathalie M., Victor Xia; and the 2020/21 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate Cohort members Sylvester Gross, Maeve Kenney, Violet Keteyian, Clarissa Perez, Lucia Santos, Connor Simon, and Hazel Windstorm.
Learn More

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Seattle Arts & Lectures \ 2020/21 Youth Poet Laureate Release

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Welcome to the 2020/21 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate Release! As we welcome another day of protests and demands for radical change to a system that has long ignored racial injustice in the Black community and communities of color, we also welcome the need for the moments of healing required in order to sustain the Black Lives Matter movement.

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Urban Word's 3rd National YouthPoet Laureate Commencement Ceremony

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Urban Word's 3rd National YouthPoet Laureate Commencement Ceremony

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Urban Word's 3rd National YouthPoet Laureate Commencement Ceremony

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Armor: A Visual Poem by Meera Dasgupta (2020 National Youth Poet Laureate) via Urban Word x Sankofa

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Armor: A Visual Poem by Meera Dasgupta (2020 National Youth Poet Laureate) via Urban Word x Sankofa

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Armor: A Visual Poem by Meera Dasgupta (2020 National Youth Poet Laureate) via Urban Word x Sankofa

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"The DA's Office: A Visual Poem" by Haviland Whiting in conjunction with Urban Word x Sankofa

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"The DA's Office: A Visual Poem" by Haviland Whiting in conjunction with Urban Word x Sankofa

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"The DA's Office: A Visual Poem" by Haviland Whiting in conjunction with Urban Word x Sankofa

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"DA Poem: A Visual Poem" by Jackson Neal in conjunction with Urban Word x Sankofa

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"DA Poem: A Visual Poem" by Jackson Neal in conjunction with Urban Word x Sankofa

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"DA Poem: A Visual Poem" by Jackson Neal in conjunction with Urban Word x Sankofa

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Two years ago, Toluwanimi Obiwole was named the inaugural youth poet laureate for Denver, making her something like an official voice of young people in the city and around Colorado. This week the 22-year-old will work with students from Aspen to Glenwood Springs, helping them find their own voices as poets.

"The most amazing thing is how confident the students already are in themselves, but how much more self-confident they get," she said recently from the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, where she is a senior. "It's amazing for them to discover things that maybe they didn't even know were lurking in their hearts. And also to see how encouraged they are to say, 'Oh, my god, I wrote a poem! I'm a poet!'"

Obiwole is the newest member of a growing team of teaching poets who spend a week in Roaring Fork Valley schools annually through Aspen Words' poetry project. She joins Myrlin Hepworth of Phoenix, Mercedez Holtry of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Logan Phillips of Tucson, Arizona. The quartet will be working with some 3,000 students in 16 middle and high schools this week, including is bilingual workshops. The student workshops and assemblies culminate in the fourth annual Youth Poetry Slam in Carbondale on Friday.

Born in Nigeria and raised in Colorado, Obiwole writes largely about identity, penning fierce and vivid self-portraits that explore what it means to be an immigrant, a Coloradan and a young black woman in America. Her role as youth poet laureate has given her a substantial platform and a public profile, performing at civic events and teaching poetry workshops for young people. But she's continued to forge ahead as an independent artist - she's already published two chapbooks and given a TED Talk.

Last month, she performed in Civic Center Park at the Denver Women's March, at the center of a crowd of more than 100,000 people protesting President Donald Trump's inauguration.

Like a lot of the students she meets, Obiwole was initially shy about sharing her work and her story. But as she found her voice and an audience grew around her in Colorado and at national poetry slams, she learned her work could be both personally and politically empowering.

Poetry, she believes, can provide a path forward for young people who are afraid during this tumultuous moment in American history or who feel anxious about the president's anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies.

"I want people to have a sense that we can get through this, we can thrive through this," she said. "Being not only the child of immigrants but an immigrant myself, I've dealt with these things all my life. Poetry has helped me work through them. Giving the students the notion that, hey, I have survived by doing art and writing as my outlet. Art itself is going to be one of the important tools that's going to help shape this country and bring it where the youth want it to go, not just where the power structure does."

After she graduates from college this spring, Obiwole plans to teach and devote herself to a handful of collaborative projects with photographers, artists and musicians.

"I want to get a lot more artwork out there," she said.
atravers@aspentimes.com

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Denver Youth Poet Laureate Toluwanimi Obiwole joins Aspen Words poets-in-schools team

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Two years ago, Toluwanimi Obiwole was named the inaugural youth poet laureate for Denver, making her something like an official voice of young people in the city and around Colorado. This week the 22-year-old will work with students from Aspen to Glenwood Springs, helping them find their own voices as poets.

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Rhiannon McGavin said sheloves sonnets, even if it does sound a bit pretentious.

The first-year English student has been writing sonnets and other poetry since the age of 12 and is the current Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate. She is releasing a poetry book June 10 titled "Branches," which consists of 28 poems that she has written over the last two years.

McGavin said poetry gives her a freedom she doesn't see in other mediums.

"Poetry is so accepting and so fun and so important," she said. "You can do whatever you want on the page in a way you can't do with essays and short stories, with line breaks, and oh man, I throw some weird syntax in there."

When McGavin began writing, she wanted to become a novelist. The first work she remembers writing was a garden fairy saga in third grade. But she soon found herself drawn to the creative freedom of poetry, and began writing more poetry instead of prose.

McGavin said she enjoyed poetry because she loved the free-flowing nature of the words and was able to write more often in her spare time. She began going to spoken word lounges in Los Angeles and joined spoken word teams, including Brave New Voices, which participated in competitions. She said spoken word felt natural because it combined her love for poetry and performing in Shakespearean plays.

McGavin's best friend, Eden Hain, first heard McGavin perform spoken word in high school. McGavin was participating in a Classic Slam - a spoken word event put on by Get Lit that requires poets to write a response to a piece of literature, such as a works by Shakespeare or Tupac.

McGavin recited a poem titled "Smile," which she said discusses misogyny and how men feel entitled to women's bodies, such as when men tell women to smile on the street.

"That is a poem that still resonates with me as a 19-year-old, and will still resonate with people for years to come, which is kind of unfortunate," Hain said.

In 2014, McGavin applied to be the Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate and placed third. She applied the following year, and once again didn't win.

"It takes persistence and humility for some people to do that," said Alyesha Wise, McGavin's slam coach for the 2014-2015 Brave New Voices competition. "A lot of young people would give up, and become discouraged, especially after the second year of being turned down. But she kept going out for it."

The third time she applied, she finally won the title of Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate and a publishing deal with Penmanship Books. She was also invited to speak and read poetry in places like high schools and cafes.

McGavin said she is glad it took her a few tries to receive the award because she had more opportunities to write, and as a result, grew into a more mature and experienced writer.

This month, she will pass on the title to a new poet laureate at the release event for her new book.

The name of her poetry book, "Branches," refers to the homemade mini magazines she used to sell in high school called "Leaf." Each edition had five poems and five pictures to go along with them. She said the title also reflects her tendency to write about different forms of branches, such as those found in trees, neurons, government and the human body.

"I write a lot about science and history, so if you've ever seen a girl crying in a neuroscience lecture, it's me," she said. "Also, if it's 1 a.m. and I'm crying, I'm probably writing because what else can you possibly do?"

One of the poems in the book, "Pain Theory," talks about the scientific history of the poem's title. The poem is contrapuntal - there are two columns with a distinct poem in each. Each can be read individually or both can be read horizontally so that there are a total of three variations of the poem.

She said the poem is vital to the construction of the rest of the book because the whole book is structured around pain theory. The poetry book examines the intersectionality of the way art and science quantify human experiences.

McGavin added the way the surrealist art movement organized its galleries inspired her to arrange the poems in alphabetical order.

After writing everything from stories on garden fairies to "Branches," McGavin has accumulated snippets of wisdom and advice from her experiences writing, performing and competing that have improved her writing.

"Cultivate interests outside of and adjacent to creative writing, because it makes you work more interesting. Read as much as you possibly can," McGavin said. "Keep a notebook with you all the time, and also write in it a lot. Suck, suck really hard, and do it for a long time."

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Student, Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate to publish poetry collection - Daily Bruin

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Rhiannon McGavin said sheloves sonnets, even if it does sound a bit pretentious. The first-year English student has been writing sonnets and other poetry since the age of 12 and is the current Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate. She is releasing a poetry book June 10 titled "Branches," which consists of 28 poems that she has written over the last two years.

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Meera Dasgupta: A Poet, an Activist, and the National Youth Poet Laureate

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Recognized for her impactful poetry and unwavering activism, senior Meera Dasgupta was announced the youngest, first Asian-American National Youth Poet Laureate.

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Your Body Knows More Than Milk By Meera Dasgupta

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Your Body Knows More Than Milk By Meera Dasgupta

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Your Body Knows More Than Milk By Meera Dasgupta

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What Poetry Means to Me - Meera Dasgupta

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On May 16, Meera Dasgupta found out she had been named the next National Youth Poet Laureate in a way very emblematic of our times-via a Facebook Live event. Dasgupta, who has been New York City's youth poet laureate since last autumn, was selected for the national role from a group of youth poets laureate representing more than forty states and fifty cities. The one-year position is part of a larger program run by the nonprofit Urban Word that celebrates teen poets who display leadership, artistic excellence, and a drive for civic and social engagement. As National Youth Poet Laureate, Dasgupta will give readings-some in person, some perhaps virtually-across the United States.

When I spoke with Dasgupta, mere hours after the announcement, via Zoom at home in New York City, the sixteen-year-old Stuyvesant High School junior was flush with excitement and already knee-deep in planning how to best use her role and new platform. Dasgupta is passionate about women's political empowerment and climate justice-she participated in the youth arts program Climate Speaks run by the Climate Museum-and has been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall, the Teen Vogue Summit, and elsewhere. As she steps up to her new mic while juggling a full course load of classes, Dasgupta talked about how she came to poetry and how she stays creative in a very uncertain world.

How did you first come to writing poetry?
When I was younger I would write a lot. Whenever I got an assignment I would write fifteen pages just because. Also, I started performing in chorus and playing the guitar. I started writing song lyrics, and I think that's where my poetic journey really began. The songs I wrote were basically short poems with music, and even though I look back at them and sometimes cringe, I know that's where I got my start-so I'm very grateful for that.

You've done so many things already: You've been involved with Climate Speaks, you're managing a full course load for high school, and you're now the National Youth Poet Laureate. How did you know poetry was going to be your thing?
Over the past few years I've been very drawn to activism and advocacy, and I started writing poetry as an intersection between the two forms. At Stuy [Stuyvesant High School] I took a summer program in leadership and joined the Youth Leadership Council and just drove right in. We had a summit for one hundred young girls across the city for empowerment, and that was amazing. It was one of the first times I read poetry to an audience. There was a girl from the audience who heard me perform-it was sort of a showcase in order to garner attention for gender equality and gender equity-and she asked if she could read her poetry because she had been inspired and felt it was a safe space. She told me how she was part of the foster care system, how the summit had really helped her, and that she wanted to share her own poetry. I think that was a point where I realized: I want to continue doing this.

Civic engagement is such a key part of the role of National Youth Poet Laureate. What will you focus on?
Women's empowerment and bringing intersectional feminist voices to politics is very important to me personally. This semester I've been taking a women and gender studies course at Hunter College. Growing up, I didn't have a lot of women who looked like me to look up to, or maybe there weren't enough for me to find, and I think that's one of the reasons I really didn't think I personally could get into politics. I think it's so important to uplift these voices, especially today.

I am also passionate about climate justice, and last year I participated in Climate Speaks, a youth arts program about the climate crisis. I had never really heard of climate poetry, and I didn't really see any poems on climate justice. It felt like a new genre of poetry. Intersecting art with activism is very important because sometimes facts aren't enough to change people's minds, and sometimes bringing your own emotions and being vulnerable on the page can also help show people that civic engagement is important, and that your voice is important.

So I really want to focus on these sectors of civic engagement, but also see how I can bring other people into the social justice fold because I have a large mic right now, which is an honor-I really didn't expect it. I think it's important to pass the mic and allow this influence to also bring other people's voices up alongside my own.

In this age of social distancing and Zoom, how do you see the role playing out? How do you hope to connect with people?
I feel like Zoom has been a really big help. The internet is a very important tool for me to reach out, but I know that comes from the privilege of being self-quarantined with access to the internet. It's also important to reach people who don't have computers or internet access or time to be online. I know so many people are worried about unemployment or their jobs and their families, and I think that's important to prioritize during this time. We are in a crisis, and it's important to bring that into our spaces, even artistically.

Do you find it difficult to be creative in this time of heightened stress from constantly being online? And do you have advice, especially for other young writers, on how to be creative during this time?
I think you have to take it a day at a time because some days you really don't feel like getting up and going on your computer and writing. Sometimes I go to sleep very late and then I have homework and projects and essays and I'm just like, I have to get this done before anything else, I have to prioritize my schoolwork because education is very important to me. Prioritizing yourself is first and foremost. No matter what, always put yourself first. Self-care is very important during this time. But sometimes I feel like writing can also be a way to alleviate stress and find time to be open with the situation and your emotions. So the advice I have for other young writers is: If you want to find a way to express yourself that's constructive, if you ever feel stressed or any other negative emotion, writing can be a way of finding yourself within this space. Even though you've been in this space for so long during quarantine, or even if you feel like you're stuck in these barriers and you can't go outside and you don't know what to do, writing can allow you to put your emotions on the page.

So poetry is a form of self-care?
Yes. I know a lot of people are talking about quarantine and uplifting one another through their words during this time as well. And I know that for many poets and artists, this time has been difficult because people have had to cancel so many tours and different things that would have brought them work during the summer and through the fall. Especially within the artist community, now is the time to bring one another's voices up to the stage and support one another as much as you can. So writing is not only a form of self-care, but also a way in which we can support one another.

Are you reading anything right now-for fun or for school-that's particularly inspiring you?
I've gotten particularly obsessed with Webcomics. I never expected it, but I've just gotten very engrossed in that medium-seeing images as well as words-because right now the only thing I'm seeing are these four walls [of my bedroom] and my living room. In school I'm reading When the Emperor Was Divine, which discusses Japanese internment. In my AP government class we've talked about U.S. history and the constitution and politics, but we have never really touched on that subject-what it meant in World War II for all these issues to come up, and [what it means now] during coronavirus, with the [rise in] racism toward Asian Americans, and other minority groups who are also very disproportionately affected by this crisis as well. And to see that, not necessarily mirrored-I know the situation is not the same-but just to see similar themes in general has been very eye-opening.

Madeline Weinfield lives and works in New York City. Her writing on culture and travel has appeared in a variety of outlets including the Washington Post, Lonely Planet, and Here. Her website is madelineweinfield.com.

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Q&A: Meera Dasgupta Named National Youth Poet Laureate

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On May 16, Meera Dasgupta found out she had been named the next National Youth Poet Laureate in a way very emblematic of our times-via a Facebook Live event. Dasgupta, who has been New York City's youth poet laureate since last autumn, was selected for the national role from a group of youth poets laureate representing more than forty states and fifty cities.

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Meera Dasgupta is the youngest United States Youth Poet Laureate appointed in the history of the country. She is also the first U.S. Youth Poet Laureate to have been appointed from New York (as well as the Northeastern region) and the first Asian-American Youth Poet Laureate of the United States, a program pioneered by Urban Word NYC. Born in Queens, she is a fierce advocate for student voice and gender equality, having worked throughout the city on various projects in order to empower young women and to increase civic engagement within other students her age. A 2020 United Nations Global Goals Ambassador, Federal Hall Fellow, Climate Speaks Winner, & Scholastic Arts and Writing Winner, she has performed at the Apollo Theater, the Rotary Peace Fellowship Alumni Association's inaugural Global Cyber Peace Conference, the United State of Young Women, and more. Meera has facilitated poetry workshops for Apple, been featured in Poets & Writers Magazine, and has been profiled in a New York City ad campaign for her work around climate advocacy. Meera is presently a senior at Stuyvesant High School and hopes to continue to utilize the intersection between social justice and poetry to uplift the voices of historically underrepresented communities.

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Meera Dasgupta - Active Performer Bio - Girl Be Heard

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Meera Dasgupta is a 16-year-old Girl Be Heard Active Performer and the 2020 United States Youth Poet Laureate with the National Youth Poet Laureate Program and Urban Word NYC. A Van Lier Fellow, Federal Hall Fellow, Climate Speaks Winner, & Scholastic Arts and Writing Winner her performances hav

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Once upon a time

I was 5 years old and I loved movies

It was a realm of possibilities

Where the imagination could run wild

I believed in magic

Once upon a time

I remember being elated

When my mom took me to the theatre

Eyes twinkling, smile bright

Once upon a time

The smell of popcorn wafting through the air

The movie Rio began to play

Where mystical, blue, feathered birds spoke

The impossible was possible

And the worst problem in the world

Was running out of M&Ms

Little did I know that Blue was dead

His species wiped out,

Life losing to greed

The magic wore off

The veil lifted

Wildfires crackling

Smoke darkening

Children asphyxiated by a cloud of debris

No more movies, only cable news

Take a breath in

Fire combusting in the lungs

Stop breathing

Feels like you're drowning

Deterioration of society as

The red in our blood fills with lead

Perhaps that's why we don't seem to care anymore

When

Disease spreads across continents

Or when rivers run a sickly orange instead of blue

Finding Nemo is futile

He has already passed

Smothered with the spilled oil

Of a tanker

I feel the guilt of humanity

A burden on our shoulders

Turn on the faucet

Turn it off

Turn on the light

Turn it off

Don't drive in your car when you could walk to the market

First degree murder

Factories spitting fumes into the sky (don't you know smoking is bad for you?)

Second degree murder

Getting sucked into consumerism

Where green paper is worth more than lives

Third degree murder

Watching it happen

A world beaten and bruised by the elements

Millions displaced

Living things

Burning

Skinned alive

WON'T YOU JUST LET THE SPELL BE LIFTED?

Magic is gone

And speed dialing Cinderella's fairy godmother won't solve our problems

If climate change were a crime

We'd all be in jail

Our homes turned into prisons

Our actions, our jailers

Once upon a time

I believed that the world was perfect

But now, I know it's not

And if we don't take the time to pick

Up the broken pieces of what we

There will be no more Happily Ever Afters

Ever

Again.

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Once upon a time I was 5 years old and I loved movies It was a realm of possibilities Where the imagination could run wild I believed in magic Once upon a time I remember being elated When my mom took me to the theatre Eyes twinkling, smile bright Once

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GARDEN SETS: MUSICAL PERFORMANCES AT NYBG

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GARDEN SETS: MUSICAL PERFORMANCES AT NYBG

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Garden Sets: Musical Performances at NYBG

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Join us for short musical sets, centered in some of the Garden's most stunning locations. Enjoy inspiring performances, paired with the beauty of NYBG in summer.

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From the Wetland Trail: Endless Field and Meera Dasgupta

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From the Wetland Trail: Endless Field and Meera Dasgupta

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Garden Sets: Endless Field and Meera Dasgupta from the Wetland Trail

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Youth Poet Laureate Ramya Ramana at Inauguration 2014

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Youth Poet Laureate Ramya Ramana at Inauguration 2014

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NYC Votes and NYC Campaign Finance Board

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Youth Poet Laureate Ramya Ramana at Inauguration 2014

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Harvard University sophomore Amanda Gorman is the first youth poet to open the Library of Congress's literary season, The Harvard Crimson reported.

On Wednesday night, Tracy K. Smith, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Princeton professor, gave her inaugural reading as the newest poet laureate of the United States. Smith, who was born in Falmouth and attended Harvard University, succeeds poet Juan Felipe Herrera in the field's most prestigious role.

Before welcoming Smith to the stage, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden introduced Gorman.

"In her 19 years, LA-native Amanda Gorman has done more to speak out, organize, and give back than most of us do in a lifetime," Hayden said. "And tonight we have the privilege to hear Amanda read a poem she has composed especially for this occasion."

In April, Gorman was chosen to be the first National Youth Poet Laureate, surpassing four other finalists representing five regions across the country.

She also previously served as Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate of the West and published a book of poetry in 2015, "The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough," according to her website.

Gorman read her poem "In This Place (An American Lyric)," in which she referenced both the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville and protests that have taken place in Boston's Copley Square:

There's a poem in Boston's Copley Square

where protest chants tear through the air

like sheets of rain

where love of the many swallowed the hatred of the few

There's a poem in Charlottesville

where tikki torches string a ring of flame

tight round the wrist of night

where men so white they gleam blue -

seem like statues

where men heap that long wax burning

ever higher

where Heather Heyer

blooms forever in a meadow of resistance.

Gorman posted a video of her entire poem on Facebook:

Sophia Eppolito can be reached at sophia.eppolito@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @SophiaEppolito.

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Harvard's Amanda Gorman first youth poet to open Library of Congress literary season - The Boston Globe

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Harvard University sophomore Amanda Gorman is the first youth poet to open the Library of Congress's literary season, The Harvard Crimson reported. On Wednesday night, Tracy K. Smith, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Princeton professor, gave her inaugural reading as the newest poet laureate of the United States.

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Amanda Gorman's accomplishments are already pretty major.

The Harvard sophomore was recently named the country's first youth poet laureate. She has also released a book of poetry, "The One For Whom Food Is Not Enough," and been recognized for her work as an activist by the likes of Hillary Clinton and Cynthia Enrivo.

And she stays busy, despite already being a student! Her organization, One Pen One Page, was founded in 2016 as a platform "for student storytellers to change the world." Plus, she is working on a digital project that aims to empower teenage girls, according to The Root.

The 19-year-old, however, has bigger goals on her bucketlist, she told The New York Times in a recent profile: she wants to run for office!

"This is a long, long, faraway goal, but 2036 I am running for office to be president of the United States," she said.

"So you can put that in your iCloud calendar."

Yes! Keep dreaming big girl!

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America's First Youth Poet Laureate Also Wants to Run For President In 2036!

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Amanda Gorman's accomplishments are already pretty major. The Harvard sophomore was recently named the country's first youth poet laureate. She has also released a book of poetry, "The One For Whom Food Is Not Enough," and been recognized for her work as an activist by the likes of Hillary Clinton and Cynthia Enrivo.

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For Amanda Gorman, TV was limited in her household when she was growing up, so she got creative and started writing poetry at age eight. Today the sociology major at Harvard University is the first-ever Youth Poet Laureate of the U.S. and has read her work at the Library of Congress and on MTV. She can say that Hillary Clinton and Cynthia Erivo are fans. Her poem "In This Place (An American Lyric)" was acquired by the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City, where it is on display alongside works by Elizabeth Bishop.

And now she can count herself as one of Glamour's 2018 College Women of the Year, along with nine other change-makers. As you can see, Gorman's not your average 20-year-old.

Due to a speech impediment, speaking up for Gorman wasn't always easy. But she made her voice heard by reading and writing.

"You don't have to be a poet, you don't have to be a politician or be in the White House to make an impact with your words," she says. "We all have this capacity to find solutions for the future."

In an original poem for Glamour celebrating this year's College Women of the Year, Gorman says:
When I see young women, I see their glow It's a kind of sheen that can't be seen in glass, diamond, or dew drops We don't need permission for our mission to make change, We're a dawn of a billion beams, that radiant gleam You can't steal this sparkle of mine
It only comes from a woman letting herself shine
The stardust of a girl following her dreams
To be ourselves, unapologetically confident, beautifully strange
But the light of a wave of girls who refuse to be stopped
From their impact, how they act what they do and what they know
Hear Gorman read her poem in the video above and read about all 10 winners of Glamour's College Women of the Year competition here.

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America's First Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman on the Power of Young Women

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For Amanda Gorman, TV was limited in her household when she was growing up, so she got creative and started writing poetry at age eight. Today the sociology major at Harvard University is the first-ever Youth Poet Laureate of the U.S. and has read her work at the Library of Congress and on MTV.

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Pat Frazier became the National Youth Poet Laureate-the first ever from Chicago-after being named the city's Youth Poet Laureate last September. Inspired by poets like Gwendolyn Brooks and Safia Elhillo and their own activism work with Assata's Daughters -an intergenerational collective based in Washington Park that organizes actions around the city-Frazier's first book of poetry, What should people know about the work Assata's Daughters is doing around the city and in the #NoCopAcademy campaign? , will be out this September via Haymarket Books. In a conversation with the Weekly, Frazier talks about the intersection of their literary and organizing work. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Listen to the full version of this interview that aired on #SSWRadio, the Weekly's radio hour and podcast: You've got this huge platform as National Youth Poet Laureate. Do you feel an obligation to advocate for the city in the way that you're doing? Because some people can just write and it can be about whatever, but not advocate as well. And you're doing both of those things. Do you feel like it's an obligation and how do you manage that in what you do?
I n a recent interview with Chicago Magazine you mentioned you can't go back to where you grew up-the Ida B. Wells Homes-because they're no longer there. Can you elaborate on the impact of feeling like you can't go back to somewhere and what that means going forward?
What are some of the teachers or mentors you've had outside of the traditional school setting that have really influenced you along the way?
I think in a lot of ways I've spent the year since my grandmother passed away trying to revisit the Ida B. Wells Homes. A lot of those memories have to be told to me or have to be given to me through some secondary source. And a lot of my memories seem unreal a lot of the time. So that was a struggle with writing a book that was sort of an ode to this place I grew up [in]. I felt like it was my responsibility to tell these stories correctly, but my memory wasn't always there. A lot of the poems are sort of a reimagination of the essence of how it felt to grow up. And that's kind of painful.

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What do you envision for yourself down the road? If you, as the more seasoned version of yourself, some years from now look back and you're like, okay, I was a success if I did this or if I experienced this or if I made this happen, what would those things be for you?
I've been with Assata's [Daughters] for-I think-going on three years now. When I first joined I was very fresh-faced. It was wet-behind-the-ears activism. A lot of talking on Twitter. I do that still, but I think it was just me expecting to automatically go into a revolution and not knowing exactly what that looked like. It's really, really cool to see people who have conflict with police and who have stuff going on at home who dropped out of high school to organize and be in actions and understand that just because they don't talk pretty or just because they don't have a high school diploma, that none of that means they can't still be active and they can't still be doing good things for the community. So I think Assata's has opened that space for everyone to be a part of the movement. And not just people who are going through these modes of what I would say [are] white academia, right? Because I've sat on a lot of panels where I was the only Black young person and I'm in college and I'm the National Youth Poet Laureate, and a lot of those things are privileges that if I had not had them and if I was just like, oh, I'm from the projects, I have a story to tell, I wouldn't have been allowed in those spaces. So I'm really thankful to Assata's for giving those youth that space.

If I'm talking from an organizer's perspective, obviously yes, it seems like an obligation for me. But if I wasn't an organizer, if I was just National Youth Poet Laureate and I just wrote poems I still think that me having this platform-considering all the places I've been and all the places I come from-is already doing a lot for the city. I think that one of the poems that people love the most from me is "I Am Windy City," which is just, like, don't call us Chiraq. Don't perpetuate these violent narratives that Fox News and all these other platforms perpetuate on a daily basis. That's super important, but it's also super important that I just do a poem about my mom that says, hey, we like the situation we're in and you don't have to judge her because she had me when she was a teen or you don't have to judge her because of what happened with her reproductive system.

Mama Brenda. She passed away, but her name was Brenda Matthews and I met her in an After School Matters program for poetry. I think that she was so important because she was another person who was always pushing us to break our boundaries, to hop out of our shells. The program was on the West Side and I was an introvert. I was so shy, so I never spoke to anybody. But in this one day she did a workshop, and by the end of the day everybody in the room was all crying together, sobbing together and just talking and listening to each other. And from that day forward it didn't matter that I was from the South Side and all these other girls were from the West Side. It didn't matter that I was an introvert and that I talked white. All that mattered was that we understood each other and that we were just together in that space. And I think that's what good teaching is.
Note 11/4/20: Dave Stieber is a National Board Certified Social Studies Teacher in his eleventh year of teaching for CPS. He last wrote an op-ed for the Weekly about why CPS teachers should send their children to public school. This story has been updated to reflect Pat Frazier's current pronouns.
And then Page May, who isn't like a poetry teacher necessarily, but she's one of the co-founders of Assata's. She talks a lot, just like me, but she understands when to be quiet and when to step back and I think that's really important. She also takes criticism extremely well. I don't think I've ever met a teacher who I've had the audacity to give criticism too, but Page encourages it. If I was to say I want to be any type of teacher, I think that I would definitely want to follow up in Page's steps; that's the type of teaching that I would want to give to people.

I think about this a lot. I don't know. I think ultimately I just want to be happy and I want the people around me to be happy. More concretely, I want to start a production company of all people of color. And there's already kind of one here in Chicago, it's called and I love them. I've done some work with them, but I want to start a production company like VAM, all people of color, queer folk where young people are just able to commune and tell their own stories.

Poetry is very accessible. Like in most cases all you need is a pen and piece of paper or your phone or like just something to write on. Film, not so accessible. Film, you need a camera, you need equipment, and not just hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars. So just creating that space for young people who want to see images that inspire them to imagine different worlds. I want my company to hopefully put HBO out of business.

The release party for Graphite will be held at Young Chicago Authors, 1180 N. Milwaukee Ave., on September 1st at 7pm.

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National Youth Poet Laureate Pat Frazier on the intersection of her poetry and activism

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Pat Frazier became the National Youth Poet Laureate-the first ever from Chicago-after being named the city's Youth Poet Laureate last September. Inspired by poets like Gwendolyn Brooks and Safia Elhillo and their own activism work with Assata's Daughters -an intergenerational collective based in Washington Park that organizes actions around the city-Frazier's first book of poetry, What should people know about the work Assata's Daughters is doing around the city and in the #NoCopAcademy campaign?

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"Too Good", written during the Kavenaugh hearings, to a standing ovation at a YWCA fundraiser last week and then Dr. Christine Blasey Ford herself was introduced and honored. It was a remarkable, remarkable moment.

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It would have been difficult for the YWCA Silicon Valley to deliver a more powerful duo at its 29th annual Inspire Luncheon than Dolores Huerta and Christine Blasey Ford.

The two women - a civil rights activist from Stockton and a university psychologist living in Palo Alto - are from different worlds and a generation apart, but they both faced opposition, and sometimes hatred, for standing up for what they knew was right.

"I think this is such a powerful day. For years now, women have been trying to speak up and have their voices heard," said Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who introduced Huerta, the luncheon's keynote speaker. "To have Christine Blasey Ford and Dolores Huerta in the same room with more than 1,000 women from our community is just overwhelming."

It was just over a year ago that Ford testified to Congress at the confirmation hearing of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, accusing the nominee of sexually assaulting her when they were high school students in Maryland. Ford was presented with the YWCA Empowerment Award at Thursday's event at the Santa Clara Convention Center, which she said was particularly meaningful to her because of the work the YWCA does to support survivors of sexual violence.

"When my family was forced out of our home last year, we had resources and we had friends who made sure that we had safe places to go and stay," she said to a packed audience of more than 1,200 people. "So many women do not. So many women do not have the privilege that my professional position afforded me. It's much harder for them to speak up. But women in the Silicon Valley have you."

Ford's appearance was preceded by another powerful moment - a spoken-word performance by Oakland Youth Poet Laureate Eleanor Wikstrom of her poem, "Too Good," which was inspired by Ford's experience. And that did not go unnoticed by Ford.

"It's funny, I was inspired by Anita Hill when I was deciding whether to testify but it didn't occur to me at the time that I would be inspiring anyone else," Ford said. "Eleanor, I couldn't ask for a greater gift than to know I inspired your poem."

And there was more inspiration to come as Huerta took the stage. The 89-year-old labor leader, who co-founded the National Farmworkers Association (precursor to the UFW) with Cesar Chavez and originated the manta " Sí, se puede," gave a 20-minute talk filled with humor, charm and, naturally, a bit of politics. She used some of her time to talk about an upcoming challenge to the business-end of Proposition 13 and to encourage people to get involved with the 2020 Census to make sure underrepresented groups are fairly counted. (She slyly got in a plug for the State Senate bid of a longtime friend, Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese.)

"I know that the YWCA has done such great work over the years. I only have one regret, that we don't have enough YWCAs in every single city and the United States of America," Huerta said. "We know that our young women, women everywhere, we need so much help. Especially our young people because they have so many pressures on them in our society."

And there was one young woman in the audience that she was certainly speaking to. Millie Peeples, a 10-year-old fifth grader at Hammer Montessori School in San Jose, did a research project on Huerta last year for her school's Historical Figures Day. Millie's mom, Shortino Family Foundation Executive Director Tamara Alvarado, brought her to the luncheon to see her in person. Millie wrote a letter for Huerta that she delivered during a meet-and-greet session after the luncheon.

"For me, she's a civil and labor rights leader. She's an icon, she's a role model," said Alvarado. "I think it's such a unique opportunity to have my daughter meet her. Why wouldn't I do anything possible to make that happen?"

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Dolores Huerta, Christine Blasey Ford share YWCA stage

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It would have been difficult for the YWCA Silicon Valley to deliver a more powerful duo at its 29th annual Inspire Luncheon than Dolores Huerta and Christine Blasey Ford.

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The following is a guest post by National Youth Poet Laureate Kara Jackson. This is the third in a series of bimonthly blog posts that Kara will be writing during her laureateship this year.
Happy Libra season everyone! October is my favorite month. I love the way fall forces us to live with change. It's remarkable how the color of a leaf can make us consider time. To think it's October already!

This month I exit my teenagehood and enter the tower of my twenties. It feels strange leaving my teenage years behind. I feel attached to this age, like a wet blankie I've balanced over my shoulder for as long as I can remember. There's something exciting about 20, though. There's something very moving about making it this far. As I think about my laureateship, there are so many things I never imagined I could accomplish, and making it to 20 feels like one of those things. There was always something very abstract about this decade. I never understood how I could grow into my dimples, how my head could start to feel correct on my neck. I never thought I'd grow to like eating alone, claiming my own booth in the vegan dining hall.

The weirdest part about turning 20 is the fact that this is my first time celebrating my birthday away from home. I've already been at Smith College for a month. This botanical garden is starting to feel like home. I return to my dorm room at the end of the day, and the room smells like my own making. I'm finally starting to navigate the poetry scene here in Northampton. Last month, Terrance Hayes read at the Poetry Center here at Smith. I attended a dinner with Terrance beforehand, alongside some of my peers who are also poets. The reading lengthened my love for language. Sitting inside Terrance's poems, I was reminded of the purpose of poetry: to really distill your life into something to be shared. It was refreshing to feel this familiar feeling in a place so unfamiliar. Poems are so grounding in this way, providing homes where there are none, proving places worthy as homes. There have also been some readings at the nearby campuses. The poetry community here has definitely ushered me into adjustment.

Although Smith is starting to feel like home, it was nice to get away for a while to attend the Youth Poet Laureate writing retreat. I met with the cohort of poets in Provincetown, Massachusetts. I have never been to a place so remote, so beautiful. Cape Cod has only ever been a whisper, a lyric in an indie rock song. The island felt like fiction floating. The town looked like it had been extracted from an independent film, with tiny streets and wooden signs. The beach felt so sacred and full of solace. When I walked along the water, I was in a trance. I saved the shards of shells, swooned by their color. This trip taught me the importance of getting away, of stepping back. Sometimes our craft requires a change in scenery, in location. Sometimes our poems have wandered far away from us, and we must collect them as we conquer a new place.

We wrote poems with Mahogany Browne in this amazing art space. It was my first time sitting down to write in such a structured way in a great while, and I was grateful for the pace of her workshop, the thrill of it. I came up with the crumbs of what could be some interesting poems, and got to experience the wonderful minds of my peers, who I had seen for the first time in months. At the center of the trip was love, a language echoed so effortless among us. These poets are always as loving as they are lyrical. It was a pleasure to share 72 hours with them, but I long for a time where we are allowed more time together. Poetry is personal but it relies on community, and this trip reaffirmed that truth for me.

As October revs up, I am looking forward to some more opportunities as youth poet laureate. The writing retreat has me feeling inspired and committed to my work as an artist, and as a being that's constantly becoming something else. I can't wait to see what fall brings, and to get the most out of Libra season!

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"The Youth Laureate Letters": The Transitions of Autumn

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The following is a guest post by National Youth Poet Laureate Kara Jackson. This is the third in a series of bimonthly blog posts that Kara will be writing during her laureateship this year. Happy Libra season everyone! October is my favorite month. I love the way fall forces us to live with change.

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Listen Up: These Young Black Poets Have a Message (Published 2020)

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Ten teenage writers confront an America in flames and fight back, in their own words.

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Kara Jackson's writing, memory-dense and physical, speaks of a young woman on the edge of what's to come. For the 19-year-old poet and activist, her written lines sing of the next phase of life - adulthood, college, the wide-open sometimes terrifying path of possibilities - a give and take of strength and gentleness that's deeply rooted in the body of a young woman fully, delightfully, celebrating her life.

Kara Jackson is the United States Youth Poet Laureate, a weighty title she earned in April 2019. Selected for the role by a panel of judges - renowned poets and writers like Elizabeth Acevedo and Juan Felipe Herrera - from a deep pool of prodigiously talented young writers from across America. Jackson was chosen over 40 other local youth poet laureates, young people from across the country with a demonstrated record of literary excellence and a devotion to civic action; in other words, a love of words and the desire to do something with them.

The United States has had a Poet Laureate for the better part of a century, but it wasn't until 2008 that the idea for a Youth Poet Laureate sprang into being thanks to the work of Urban Word, one of the oldest and most comprehensive youth literary arts organizations in the country. Since the '80s, Urban Word has worked with young writers on literacy, leadership, and personal development. Noticing an increase in young people galvanized by the 2008 Obama election, and eager to become more civically involved, the organization partnered with the New York City's Mayor's Office to administer local Youth Poet Laureate programs around the country. In 2017 they instituted the position of a national Youth Poet Laureate, a role defined not only by poetic merit, but also by a commitment to being actively involved in community and pursuing social justice.

The post is now in its third year and in its brief history has celebrated three young women, the first two being widely celebrated Amanda Gorman who has gone on to found One Pen One Page which promotes literacy through free creative writing programming for underserved youth, and Patricia Frazier, an artist and activist whose debut collect Graphite is a study on gentrification, loss, and her childhood in the Ida B. Wells Projects in Chicago.While the position is open to young writers ages 13 to 19, a huge range cuffing the edge of middle school and working solidly into a college career, all three Youth Laureates have been in their late teens.

More than anything, the Youth Poet Laureate program, and national position, exists to amplify the voices of young people - young people who are poets because of what they've experienced in their communities and driven by the urgent need to action teenage demands. For Jackson, that demand is prison abolition, a cause she's been passionate about before she defined her role as a poet.

Jackson is now a freshman at Smith College, navigating the murky channels of being a young adult in a complicated world. It was Jackson's essay "Poetry and Democracy" that sealed her fate as the third Youth Poet Laureate, elevating her from her role as Youth Poet Laureate of Chicago to young poet on the national stage. A songwriter before a poet, Jackson's musicality comes through in her writing, although she's quick to tell me that her approach to the two mediums is very different. "If it's a poem, it's a poem," she tells me, when I ask if she ever sets her words to verse. "I'm more intentional with my poetry." That intention carries through from how she structures her lines into how she actualizes her role as an outspoken prison abolitionist. As social justice is a key pillar in the Youth Poet Laureate program, Jackson uses her public role as a way to educate people on what it means to abolition prisons, emphasizing the need to humanize incarcerated individuals through the words she writes and the events she adds weight to.

Chasing down the multi-hyphenate Chicago-native is no small feat. I caught up with Jackson while she caught her breath after a full weekend of Poet Laureate duties - a two day retreat in Provincetown, Massachusetts focusing on community building and goal intention, from mission to execution - and settled into the distinctly relatable preparation of midterms.

Photo credit: Mercedes Zapata

Bustle: How did you first come to poetry?
Jackson: Poetry first found me in song. I learned to love language on a B-side, in the fine print of my father's vinyls. Music was my first motivation to write. I wanted to make songs like Roberta Flack, for my words to fly in high frequencies, a language leaving earth. It took me awhile to understand my songs as poems. When I started high school, I joined my spoken word club after a showcase shook the wind out of me. I had never read in front of anyone, but I wanted to stand where the people I saw stood. When I started to write and engage with the words of Patricia Smith, Sharon Olds, Adrienne Rich, I began to see the mark music had on my langouring for language. I found in these poets what I had always found in the liner notes, and began to construct a lineage out of all of this language.
How do you see you role as the United States' Youth Poet Laureate and what are you focusing on through your work?
KJ: As the National Youth Poet Laureate I am working very hard at being my regular self. While I hope to use my title to collaborate with poets around the country (and the world), I am also using my title to be incredibly usual. I want to show that the people with these titles are not magical, or rather, our magic is in our normality. I want to engage with people who look like me, and who are committed to being regular. Black women are held to a supernatural standard. I want to use my title to leverage vulnerability and put the ordinary on a pedestal.
What is keeping you focused and grounded on your mission, your schoolwork, college life [as a college freshman], and everything in between?
KJ: As I adjust to the routine of college I am trying to be very compassionate with myself. When we're in these institutions we're constantly fighting to be our real selves. I am trying not to let this place taint my truth. I will only let this experience illuminate it. I am making time to read for pleasure, to laugh with friends, to crank out chords on my guitar. I am approaching my work with joy, and being gentle with myself when my work is a challenge. I have a lot of goals and am committed to school right now, but I don't want my goals to make me feel guilty, I want my goals to be realistic and casted with compassion.
Why do you think poetry matters now in 2019? What role can it play in social movements?
KJ: Audre Lorde taught me that poetry lives in the dark corners of our spirits. Poetry is our natural right. We can use poetry to give form to feeling, to make tears tangible, to build a foundation for our fears to fall back on. As we approach justice, we have to use our feelings to fashion our survival. Poetry provides the language necessary to construct the possible. In a time where fear is so frequent, we must name this fear in order to approach it. Poetry helps us christen and construct our wildest dreams, our timid ideas, for as Lorde says, " There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt."
What are you reading right now in your *free* time?
KJ: Right now I am reading All About Love by bell hooks and Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson. For me this is also the season of Stag's Leap by Sharon Olds, so I think I will return to it soon. Since I do a lot of reading for school, a lot of my pleasure reading is found in the familiar; Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Patricia Smith, Terrance Hayes, Franny Choi. My favorite writers are also my peers. I just spent a weekend at a writing retreat with the Youth Poet Laureate cohort, and my lovely friend Azura Tyabji gifted me her book Stepwell, so I'm excited to dig into that.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Kara Jackson Is The Multi-hyphenate College Student Changing How We Look At Poetry

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Kara Jackson's writing, memory-dense and physical, speaks of a young woman on the edge of what's to come. For the 19-year-old poet and activist, her written lines sing of the next phase of life - adulthood, college, the wide-open sometimes...