*Amanda Gorman referenced the musical Hamilton in her soul-stirring inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb,” on the day she shook up the world. The next morning, her world was rocked on “Good Morning America” with a surprise message from Hamilton’s creator.
“I almost fell out of my chair!” Gorman said Thursday after watching a surprise personal message from Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Also a fan of Gorman’s work, the playwright shared words of appreciation in the inspiring video message that Gorman watched for the first time during her interview.
“The right words in the right order can change the world, and you proved that yesterday with your brilliant piece. I’m so incredibly proud of you and I can’t wait to see what you write next. Keep changing the world, one word at a time. You smashed it!” he told the young Poet Laureate.
Regarding her impact on the nation after Wednesday’s performance, Gorman told Robin Roberts, “It’s not often that you wake up on a morning feeling like this.”
She went on to say that she was “shocked” and “overjoyed” by Dr. Jill Biden’s inaugural invitation last month. She is the youngest by far of the poets who have read at presidential inaugurations since Kennedy invited Robert Frost in 1961, with other predecessors including Maya Angelou and Elizabeth Alexander.
“I was not expecting that at 22, they would trust me with such an honor,” she said. “I was also daunted at the same time. I was honestly scared of writing such a poem. I wasn’t sure if I could do it justice, but I’m so glad that I put my best foot forward and did it.”
Gorman, a native and resident of Los Angeles and the country’s first National Youth Poet Laureate, told The Associated Press last week that she planned to combine a message of hope for President Joseph Biden’s inaugural without ignoring “the evidence of discord and division.”
While on “GMA,” Gorman also revealed that she–like Joe Biden–grew up with a speech impediment. She said she could not say several letters until she was around 20 years old.
“Most specifically the R-sound…meaning that I couldn’t say words like ‘poetry’ or even ‘Gorman’ which is my last name, and I had to really work at it and practice to get to where I am today.
Watch her GMA interview below, or here on Facebook.
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