Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman Lensed Spectacularly by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue May
/There are moments when it’s best to say nothing.
Of course, AOC will return later to America’s real-life young poet goddess Amanda Gorman covering the May 2021 issue of Vogue US. Gorman is photographed in spectacular images by one of America’s finest photographers Annie Leibovitz, with styling by Gabriella Karefa-Johnson.
We are grateful that Anna Wintour sought to elevate Amanda Gorman in a way that she did not elevate US Vice President Kamala Harris. Seeing these images brought copious tears to AOC eyes.
No tears were inspired by the Vogue US Kamala Harris images — which remain unposted on AOC. To say I was personally disturbed is an understatement — but I’ve never commented until now. Gorman would want us to fix the Kamala Harris omission pronto. Honoring Gorman’s spirit, grace and message, we will take action promptly.
Vogue might want to consider interviewing Harris on her first anniversary as vice president of America and put Annie Leibovitz behind the lens. It gives me the opportunity to create a collage of both women hanging over my sofa.
It’s been decades since any poem has had such impact on the American psyche as Gorman’s recitation of ‘The Hill We Climb.’ at the Jan 20, 2021 inauguration of Joseph R. Biden.
In Doreen St. Felix’s interview of the American beauty, she references CNN’s Anderson Cooper request of Gorman to repeat the rhyming mantra she recites before she steps onstage:
“I am the daughter of Black writers who are descended from Freedom Fighters who broke their chains and changed the world. They call me.”
And so Amanda Gorman IS the daughter of them all.
The voices of Black writers past and present, the marchers and Freedom Fighters are ringing across America, launched to the larger public with grace and conviction by Amanda Gorman in January 2021. The dangerous, destructive reality of America’s white supremacists could not silence poet Gorman’s inspiring message for me. ~ Anne