Amanda Gorman recites powerful original poem at Super Bowl LV
Activist and poet Amanda Gorman, who was the country's first ever National Youth Poet Laureate, recited an original poem before Sunday's Super Bowl game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Gorman's poem, "Chorus of the Captains," celebrated and introduced the three honorary captains — Pittsburgh-based Marine veteran James Martin, who volunteers with the Wounded Warrior Project and works with at-risk kids, Los Angeles educator Trimaine Davis and Tampa ICU nurse manager Suzie Dorner — who were specially invited to the game by the NFL.
Watch her full performance, pre-recorded by the NFL, here:
Gorman, 22, is the first poet ever to recite a poem at a Super Bowl game. "These are the moments I strive for in my lifetime, which is to bring poetry into places that we least expect it, so we can fully kind of grapple with the ways in which it can heal us and kind of resurrect us," she told Trevor Noah on "The Daily Show."
The young activist, who has recited multiple original works commissioned by "CBS This Morning," became a viral sensation when she performed her original poem "The Hill We Climb" at President Biden's inauguration. She is also the youngest poet to recite a poem at a presidential inauguration.
She told "CBS This Morning" co-host Anthony Mason then: "Poetry is a weapon. It is an instrument of social change...and poetry is one of the most political arts out there because it demands that you rupture and destabilize the language in which you're working with. "Inherently, you are pushing against the status quo. And so for me, it's always existed in that tradition of truth-telling."
Gorman's poem followed musical performances from Grammy-winning artist H.E.R., R&B and pop star Jazmine Sullivan and the Grammy-nominated country singer Eric Church. Grammy-winning H.E.R. sang "America The Beautiful," while Sullivan and Church gave an original rendition of the national anthem. ASL performer Warren "Wawa" Snipe signed the two songs as well.
