Watch: Amanda Gorman's 'Hill We Climb' poem reading wows inauguration audience

American poet Amanda Gorman reads a poem during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. - Copyright Patrick Semansky/AP

By Emma Beswick

Published on 20/01/2021 - 21:58

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The poem, which she finished in the wake of the Capitol Hill riots, was about unity in the US.

Amanda Gorman, the US' 22-year-old youth poet laureate, stole the show during Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony with the reading of her piece "The Hill We Climb".

The LA native became the youngest poet to perform at a presidential inauguration.

She received widespread praise for her performance, including on social media where the likes of Oprah said: "I have never been prouder to see another young woman rise! Brava Brava".

The poem, which she told The New York Times she finished in the wake of the Capitol Hill riots, was about unity in the US.

"Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished," she said.

"We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one."

You can watch Gorman's full performance in the above video player.

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