Irene's Reviews > Call Us What We Carry

Every time I hear praises for Amanda Gorman, I wonder if I’m reading the same so-called “poems?”

The reviews glow about this tripe as if its “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock.” You’d think Gorman was the next T.S. Eliot or Alexander Pushkin or Sylvia Plath or Seamus Heaney. I LOVE poetry, so try to give it a chance. But when I see crap like “unprecedented & unpresidented,” I don’t get inspired to do anything but gag. I literally had to wash my mouth after reading: “This book is awake. This book is a wake.” That is garbage, verbal diarrhea, and not poetry.

Gorman’s “poetry” is juvenile at best. It’s like a slightly catchy little commercial jingle being hailed as an operatic masterpiece. I remember hearing better poetry in my 9th grade Honors English class. Please make it stop!

I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the people praising this junk don’t know or like real poetry. Gorman makes them feel smart and literary and that’s what they like. There’s no other explanation....