10 of the best quotes from ‘Call us What we Carry’

As this year begins to whine down, I can’t help but think about some of the books I read in 2022. And if you read this blog or follow me on social you know that as a poet myself, poetry is something very near and dear to my heart. This year, I read quite an array of beautiful poetry including one of my favs of the year ‘Call Us What We Carry’ by Amanda Gorman.

I read this collection right on time, I think I needed these words as confirmation of what we’ve been through, collectively, over the past few years, while also serving as a glimmer of hope and reassurance in a better future to come.

So instead of me trying to convince you to read this book, I’ll share my 10 favourite quotes from the book in hopes that will intrigue you to pick it up, spend time with it, and love it as much as I did.

1. “Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true. That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried.”

2. “Since the world is round there is no way to walk away from each other, for even then we are coming back together.”

3. “We don’t need a gown. We don’t need a stage. We are walking beside our ancestors, their drums roar for us, their feet stomp at our life.

There is power in being robbed, and still choosing to dance.”

4. “The only way to correctly predict the future is to pave it, is to brave it.”

5. “Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.”

6. “Only when we’re drowning do we understand how fierce our feet can kick.”

7. “The funerals without families. Weddings in waiting. The births in isolation. Let no one again have to begin, love, or end, alone.

8. Always remember that what happened to us happened through us.

9. “To be haunted is to be hunted by a history that is still hurting”

10. Riots are red. Violence is blue. We’re sick of dying. How about you?

So what about you? Did you read this book? What are some of your favourite collections of the year?