Amanda Gorman’s Super Bowl poem honored essential workers

The world was first introduced to National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman at President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Gorman, 22, captivated the nation when she recited “The Hill We Climb,” her original poem that is set to be released as a book in March.

On Feb. 7, Gorman was once again in the spotlight when she appeared at Super Bowl LV to read a poem dedicated to America’s frontline workers, honoring them for their contributions and sacrifices during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The NFL selected three frontline workers who served as honorary captains for the championship game: Tampa Bay ICU nurse Suzie Dorner, Los Angeles teacher Trimaine Davis and veteran James Martin. In her moving poem, “Chorus of the Captains,” Gorman paid tribute to each of these everyday heroes and the countless more like them who have worked so hard throughout the crisis.

In this video tweeted out by the NFL, you can watch Gorman recite the poem, interspersed with clips of the three workers performing their important jobs:

“Today we honor our three captains/For their actions and impact in/A time of uncertainty and need,” she began her poem. “They’ve taken the lead, Exceeding all expectations and limitations, Uplifting their communities and neighbors. As leaders, healers and educators.”

The poem went on to specify the ways in which each of the three honorary captains have made an impact and ended with a call to action:

“Let us walk with these warriors,

Charge on with these champions,

And carry forth the call of our captains!

We celebrate them by acting with courage and compassion,

By doing what is right and just.

For while we honor them today

It is they who every day honor us.”

Ahead of her appearance, Gorman tweeted about the significance of poetry at the Super Bowl, calling it “a feat for art & our country, because it means we’re thinking imaginatively about human connection even when we feel siloed”: