Read Amanda Gorman’s Powerful Super Bowl Poem in Full

Amanda Gorman, the young poet who did a reading at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration, read a poem at the beginning of Super Bowl  LV.  And, as always, she nailed it. The poem was beautiful, moving, and honored those we’ve lost and are working on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Here is the full text. The poem is titled Chorus of the Captains. 

Today we honor our three captains

For their actions and impact in

A time of uncertainty and need. 

They’ve taken the lead,

Exceeding all expectations and limitations,

Uplifting their communities and neighbors

As leaders, healers, and educators. 

James has felt the wounds of warfare, 

But this warrior still shares

His home with at-risk kids.

During COVID, he’s even lent a hand

Live-streaming football for family and fans. 

Trimaine is an educator who works nonstop, 

Providing his community with hotspots,

Laptops, and tech workshops,

So his students have all the tools

They need to succeed in life and in school. 

Suzie is the ICU nurse manager at a Tampa Hospital.

Her chronicles prove that even in tragedy, hope is possible.

She lost her grandmothers to the pandemic,

And fights to save other lives in the ICU battle zone,

Defining the frontline heroes risking their lives for our own. 

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. 

You can watch Gorman recite it here: 

Gorman, 22, graduated from Harvard University and was named the first-ever Youth Poet Laureate of the United States. Her inauguration poem, “The Hill We Climb,” was lauded as soon as she recited it. “We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it,” she said. “Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. And this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. In this truth, in this faith, we trust. For while we have our eyes on the future. History has its eyes on us.”

Glamour honored Amanda Gorman in 2018 as one of our College Women of the Year. “You don’t have to be a poet, you don’t have to be a politician or be in the White House to make an impact with your words. We all have this capacity to find solutions for the future,” she told us.