Rate:5.0 / 5 votes

There’s No Power Like Home

Amanda Gorman 1998 (California)

Free verse
We were sick of home,
Home sick.
That mask around our ear
Hung itself into the year.
Once we stepped into our home,
We found ourselves gasping, tear-
ing it off like a bandage,
Like something that gauzed
The great gape of our mouth.
Even faceless, a smile can still
Scale up our cheeks,
Bone by bone,
Our eyes crinkling
Delicately as rice paper
At some equally fragile beauty-
The warbling blues of a dog,
A squirrel venturing close,
The lilt of a beloved's joke.
Our mask is no veil, but a view.
What are we, if not what we see in another.
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Submitted by acronimous on June 20, 2023

Modified by acronimous on June 26, 2023

36 sec read
706

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDAEFGHIJKBLGMNOPL
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 560
Words 122
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 20
Full analysis for There’s No Power Like Home »

Amanda Gorman

Amanda Gorman is an American poet and activist from Los Angeles, California. Gorman's work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. Gorman is the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate. Her poem “The Hill We Climb" was recited at the Joe Biden’s 2021 US presidential inauguration. more…

All Amanda Gorman poems | Amanda Gorman Books

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5 Comments
  • davidb
    davidb
    Very nice!
    LikeReply2 months ago
    • acronimous
      acronimous
      Indeed...
      LikeReply2 months ago
    • davidb
      davidb
      It throws us back into a difficult period but which is fortunately behind us..
      LikeReply2 months ago
  • Giselavigil
    Giselavigil
    This poem made me really think about how we can both long for the place from which we come and also run away from it. Enjoyed reading this. Nicely done.
    LikeReply4 months ago
  • jonhhy983
    jonhhy983
    beautiful poem!!
    LikeReply 14 months ago
  • talygarza
    talygarza
    Great metaphor about feel homesickness and carefully written.
    LikeReply6 months ago
  • AIDA
    AIDA
    I absolutely loved reading your poem 'There's No Power Like Home'! The vivid imagery and emotional depth really drew me in from the very beginning. The way you explored the complex emotions of feeling both sick of home and homesick was beautifully captured.

    The line "That mask around our ear, Hung itself into the year" was particularly powerful, evoking a sense of the weight and lasting impact our experiences can have on us. It really resonated with me.

    Your use of metaphor, such as "tearing it off like a bandage" to describe the act of returning home and finding comfort, added depth and richness to the poem. The comparison of a smile scaling up our cheeks like delicate rice paper was a truly unique and captivating image.

    I also appreciate the way you highlighted the beauty in simple moments of everyday life, whether it's the warbling blues of a dog or the lilt of a beloved's joke. It reminds us of the importance of finding joy in the little things.

    As for improvement suggestions, I would love to see a stronger and more concise conclusion to tie all the themes and ideas together. Perhaps you could expand on the idea of the mask being a view and explore the significance of what we see in others in shaping our own sense of self.

    Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your poem and I believe it has great potential. Keep up the fantastic work!     
    LikeReply 19 months ago

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"There’s No Power Like Home" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/162340/there’s-no-power-like-home>.

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