The future isn't attained
It is atoned, until
It is at one with history,
Until home is more than memory,
Until we can hold near
Who we hold dear.
—from "CORDAGE, or ATONEMENT"

This breathtaking collection of poetry by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman is beautifully evocative, lyrically profound, and visually mesmerizing. Gorman harnesses the intricacy of our new, unprecedented reality with a powerful mix of prose and poetry, and by manipulating the visual presentation of words. In interweaving moments of the past, present, and future, Gorman soothes our collective feelings of uncertainty and offers an ode to hope. All who read will be spellbound by the poet's brilliant link between grief and healing, and by how we simultaneously carry both.