Amanda Gorman’s poetry reminds us that words can gather people toward grief, courage, accountability, and hope. In her poems honoring Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Gorman speaks to the power of “us” and “we” — not as simple language, but as a call into community, congregation, collective responsibility, and moral courage.
At the center of these poems is a profound question: how do we remain human in the face of violence, loss, fear, and injustice?
Gorman does not ask us to turn away from anger or rage. Instead, her work reminds us that anger can be a necessary part of the struggle for justice when it is joined with love, humanity, conscience, and care. Rage, when rooted in dignity and responsibility, can help communities name harm, refuse silence, and move toward transformation.
In a close reading published by Slant Books, George Dardess reflects on the central role of the collective “we” in Gorman’s poems. He highlights how Gorman’s language calls readers away from isolation and toward shared responsibility. The poems become more than acts of remembrance. They become an invitation to witness, to grieve, to resist dehumanization, and to imagine a more just future together.
This message speaks deeply to the mission of the Institute for Family Services. Healing is never only individual. Healing is relational. It is communal. It is connected to dignity, belonging, accountability, and justice. In moments of public grief and social division, we are reminded that the work of healing asks us to move toward one another rather than away from one another.
Gorman’s poems invite us to remember that every life is held within a larger human story. To honor those who have been harmed, lost, silenced, or forgotten is also to ask what kind of community we are willing to become.
When grief is joined with love, when anger is joined with humanity, and when remembrance is joined with action, we are called into the difficult and necessary work of justice.
Center on December 3, 2025 in New York City. David Dee Delgado / David Dee Delgado/Getty Images for The New York Times
Sources and Further Reading
Amanda Gorman poems honoring Renee Good and Alex Pretti:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Amanda+Gormans+poem+for+rENEE+GOOD&oq=Amanda+Gormans+poem+for+rENEE+GOOD&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQABgNGIAEMggIAhAAGBYYHjIICAMQABgWGB4yCAgEEAAYFhgeMggIBRAAGBYYHjIKCAYQABiiBBiJBTIHCAcQABjvBTIKCAgQABiABBiiBDIHCAkQABjvBdIBCTEyOTM4ajBqNKgCALACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:b3b85182,vid:WWsaiPy-1Kg,st:0
George Dardess, “Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Amanda Gorman’s Poems,” Slant Books:
https://slantbooks.org/close-reading/essays/renee-good-and-alex-pretti-in-amanda-gormans-poems/