What can poetry do? This is a question that pops up from time to time. I see it in news articles with bold headlines stating “Poetry is Dead,” or hear it from those carrying the weight of these trying times, searching for something that helps. However, we turn to poetry in our greatest moments of joy and sorrow to help us tune in to our emotions and connect with others. I also think a level of praise is present in all poems. There is something central to the work that expresses praise through the gift of time and consideration. Lucille Clifton’s “won’t you celebrate with me,” serves as a prayer for me. From the opening line, “won’t you celebrate with me / what i have shaped into / a kind of life,” I felt a powerful urge to praise this one, flawed, and perfectly human life I have been given. The poem’s closing, “come celebrate with me that everyday / something has tried to kill me / and has failed,” reminds us that this gift of life is not free from immense hardships and threats, but we survive and carry on nonetheless. With this project, I wanted to illuminate how we exist in this “kind of life” with those around us who knowingly and unknowingly ward off the things that try to kill us.
As Texas’s poet laureate, I wanted to do something that would amplify poetry, poets, and the people across the state who make this land our home. Sharing poems as praise creates moments to acknowledge everyday people who positively impact our lives in small and large ways. As poets, we can give people their flowers in real time through poetry and show them they are not forgotten and that their actions matter. During this project, I wrote and shared new poems of praise for strangers who brought a bit of light and kindness into my life and the world, in large and small ways. A poem for the man who paused during a busy morning in the airport to make space so that I could take a photograph; a cashier at Taco Bell, whose golden smile pushed back the clouds of depression surrounding me; and the unknown drivers on the highway who pull over and help those stranded on the shoulder when their cars break down. Every day, we show up for each other, and we don’t know the impact that will have. I wanted to capture that generosity in praise.
I invited seventy emerging and established Texan poets to share an original praise poem. City and state poets laureate contributed poems to the project, including Carrie Fountain, Mag Gabbert, Lupe Mendez, Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, Octavio Quintanilla, and Austin’s youth poet laureate, Ella Kim. Poets celebrated educators, doctors, librarians, friends, family, strangers, and others who made time to add a bit of light to our days. Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Driver” praises the bus driver in San Antonio who carefully maneuvers the city bus through her neighborhood for passengers and pedestrians. Praise those who move us without even knowing who we are.
With Praisesong for the People, I wanted to highlight those whose lives don’t make headlines or garner celebrity status but make all the difference in our communities. With support from the Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship and the Writers’ League of Texas, I was able to pay poets for their time and talent, share the poems on PraisesongForThePeople.com, and curate live readings across the state in Austin, Canyon, Dallas, Houston, McAllen, and San Antonio. Hundreds of attendees came together through the power of poetry and praise, and thousands of visitors enjoyed the poems online. An especially heartwarming outcome of the project was the opportunity for poets to connect with the subjects of their praise poems. Logen Cure reconnected with a college professor after more than a decade; Sam Treviño’s father drove to Austin from South Texas to hear his son’s poem about a funeral they attended in the Rio Grande Valley; and Terry Dawson celebrated Georgetta Bryant with a special presentation at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Austin, the church Bryant’s family helped establish in 1941. This is what poetry can do. It brings us together and holds us through what has and will come.
I hope the Praisesong for the People project encourages others to read, write, and share poetry, and to praise those who show up with kindness and grace for others. Free lesson plans created by award-winning K–12 Texas educators will be available on the website, and Host Publications will publish an anthology of the poems this fall.
Poetry is alive and well in the heart and soul of Texas. Poetry is in the people. Praise the people!
Amanda Johnston is the author of two chapbooks, GUAP and Lock & Key, and the full-length collection Another Way to Say Enter (Argus House Press, 2017). Her work has appeared in numerous online and print publications, including Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry (Northwestern University Press, 2019), edited by Lauren K. Alleyne. She is a former board president of the Cave Canem Foundation and the founder and executive director of Torch Literary Arts. In 2024, Johnston was appointed the poet laureate of Texas. In the same year, she received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. In 2024, Amanda Johnston was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. Through her project, Praisesong for the People: Poems Celebrating the Heart and Soul of Texas, Johnston will commission seventy poets across seven regions of the state to write poems celebrating everyday Texans. The project seeks to uplift the intersecting population across generational, gender, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, differently abled, and immigrant communities. Johnston will also share resources with K–12 educators to encourage students to read and write praise poems.