Inspired by Amanda Gorman s inaugural poem, R.I s deputy youth poetry ambassador aims high Linda Borg, The Providence Journal I Am Black by Eugenie Rose Belony
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PROVIDENCE When inaugural poet Amanda Gorman described herself as a “skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother,” Eugenie Rose Belony felt that the poet was speaking directly to her.
“As soon as she walked on stage, I was in shock and awe,” said Belony, Rhode Island’s deputy youth poetry ambassador. “My breath was taken away. I had that moment of, ‘If you work hard enough, you can get to these places.’ I was telling myself, ‘We will continue breaking out.’
“I saw what I might grow into,” Belony said. “So many of my teachers, my friends and colleagues who have seen me perform my work were emailing me, ‘Oh my gosh, as soon as she started speaking, I thought, This is what I hope to see you be.’
Belony, who is 16 and a pre-engineering major at the Providence Career & Technical Academy in Providence, has been writing and reciting poetry for about five years. Her dream? To become an astrophysicist and a space engineer, and, of course, a poet.
She s a self-described science geek, and a lot of her spoken poems synthesize the natural world with her experiences growing up in Silver Lake.