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Poetry can help us become more human. We saw it on display as 22-year-old inaugural poet 

Amanda Gorman read her stirring poem "The Hill We Climb"

 last week. It felt joyous and truthful, necessary and hopeful, and there was power in both her and her words. 

Gorman's Inauguration Day poem no doubt helped inspire submissions to Morning Edition's most recent poetry callout. Days before she read those lines, Kwame Alexander, NPR's poet in residence, asked for poetry that starts with the words "I dream a world." That line comes from 

 and it inspired Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech. 

NPR's poetry callout asked that we write our way out of the unprecedented events of the past year and into a space of possibility. It garnered more than 2,500 responses  — including poems from first graders, college professors and grandparents across the country.

Alexander took lines from the submissions to create a community poem, "This Is Our Dream." Contributors are credited at the bottom. The poem also includes a line from Gorman's "The Hill We Climb,

I dream a world that sounds like a gentle "good morning," 

like "sleep tight" at the end of the day, 

A hallelujah of joyous rejoicing, in this moment's gift of life.

and all creatures thrive with what they need.

Where it's not too late to change the people who hate.

Where race and color are not what the scales weigh.

Where the root of all evil is pulled up, 

and the rain pours down until the ground swells with fertile soil.

Where potential is the currency of the day, 

The one that lifts the silenced souls from shackles.

Where vision cannot be smothered beneath my eyes beyond my reach

I dream a world where a bridge is arching over troubled waters, built on a foundation of truth.

Where children grow up learning only one kind of division, the long kind.

a world where Sharing kindness is commonplace;

Where deeds are done with heart and zest 

Where we take care of the ocean and the world.

Where the coronavirus goes away so we can go to school.

Where people can hug their family and friends whenever they want

Where all have the luxury simply to sit and build a puzzle. 

I dream of seeing foxes walking in a field. I would like to walk with them. 

I dream a world where native fish fly free, 

Unfettered, many miles to reach the sea. 

Conquerors, colonists, and slaves in chains.

Where the monarchs butterflies are the only concern we have about migration.

for children whose skin is darker than mine.

For my daughter's daughters; for my son's sons.

Where the problems are the problem, not the people debating them.

Where we lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms 

Where we know each other's joys and sorrows 

I dream a world straight; crooked paths are only for walking 

A world drunk with self-esteem, fearless and ready 

A world where you hold onto your dreams, and I'll hold the door 

Pass right through, 'cause the world is yours

I dream a world where that world is not a dream,

No more social media advertisements for body armor 

People with mental health issues, accepted as whole

A mosaic of humans not separated by color, opinion, belief

Written in pencil, full of mistakes and erasures 

On the relentless path to its honest truth.

Where, as soldiers of democracy nurturing us, 

teachers are publicly thanked for their service. 

Walls and floors, built of some durable crystalline material. 

Where we know which student is really watching a TikTok video 

Not mandated by law, but embraced with zeal

Where I can be black and woman, and be safe

All non-white folks in the land of the free 

That the paved gold that America promises prospers

Where the playing field is level, the same, 

where we anchor to hope and all it brings   

Do you not see it is time to finish what has begun?

This community poem was created using submissions by: 

Arts and Culture

Lifestyle

Rachel Martin

Author

NPR poet-in-residence Kwame Alexander's latest community poem started with a request to consider what follows after the words "I dream a world."

'This Is Our Dream': A crowdsourced poem to inspire hope

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