In the case of most poetry that you see girding its cloak of dust on bookshelves everywhere, one of the only times it actually springs to life is when it’s read out loud. It’s like a magic spell — and tonight’s expressive call to consciousness by poet Amanda Gorman crystallizes that arcane notion eloquently.

The endlessly fêted Gorman has recently become a paragon of poetry, acquitting herself admirably as the first Youth Poet Laureate of the United States (in 2017) and the Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, as well as reading her work in front of the United Nations. 

The Museum of Contemporary Art, 250 S. Grand Ave., downtown; Thu., July 11, 7 p.m.; free. (213) 626-6222, moca.org/program/poet-amanda-gorman.

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