There’s a man around the corner singing, and Amanda Gorman is a little distracted. Just minutes ago, she left the stage at the Democratic National Convention after reciting her poem “This Sacred Scene” and has now retreated to the quietest place in the stadium: the Chicago Bulls showers. “I’m so sorry,” the 26-year-old poet says, her long dress rustling through the phone as she and her minder rush to silence whoever is making noise out there. There is a pause, and then: “Oh, my God!” A moment later: “We love you – we love you.” It was John Legend, passing by on his way backstage.

Gorman and Legend were just two of the big names who galvanized the crowd at the DNC on Aug. 21 — Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Oprah also took the stage at the United Center and urged voters to support Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in their campaigns. Gorman, who became the nation’s youngest inaugural poet with her reading “The Hill We Climb” at President Joe Biden’s swearing-in in January 2021, originally had a different candidate and a different tone in mind when she began thinking about a possible DNC speech. It wasn’t until about a week ago that she received the official invitation to attend and began writing “This Sacred Scene” for this moment.

The energy was high at this year’s DNC, and Gorman’s talk added to the mood. “Invite her at your own risk,” one of the ABC anchors said as Gorman took the stage. “She definitely stole the show in 2021.” Wearing a stately ice-blue dress, Gorman recited a poem that reframed the American dream: “Only now, as we approach this rarefied air, / Are we aware that maybe / the American dream is not a dream at all, but a challenge.”

After the appearance, according to John Legend, Gorman spoke with TIME about her own presidential ambitions, who she thinks should speak at a potential inauguration for Harris and Tim Walz, and how she’s thinking about hope this election season. She also revealed details about her next book exclusively to TIME.

You seemed so confident and so composed as you recited tonight. How do you think you have changed in the last three years in terms of your confidence, your presence and your ability to captivate a room?

I had to evolve a little bit to perform at the DNC the way I did. At the inauguration, there were only a couple hundred people there. They all stood behind me. Because of COVID and the insurrection, there was no one on the National Mall. So it was actually an incredibly intimate way to participate in politics as a poet. When I got the invite to the DNC, I was honored, but I was also really nervous about what it would be like in such a different environment — being indoors, in a stadium, having so many people watching not just digitally but in person this time. I had to go back to my basics and my fundamentals as a poet to make sure the poem was as good as it could be, to make every line sharp, and to really feel safe and comfortable expressing that and holding that space.

Read more: “Unity with Purpose.” Amanda Gorman and Michelle Obama discuss art, identity and optimism

Tell me about your experience when you entered the stage. What is your energy like in those moments?

It’s somehow like that, Let’s do it. I have a very “fake it until you make it” energy that I live by because when you walk out, the first thing I feel is like, “Oh my god, this room is gigantic. I saw it during rehearsals, but it was relatively empty. When I got on stage, I was so overwhelmed by the positive reaction from the audience. I didn’t know that so many people would know who I was or remember me, so I just soaked it in because it was so heartwarming.

I have to tell you, I just saw a tweet that said, “I can’t wait to vote for Amanda Gorman for president one day.”

This is unbelievable. This is so sweet. Yes, I will be back. This time I am here for Kamala and Walz, and, you know – in another 10 years I will be back.

What would it mean to you if a black woman were elected president?

Oh my God, I can’t even describe it. I’m sure it will be an experience for the whole body. It would make the greatest dreams of my ancestors come true. If I could experience that, I wouldn’t want anything else.

Can you imagine speaking if Harris and Walz win?

That’s up to them. If they asked, I would consider it, but I honestly think I would love Joy Harjo to recite. She’s a great poet, was the U.S. Poet Laureate, and does incredible research and poetry about Native Americans and that historicity. She really deserves the space, and the space makes her necessary.

Hope is a theme of the Democratic Party this year. But it is also a term that can sometimes feel like a buzzword. What do you think of hope as a theme? Does this word feel right to you in your situation?

I would definitely use hope. For me, hope is not something I possess – it’s something I practice. You have to wake up every day and exercise it like a muscle, and not in that kind of la-la-land hope that relies on a false, superficial way where everything is fine and everything will be OK, not the kind of hope that ignores grief, loss, pain, and longing. The strongest, most enduring hope we have is the hope that is invested in the totality of our human experience, and that includes the pain and the power – only then can you use it for global change.

You have clearly expressed your support. Are you confident about the outcome of the election? Do you think Harris will become president?

Absolutely. I believe she can and will win. Part of the mantra that the campaign and many supporters use is, “If we fight, we win.” And I believe that with all my heart, not just for Kamala, but for everyone who wants to make a difference. Regardless of how the presidential election turns out, we know that when women run, it has a tremendous impact on our community. I think back to Hillary Clinton — a lot of people called that a failure, but if you look at the number of women politicians who entered public service after that, it was astronomical. So I’m confident that Kamala will win, and even if I’m wildly wrong, which sometimes happens, she will have won so many victories for us just by her fight and her candidacy in terms of representation and hope. And that’s why you run — not just to be the head of government, but to give hope and dreams to the next generation.

Let’s talk about your next book: Girls on the risea children’s book coming out in January based on an adapted version of your 2021 poem “We Rise.” The topic is obviously very appropriate, so why this poem now?

I’m so excited about this book because it really draws on a poem I wrote a few years ago when I was a younger woman. I was thinking about how important it is to be heard and listened to female voices, but also in a gender-bending way, because there are so many ways to be a woman and identify as a woman. When I was thinking about my next children’s book, I really thought, none of my children’s books have expressed my femininity in such a vivid way. Loveis Wise brings so much to the table in terms of art and this really inclusive, visual definition of femininity. When I wrote this book, I didn’t know Kamala was running, but I couldn’t have picked a better time to indulge the imagination of putting it out into the world.

Is there a line from the book that you highlight and that people should keep in mind during this time of year?

We are girls,

Glowing and growing,

Knowing where the wind is coming from

blows.

We are where the change is happening.

I love this quote because it sums up the fact that girls are always at the forefront of progress.

You take great care in your fashion and the colors you wear, and I’d love to hear the story behind your dress tonight at the DNC. Why did you choose it?

The dress is by Solace London, in baby blue. I really like the color, not only because it’s similar to the color of the Democratic Party, but also because when I’m in therapy and I try to imagine things I want from my life – new joys, new peace – we call it my blue sky, to mimic the feeling of lying on the grass, looking up at the sky and clouds, and daydreaming. So I really wanted to wear my blue sky color to remind myself to have big dreams and hopes.

And now I need to know: were you able to go to Oprah tonight?

I saw Oprah, which was incredible because we’ve been so involved together – she’s done interviews with me, she bought me jewelry for the inauguration, she’s so supportive and has been like a guardian angel on my shoulder – but we’ve never been in the same room together. I texted her really excitedly, like, “Oh my God, I can’t wait.” Seeing her in person tonight was so wonderful. She gave me a big hug and I thought, “Oh, this is the stuff black girl magic is made of.”

Read the full text of Amanda Gorman’s DNC poem “This Sacred Scene” here:

We gather in this holy place
Because we believe in the American dream.
We are facing a race that will test whether this country
We will disappear from the earth,
And if our earth should perish because of this country.
It is up to us to make sure that we do not fall,
Because a people that cannot stand together cannot exist at all.
We are a family,
Regardless of religion, class or skin color;
Because what makes a patriot?
It is not only our love for freedom,
But our love for each other –
The call of our country resounds loudly.
Because although we all love freedom,
It is love that sets us all free.
Empathy emancipates,
It makes us greater than hate or vanity.
This is the American promise, powerful and pure:
We cannot bear to be apart,
But together we can strive to make our democracy more human,
And make democracy sympathetic to humanity.
Make no mistake: unity is the most difficult task history has ever faced.
But tomorrow is not determined by the adversities of hardship,

But through the boldness of our hope, through the vitality of our voice.
Only now, near this thin air,
Are we aware that the American dream may
It is not a dream at all, but a challenge: to dream together.
Like a million roots tied together,
Humbly branched,
Make a tree,
This is our country:
From many, one;
Of battles won,
Our freedom is achieved;
Our kingdom come
Has only just begun.
We redeem this sacred scene and are ready for our journey away from there.
Together we must bring this early republic into the world
And reach a supernatural peak.
Let us not just believe in the American dream.
Let us be worthy of it.