When Maya Angelou died in May 2014, the world mourned the loss of one of its greatest poets. One small measure of comfort is the fact that she left behind a vast number of brilliant poems (plus her autobiographies), addressing racism, prejudice, love, slavery, self-worth and more. I've recently been reading and rereading her work, and thought I'd share some of my favourite lines from some of my favourite poems by Angelou, starting with a few words from my absolute favourite poem, Still I Rise.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own backyard.
-from Still I Rise
I'm the best that ever done it
(pow pow)
That's my title and I won it
(pow pow)
I ain't lying, I'm the best
(pow pow)
Come and put me to the test
(pow pow)
-from Times-Square-Shoeshine-Composition
From Monday, the morning of the week,
through mid-times
noon and Sunday's dying
light. It sits silent.
Its needle sound
does not transfix my ear
or draw my longing to
a close.
Ring. Damn you!
-from The Telephone
She splayed her foot
up to the shin
within the ocean brine.
-from Communication I
Her proud declarations
are leaves on the wind
-from America
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
- from Phenomenal Woman
Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
Till I can rest again.
-from Woman Work
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
-from Caged Bird
There are some nights when
sleep plays coy,
aloof and disdainful.
-from Insomniac
Lift up your eyes
Upon this day breaking for you.
Give birth again
To the dream.
-from On the Pulse of Morning
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