Do you like to read poetry? I rarely find myself seeking out poetry when I'm looking for something to read, but when I do, I usually enjoy it. A good poem can be as immersive as a good book, albeit in a shorter format. If I take my time and really give a poem my full attention, it's ends up being somewhat meditative.
April is National Poetry Month, and I use it as a reminder to read more poems, so, for the next few weeks, I'll be highlighting poetry by American women. Today, I chose Still I Rise by Maya Angelou, in honor of her 89th birthday Tuesday. It's one of her most famous poems- Phenomenal Woman is another- and touches on themes of gender, race, and perseverance.
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
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 back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
