I say
‘Marguerite Johnson’
and you don’t know.
Who she really was, what
She really did.
Maya, a childhood nickname turned professional
Angelopulos, past other, Greek and unknown.
She was a poet, a woman of many
words that changed America.
Words that touched our hearts,
Words that opened our eyes
to truth.
She was an actress, in the Obie-winning “The Blacks”,
Off-Broadway, “Calypso Heat Wave”, inspiring her singer.
She was a singer, writer of song.
West Coast and
Hawaiian nightclubs were once
Embellished by her voice.
She was a dancer, a portrayer of emotion, through movements
Rhythmic and graceful
Calm, phantasmagoric, and beautiful.
She was an author.
She knew why,
“The Caged Bird” sang.
But, once. She had no voice.
Traumatized and scared. Age seven, suffered at the hands of the distant mother’s boyfriend.
She went mute,
feeling responsible for their crime,
After her uncles rid the world of the problem.
A candle’s flame blown out.
Mrs.
Flowers
A friend and fellow lover of the spoken word.
Helped Maya find her voice.
Introduced Hughes,
Du Bois, and Lawrence Dunbar.
Then, the canonical Shakespeare,
Dickens, Poe.
She was a scholar.
She was a mother.
She was a fighter.
She stood for her rights and the rights of her people.
She stood, side by side, with many known and recognized.
Malcom X.
Martin Luther King Jr.
His assassination on her birthday stopped the celebration forever.
Then she sent flowers to Coretta until her death in 2006.
She was an inspiration.
I say
“Maya Angelou”
And now you know.