Rising, Freedom, and Public Voice

Freedom, dignity, public occasion, refusal, survival, and poems built for communal uplift.

I know why the caged bird singsA free bird leaps on the back / Of the wind and floats downstream / Till the current ends and dips h

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Still I RiseYou may write me down in history / With your bitter, twisted lies, / You may trod me in the very dir

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Phenomenal WomanPretty women wonder where my secret lies. / I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size / B

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The Rock Cries Out to Us TodayA Rock, A River, A Tree / Hosts to species long since departed, / Mark the mastodon. / The dinosaur,

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The LessonI keep on dying again. / Veins collapse, opening like the / Small fists of sleeping / Children. / Me

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Preacher, Don't Send MePreacher, don't send me / when I die / to some big ghetto / in the sky / where rats eat cats / of th

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Million Man March PoemThe night has been long, / The wound has been deep, / The pit has been dark, / And the walls have be

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Weekend GlorySome clichty folks / don't know the facts, / posin' and preenin' / and puttin' on acts, / stretchin'

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A ConceitGive me your hand / Make room for me / to lead and follow / you / beyond this rage of poetry. / Let

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AloneLying, thinking / Last night / How to find my soul a home / Where water is not thirsty / And bread l

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End of Rising, Freedom, and Public Voice

Still I Rise

Keep readingMaya Angelou: Rising, Freedom, and Public Voice

You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod 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.

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1928-2014 / Female / American

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