Work, Humor, and Witness

Work, appetite, humor, poverty, sleeplessness, testimony, and Angelou's social eye.

Woman WorkI've got the children to tend / The clothes to mend / The floor to mop / The food to shop / Then the

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The Health-Food DinerNo sprouted wheat and soya shoots / And Brussels in a cake, / Carrot straw and spinach raw, / (Today

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Momma Welfare RollHer arms semaphore fat triangles, / Pudgy HANDS bunched on layered hips / Where bones idle under yea

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Old Folks laughThey have spent their / content of simpering, / holding their lips this / and that way, winding / th

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InsomniacThere are some nights when / sleep plays coy, / aloof and disdainful. / And all the wiles / that I e

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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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End of Work, Humor, and Witness

Woman Work

Keep readingMaya Angelou: Work, Humor, and Witness

I've got the children to tend The clothes to mend The floor to mop The food to shop Then the chicken to fry The baby to dry I got company to feed The garden to weed I've got shirts to press The tots to dress The can to be cut I gotta clean up this hut Then see about the sick And the cotton to pick. Shine on me, sunshine Rain on me, rain Fall softly, dewdrops And cool my brow again. Storm, blow me from here With your fiercest wind Let me float across the sky 'Til I can rest again. Fall gently, snowflakes Cover me with white Cold icy kisses and Let me rest tonight. Sun, rain, curving sky Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone Star shine, moon glow You're all that I can call my own.

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1928-2014 / Female / American

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