Maya Angelou

Momma Welfare Roll Poem  ………………. by Maya Angelou _______________________________________________________________________________________ Her arms semaphore fat triangles,Pudgy HANDS bunched on layered hipsWhere bones idle under years of fatbackAnd lima beans. Her jowls shiver in accusationOf crimes cliched by Repetition. Her children, strangersTo childhood’s TOYS, playBest the games of darkened doorways,Rooftop tag, and know the slick feel ofOther people’s property. … Read more…

Refusal Poem  ………………. by Maya Angelou _______________________________________________________________________________________ Beloved,In what other lives or landsHave I known your lipsYour HandsYour Laughter braveIrreverent. Those sweet excesses thatI do adore. What surety is thereThat we will meet again,On other worlds someFuture time undated. I defy my body’s haste. Without the promiseOf one more sweet encounterI will not deign to die. … Read more…

Remembrance Poem  ………………. by Maya Angelou _______________________________________________________________________________________ Your hands easyweight, teasing the beeshived in my hair, your smile at theslope of my cheek. On theoccasion, you pressabove me, glowing, spoutingreadiness, mystery rapesmy reason When you have withdrawnyour self and the magic, whenonly the smell of yourlove lingers betweenmy breasts, then, onlythen, can I greedily consumeyour presence. … Read more…

Weekend Glory Poem  ………………. by Maya Angelou _______________________________________________________________________________________ Some clichty folksdon’t know the facts,posin’ and preenin’and puttin’ on acts,stretchin’ their backs. They move into condosup over the ranks,pawn their soulsto the local banks. Buying big carsthey can’t afford,ridin’ around townactin’ bored. If they want to learn how to live life rightthey ought to study me on … Read more…

The Rock Cries Out to Us Today Poem  ………………. by Maya Angelou _______________________________________________________________________________________ A Rock, A River, A TreeHosts to species long since departed,Mark the mastodon. The dinosaur, who left dry tokensOf their sojourn hereOn our planet floor,Any broad alarm of their of their hastening doomIs lost in the gloom of dust and ages. But today, … Read more…

Woman Work Poem  ………………. by Maya Angelou _______________________________________________________________________________________ I’ve got the children to tendThe clothes to mendThe floor to mopThe food to shopThen the chicken to fryThe baby to dryI got company to feedThe garden to weedI’ve got shirts to pressThe tots to dressThe can to be cutI gotta clean up this hutThen see about the … Read more…