Only had a passing familiarity with her most famous poems. Was in awe as I tumbled down her collection. Savvy, political, direct, thoughtful, poignant, and barbed. Favorite was Continue, her birthday poem to Oprah.

WHAT A PHENOMENAL WOMAN!!!!!!! Half of these collection of poems now live on my camera roll. I could say so much- but she puts into words the experiences of being black, being a woman, being oppressed and having hope. S/O to the poem she wrote to Oprah for her bday that was featured can we say friend GOALS.

POTB (poem of the book bc boss bitch energy) (it’s long but worth ur read):

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
’Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQRZ6BUj31Q/

“Poesia Completa” de Maya Angelou foi publicado no Brasil pela @Astralcultural com a tradução de Lubi Prates e minha primeira leitura linear da obra completa durou alguns meses, de novembro de 2020 a junho de 2021. Recebi um exemplar de cortesia da editora.

Fiz questão de enfatizar que foi a primeira leitura, porque não será a única, tenho certeza. Antes mesmo de chegar à última página, eu já tinha retomado alguns poemas ao acaso, deixando que as palavras da Sra. Angelou me alcançassem e fizessem sua mágica.

Na maior parte das vezes essas palavras trouxeram perguntas incômodas, que fizeram com que eu me levantasse da minha poltrona confortável em busca de respostas e mais informações sobre temas abordados.

Não foram todas as vezes que obtive respostas e isso dói. Mas se me afetou dessa forma, o quão mais doloroso é para pessoas que estão diretamente ligadas aos eventos citados ali?

É uma obra que abarca muitos temas e diferentes períodos da carreira da autora. Não foram todas as suas poesias que me agradaram, mas fui arrebatada pela maioria.

Deixo como destaque: “Eles voltam para suas casas”, “Nós vimos além da nossa aparência”, “Minha culpa”, “Sozinha”, “Mulher fenomenal”, “O dinheiro da assistência social da mamãe”, “Trabalho de mulher”, “Ainda assim eu me levanto”, “A vida não me assusta”, “Fome”, “A última decisão”, “Nascida assim”, “Pastor não me envie”.

Sobre a edição: senti falta de uma apresentação da obra com uma breve biografia da autora. E, seu sei que o livro já ficou grande - 336 páginas -, mas a experiência de ler poesia é sempre mais rica quando o texto se apresenta bilíngue.

This is truly a wonderful book that is good for the soul. I had read many of Maya Angelou's books before, so had read many of the poems before. Yet, as I read through them all with this reading -- in less than a day -- I found myself once again inspired, moved, touched, and so much more. I am sure I will return and read this book a few more times.

There were some poems I enjoyed, some I didn’t, but I can recognise how extremely talented Maya Angelou is. Her poems are so incredible and smart, even if they’re not always my style. This is the first poetry book I think I’ve ever read, and I think it was a great introduction.

Actual rating, 3.7 stars. I loved most of the poems in this collection but a few of them just didn't click with me probably because I wasn't familiar with the sociocultural contexts within.

She���s a beautiful poet.

honestly most of them feel unfinished or at least unrevised and that's not really something i can appreciate

there are some i liked but i definitely won't be a huge fan of angelou's poetry, though i'll try with her autobiographies

some of my favourites include: these yet to be united states, passing time, senses of insecurity, my guilt, when i think about myself, to a freedom fighter, after, on diverse deviations

and "we saw beyond our seeming":

"We saw beyond our seeming/These days of bloodied screaming/Of children dying bloated/Out where the lilies floated/Of men all noosed and dangling/Within the temples strangling/Our guilt grey fungus growing/We knew and lied our knowing/Deafened and unwilling/We aided in the killing/And now our souls lie broken/Dry tablets without token."

"I Sit a Throne Upon the Times"

Begin at the Ending. 'On The Pulse of Morning.' There is where it begins. Maya had a finger on the pulse of people. Maya's poetry, like all her writing, came from her heart. She wrote with a depth that resonates for readers from all walks of life. She was a 'Phenomenal Woman.' Everything before and between those two poems bears out the honesty with which she shared her heart.

Still I Rise
For Us, Who Dare Not Dare
Woman Me
Song for the Old Ones
America
Africa
My Arkansas
Mourning Grace
When I think About Myself
Momma Welfare Roll
A Georgia Song
Impeccable Conception
Caged Bird
Starvation
Contemporary Announcement
The Last Decision
Worker's Song
Human Family
Man Bigot
Is Love
Forgive (Virginia)
Insignificant
These Yet to be United States
Televised
London
Savior
Our Grandmothers (I Shall Not Be Moved)
Preacher Don't Send Me
In My Missouri
When Great Trees Fall
and many more.... these are just some I enjoyed most.

This hardback collection was published in 1994, but the 5 individual books collected within were published originally in: '71, '77, '78, '83, '90, and On The Pulse of Morning was presented live at the 1993 Clinton Inaugural. I will leave a quote or two and let Maya speak for herself. She always did.

" 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."
- Excerpt from Woman Work

"The liquid notes of sorrow songs."
" Sing me to sleep, Savannah."
" Cry for our souls, Augusta"
" Dare us new dreams, Columbus."
O Atlanta, O deep, and Once-lost city, Chant for us a new song. A song Of Southern peace."
-all from A Georgia Song

" Even minimal people can't survive on minimal wage." - from They Ask Why

I think the book is much better than what I gave it credit for. However, I had a hard time understanding a lot of the poems and therefore I couldn't like it as much. But the ones I understood were great!

Since the beginning of the collective conscience of mankind, even before we discovered how to write and read, humans have always expressed feelings in the form of words flowing in rhythm or should I say poetry.

Maya Angelou has a sense of sudden sentimental tenderness, her words will make you part of the situation within a second. Her poem doesn't consist of words, it consists of a manipulative stream of soft strokes. This book engulfs a complete collection of her poems and it has been absolutely brilliant. Her poem collection "Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie" and "Still I Rise" are an elegant piece of art. I feel really sensible after reading her work. I think I am gonna write a blog about it.

I personally and gratefully thank Maya Angelou for writing these amazing short poems and sharing with us. I hope for her a peaceful afterlife.

Gentleness and roughness, beauty and ugliness, happiness and sorrow, brightness and darkness -what a bitter-sweet heart touching flow of words are all these poems!
Remembering
"Soft grey ghosts crawl up my sleeve
to peer into my eyes
while I within deny their threats
and answer them with lies.

Mushlike memories perform
a ritual on my lips
I lie in stolid hopelessness
and they lay my soul in strips."

Accident
"Tonight
when you spread your pallet
of magic,
I escaped.
Sitting apart,
I saw you grim and unkempt.
Your vulgarness
not of living,
your demands
not from need.
Tonight
as you sprinkled your brain-
dust
of rainbows,
I had no eyes.
Seeing all
I saw the colors fade
and change.
The blood, red dulled
through the dyes,
and the naked
Black-White truth."