I am familar with Angelou's most famous poems but this was the first collection I have read. Powerful, moving, and at times playful, her wisdom and talent are quite impressive.

Ah, poetry at its finest. Taking my time, letting each poem seep into me, was the perfect way to consume this book. The way Maya Angelou connects... Each poem evoked a strong feeling- empathy, empowerment, anger, excitement. Kind of blew me away.

I ordered this book the day I heard about the death of Maya Angelou. this beautiful hard cover book was delivered the very next day in which I dropped all of my other reading, The Good Lord Bird, to experience the world of poetry by Maya Angelou. What a wonderful book filled with some of her most popular poems like Phenomenal Woman and Still I Rise, but also of lesser know poems which should have a place along side the popular ones. These poems are varied in themes about relationships, family, love, what it is to be a woman, always with a tinge of African-American culture. If you haven't read any of Maya Angelou's poems or you're just interested in reading outstanding, lyrical poetry this is a perfect place to start. I'd also suggest picking up this particular well made beautiful edition as a keepsake or as a gift for a poetry lover. I know I'll cherish mine dearly and will read it over and over again. James Baldwin said "You will hear the regal woman, the mischievous street girl; you will hear the price of a black woman's survival and you will hear of her generosity. Black, bitter,and beautiful, she speaks of our survival." (quoted from the inside flap of the book) It is a must read in American poetry!

4/5

Maya Angelou I love you

This is beautiful. Having read 'I know why the caged bird sings', I was interested in picking up some of Angelou's poetry, and chose this collection on the recommendation of my mother. Angelou's use of language and form is refreshing and striking, and her boldness in addressing topics such as race and sexism is admirable. My favourite poems came early on in the collection, and were mostly shorter pieces that seemed to give a snippet into Angelou's mind in a very relatable, lovely way, but the collection as a whole was amazing, with only one or two poems that I felt fell short of the very high bar Angelou set with her autobiographical novels.

Sacrilegious to give this less than 5 stars, I know, but the problem is that the collection is a little too complete. It ranges from stunningly insightful, the hauntingly melodic, to the embarrassingly adolescent. And unfortunately, not all the adolescent stuff is that early:

Greyday

The day hangs heavy
loose and grey
when you're away.

A crown of thorns
a shirt of hair
is what I wear.

No one knows
my lonely heart
when we're apart.

I don't care if this is about mooning over a missing lover or a loss of faith, it's just awful. We all have these moments as poets, but someone should know better than to let her put this in a collection. And it's not the only piece like that.

Then again, earlier than this sorry sniffle, we have:

On Working White Liberals

I don't ask the Foreign Legion
Or anyone to win my freedom
Or to fight my battle better than I can,

Though there's one thing that I cry for
I believe enough to die for
That is every man's responsibility to man.

I'm afraid they'll have to prove first
That they'll watch the Black man move first
Then follow him with faith to kingdom come.
This rock road is not paved for us,
So, I'll believe in Liberals' aid for for us
When I see a white man load a Black man's gun.

Wow. See what she did there? And you wonder why those fat white Republican men in Congress say she's controversial.

And the plain beauty of this piece:

This Winter Day

The kitchen is its readiness
white green and orange things
leak their blood selves in the soup,

Ritual sacrifice that snaps
an odor at my nose and starts
my tongue to march
slipping in the liquid of its drip.

The day, silver striped
in rain, is balked against
my window and the soup.

Of course, all the famous clarion calls are in here too, but you know those already. You'll find a lot of sides to Angelou you may not have known in this collection.

Maya Angelou was an incredible woman to me, one who spoke to truth every time she had the opportunity to meet another human being. My favorite poem in this collection is Phenomenal Woman, but there are poems that would touch anyone. I will be adding this creation to my library in the future in order to continue hearing Miss Angelou's voice in my ear. What a gift she has, and continues to be to this world.

It was so lovely to add some poetry to my reading schedule and such a magnificent woman and writer she is!

Vrijedilo apsolutno svake stranice, svakog stiha, svake riječi.

Zašto je Maya Angelou toliko važna? Zbog toga što je bez cenzure pisala o rasizmu, šovinizmu, seksizmu, ksenofobiji, Americi, Africi, ljubavi, selu, gradu, prostitutkama, majkama, djeci, ubistvima, a da se, pri tom, nije krila pod bilo kakvim zastavama.

The Detached

We die,


Welcoming Bluebeards to our darkening closets,
Stranglers to our outstretched necks.

Stranglers, who neither care nor
care to know that

DEATH IS INTERNAL

We pray,


Savoring sweet the teedhed lies,
Bellying the grounds before alien gods

Gods, who neither know nor
wish to know that

HELL IS INTERNAL

We love ,


Rubbing the nakednesses with gloved hands
Inverting our mouths in tongued kisses,

Kisses that neither thouch nor
care to touch if

LOVE IS ETERNAL

I love Maya Angelou and was so sad when she past away.
I don't read poetry usually but loved Maya Angelou's work and loved hearing her when she recited her work.
While reading this I could image Ms. Angelou reciting it in her beautiful deep voice that had so much character to it.
A range of subjects from rights of a people a gender to spiritual beliefs.
Beautiful!

Many hit heavy and some felt like old songs.