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By Maya Angelou - Poems: Maya Angelou (3rd Edition) (1997-05-27) [Paperback]
Tenderly, joyously, sometimes in sadness, sometimes in pain, Maya Angelou writes from the heart and celebrates life as only she has discovered it. In this moving volume of poetry, we hear the multi-faceted voice of one of the most powerful and vibrant writers of our time.
Paperback
Published May 27, 1997
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About the author
Maya Angelou
276 books14.7k followersMaya Angelou was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou's series of seven autobiographies focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.
She became a poet and writer after a string of odd jobs during her young adulthood. These included fry cook, sex worker, nightclub performer, Porgy and Bess cast member, Southern Christian Leadership Conference coordinator, and correspondent in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. Angelou was also an actress, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. In 1982, she was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Angelou was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Beginning in the 1990s, she made approximately 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" (1993) at the first inauguration of Bill Clinton, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.
With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for Black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of Black culture. Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide, although attempts have been made to ban her books from some U.S. libraries. Angelou's most celebrated works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics consider them to be autobiographies. She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing, and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes that include racism, identity, family, and travel.
She became a poet and writer after a string of odd jobs during her young adulthood. These included fry cook, sex worker, nightclub performer, Porgy and Bess cast member, Southern Christian Leadership Conference coordinator, and correspondent in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. Angelou was also an actress, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. In 1982, she was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Angelou was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Beginning in the 1990s, she made approximately 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" (1993) at the first inauguration of Bill Clinton, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.
With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for Black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of Black culture. Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide, although attempts have been made to ban her books from some U.S. libraries. Angelou's most celebrated works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics consider them to be autobiographies. She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing, and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes that include racism, identity, family, and travel.
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March 20, 2020
What is it like to be a woman of colour with brilliant intellectual and linguistic power? Is it a blessing, is it a curse, is it both at the same time? Isn't it just being human, in the end?
Maya Angelou's poems have accompanied my teaching for a very long time. Her direct, honest words fit any human rights discussions, any debates on racism and misogyny, any reflections on the distribution of wealth and power, privilege and entitlement. Her hopes and fears, her dreams and nightmares are the stuff that humans are made on. She gives everyday life an artistically powerful voice, speaking loudly and confidently from the corner of society that unfortunately still remains invisible or indifferent to those in power.
But Maya Angelou is more than just a writer speaking for those without words of their own. She celebrates love, anger, sadness, community and loneliness from the perspective of individual experience, putting a specific, unique person in focus rather than an underprivileged group. She finds beauty in self-confidence rather than prettiness, in effort rather than accomplishment, in dreams rather than status. Hers is a world that CAN BE - if you believe in yourself.
I will let her speak for herself, and hope her words help those of us who turned out a bit shy, or short, or insecure, or invisible, or overlooked, to grow an inch while reading:
"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 of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me."
That's her. She's phenomenal.
Maya Angelou's poems have accompanied my teaching for a very long time. Her direct, honest words fit any human rights discussions, any debates on racism and misogyny, any reflections on the distribution of wealth and power, privilege and entitlement. Her hopes and fears, her dreams and nightmares are the stuff that humans are made on. She gives everyday life an artistically powerful voice, speaking loudly and confidently from the corner of society that unfortunately still remains invisible or indifferent to those in power.
But Maya Angelou is more than just a writer speaking for those without words of their own. She celebrates love, anger, sadness, community and loneliness from the perspective of individual experience, putting a specific, unique person in focus rather than an underprivileged group. She finds beauty in self-confidence rather than prettiness, in effort rather than accomplishment, in dreams rather than status. Hers is a world that CAN BE - if you believe in yourself.
I will let her speak for herself, and hope her words help those of us who turned out a bit shy, or short, or insecure, or invisible, or overlooked, to grow an inch while reading:
"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 of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me."
That's her. She's phenomenal.
June 21, 2024
Tender and exquisite, gritty and heartbreaking, but most of all incredibly joyful- Dr. Maya Angelou has left readers a gift of beautiful poetry that celebrates her love of language and her deeply introspective thoughts about life and death, race and sex, acceptance and rejection.
The collection includes three of her most famous poems: And Still I Rise, Phenomenal Woman, and Alone, which were featured in the 1993 film Poetic Justice (which starred Janet Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Regina King, and Angelou in a cameo) and directed with sensitivity by Oscar nominated director John Singleton.
This is the first time I’ve read an entire collection of Maya Angelou’s poetry in its entirety and I can say I was deeply moved, and her perspectives on life make me want to be a better teacher, husband and person.
Her acute sense of understanding about how love comes and goes is brilliantly found in my favorite poem, Late October: “Only lovers see the fall, a signal end to endings” (Angelou 8).
This is one of those rare books that you just want to rush out and buy copies for anyone who loves a good read and say “read it!”- it is rich, beautiful and full of joyful melancholy.
The collection includes three of her most famous poems: And Still I Rise, Phenomenal Woman, and Alone, which were featured in the 1993 film Poetic Justice (which starred Janet Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Regina King, and Angelou in a cameo) and directed with sensitivity by Oscar nominated director John Singleton.
This is the first time I’ve read an entire collection of Maya Angelou’s poetry in its entirety and I can say I was deeply moved, and her perspectives on life make me want to be a better teacher, husband and person.
Her acute sense of understanding about how love comes and goes is brilliantly found in my favorite poem, Late October: “Only lovers see the fall, a signal end to endings” (Angelou 8).
This is one of those rare books that you just want to rush out and buy copies for anyone who loves a good read and say “read it!”- it is rich, beautiful and full of joyful melancholy.
January 31, 2013
Angelou is a first-rate autobiographer, and a mediocre poet, though a fine aloudreader and stage presence in an era when even Obama's first inaugural poet had no idea how to aloudread her own poem. Angelou fulfills the limited popular American (Romantic) idea of a poet--one who talks, ad infinitum, about oneself and one's problems (or in Angelou's case, problems over which she triumphs*). We are still stuck in the Romantic period, two centuries after Wordsworth and Coleridge (then Keats and Shelley and Byron) first started writing poems about themselves.
Chaucer didn't. Shakespeare didn't in his plays, and in the sonnets, he gives a stage version of "self." Moliere didn't. Dryden didn't. Austen didn't. Dickens didn't really, even in Copperfield (a very dif feel from what his childhood must have felt like). The list goes on.
Arguably, poets have the least interesting of lives, if they have the time and place to write. Not as interesting as a plumber's life, even--though I have known one good plumber-poet. The most interesting lives--say, a teenager in Mali, a refugee in Syria, a Parisian Jew at the start of WWII--are often too overwhelming to write well about, in the midst. Hemingway determined that all 20C writers would have to try to live "exciting" lives, in order to write about them. Poets don't bother. They find themselves endlessly interesting, though nobody else does.
In Angelou's case, she combines sentimentality (Give me a cool drink of water 'fore I die...) with a triumphant tone of overcoming which always signals Public Relations. Then she adds a supcon of platitudes, like "one thing I cry for / ..believe in enough to die for...everyman's responsibility to man."
If Bill Clinton had valued poetry more and politics less, Gwendolyn Brooks would have been his Inaugural poet. JFK had the respect for poetry--and the political genius--to select a political enemy, longtime Republican, to grace his Inaugural, Frost.
Chaucer didn't. Shakespeare didn't in his plays, and in the sonnets, he gives a stage version of "self." Moliere didn't. Dryden didn't. Austen didn't. Dickens didn't really, even in Copperfield (a very dif feel from what his childhood must have felt like). The list goes on.
Arguably, poets have the least interesting of lives, if they have the time and place to write. Not as interesting as a plumber's life, even--though I have known one good plumber-poet. The most interesting lives--say, a teenager in Mali, a refugee in Syria, a Parisian Jew at the start of WWII--are often too overwhelming to write well about, in the midst. Hemingway determined that all 20C writers would have to try to live "exciting" lives, in order to write about them. Poets don't bother. They find themselves endlessly interesting, though nobody else does.
In Angelou's case, she combines sentimentality (Give me a cool drink of water 'fore I die...) with a triumphant tone of overcoming which always signals Public Relations. Then she adds a supcon of platitudes, like "one thing I cry for / ..believe in enough to die for...everyman's responsibility to man."
If Bill Clinton had valued poetry more and politics less, Gwendolyn Brooks would have been his Inaugural poet. JFK had the respect for poetry--and the political genius--to select a political enemy, longtime Republican, to grace his Inaugural, Frost.
May 25, 2023
A lot of Maya Angelou's poetry reflects struggles I'll never understand, so I found it hard to connect with a lot of what was written.
However, her searing honesty comes through frequently and forcefully. If authenticity is one of the cornerstones of art, Angelou is one hell of an artist indeed.
However, her searing honesty comes through frequently and forcefully. If authenticity is one of the cornerstones of art, Angelou is one hell of an artist indeed.
March 7, 2015
This book came as an answer for my urge to indulge in some sophistication. And a literal treat at that. Having been a fan of Maya Angelou for quite some time, I had chanced on this book at Blossoms last year and bought it immediately. And it wasn't until I read it, that I appreciated what a good pick my impulsive buy was.
The cover is unassuming and straightforward, maybe a glimpse of the lady herself. But the pages beneath are pure gold. I really found myself enjoying the poems more with every turn of the sheet, just like old friendships and classic hardcovers, they become better as you move forward. Some of her best works are at the very end. A chunk of her poems discuss the sting of racism and living in bondage in an Africa riddled with slavery. She depicts the pain and emotions effortlessly and you find yourself imagining how tough life must have been for a black woman in a racist, patriarchal society. These are interspersed with optimistic sonnets about the high of falling in love, nostalgia and the persistent feminist spirit. The common thread running through all her works is the celebration of the female. She writes from her heart, puts in her all and that is what makes her poetry phenomenal.
My top three favourites were 'Life doesn't frighten me at all' , 'Aint that bad?' and 'Still I Rise' . I particularly loved the rebellion that shone through 'Still I Rise'.
Among the others, I really liked 'Prescience' , 'The Lie' , 'Weekend Glory' , 'Just for a time' , 'Phenomenal Woman' , 'Alone' , 'On Aging' and finally, 'Passing Time' .
Today's tl;dr readers might render poetry obsolete with the onslaught of listicles and easily digested literature, but beautiful poems as these are a gentle reminder of the beauty of literature's purest form. In the words of Edward Young, "There is something about poetry beyond prose logic, there is mystery in it, not to be explained but admired."
The cover is unassuming and straightforward, maybe a glimpse of the lady herself. But the pages beneath are pure gold. I really found myself enjoying the poems more with every turn of the sheet, just like old friendships and classic hardcovers, they become better as you move forward. Some of her best works are at the very end. A chunk of her poems discuss the sting of racism and living in bondage in an Africa riddled with slavery. She depicts the pain and emotions effortlessly and you find yourself imagining how tough life must have been for a black woman in a racist, patriarchal society. These are interspersed with optimistic sonnets about the high of falling in love, nostalgia and the persistent feminist spirit. The common thread running through all her works is the celebration of the female. She writes from her heart, puts in her all and that is what makes her poetry phenomenal.
My top three favourites were 'Life doesn't frighten me at all' , 'Aint that bad?' and 'Still I Rise' . I particularly loved the rebellion that shone through 'Still I Rise'.
Among the others, I really liked 'Prescience' , 'The Lie' , 'Weekend Glory' , 'Just for a time' , 'Phenomenal Woman' , 'Alone' , 'On Aging' and finally, 'Passing Time' .
Today's tl;dr readers might render poetry obsolete with the onslaught of listicles and easily digested literature, but beautiful poems as these are a gentle reminder of the beauty of literature's purest form. In the words of Edward Young, "There is something about poetry beyond prose logic, there is mystery in it, not to be explained but admired."
February 7, 2018
*Favorite poems:
In a Time
Alone
Africa
Song for the Old Ones
Phenomenal Woman
Still I Rise
A Good Woman Feeling Bad
Unmeasured Tempo
Caged Bird
Weekend Glory
Prescience
In a Time
Alone
Africa
Song for the Old Ones
Phenomenal Woman
Still I Rise
A Good Woman Feeling Bad
Unmeasured Tempo
Caged Bird
Weekend Glory
Prescience
February 1, 2019
So I must admit I am not a huge poetry lover. I have always found it difficult to connect with poetry the way I do with a story in prose. However, in an attempt to challenge myself, I decided to commit to reading at least one volume of poetry this year and I am glad that I chose Dr. Maya Angelou's book.
Despite me not loving poetry, I can't help but admire how Angelou is able to express herself through words. The language she uses is so evocative. I appreciated the role imagery played in making her subjects come to life; I think it helped me grasp the poetic concepts.
I felt particularly inspired by her poems on racial justice, some of which were very intentional in calling out white people. One of my favorites from this collection was "Family Affairs" in which a black narrator speaks to a white woman who has lived her life safe in an ivory tower while black women were sold into slavery, dragged across Africa's beach "pulled by dusty braids." One day, the white woman decides for trivial reasons to climb down and "step lightly over / My centuries of horror / And take my hand, / Smiling call me / Sister." The narrator responds - "Sister, accept / That I must wait a / While. Allow an age / Of dust to fill / Ruts left on my / Beach in Africa", reminding us all of the time that it takes to heal centuries worth of oppression and trauma. This made me stop and think for a long time.
There were other poems that made me laugh, like "The Health-Food Diner" about how she's not really interested in restaurants that don't serve junk food.
All that to say, if you are interested in trying some poetry this year, I recommend you check out Dr. Angelou's collection!
Despite me not loving poetry, I can't help but admire how Angelou is able to express herself through words. The language she uses is so evocative. I appreciated the role imagery played in making her subjects come to life; I think it helped me grasp the poetic concepts.
I felt particularly inspired by her poems on racial justice, some of which were very intentional in calling out white people. One of my favorites from this collection was "Family Affairs" in which a black narrator speaks to a white woman who has lived her life safe in an ivory tower while black women were sold into slavery, dragged across Africa's beach "pulled by dusty braids." One day, the white woman decides for trivial reasons to climb down and "step lightly over / My centuries of horror / And take my hand, / Smiling call me / Sister." The narrator responds - "Sister, accept / That I must wait a / While. Allow an age / Of dust to fill / Ruts left on my / Beach in Africa", reminding us all of the time that it takes to heal centuries worth of oppression and trauma. This made me stop and think for a long time.
There were other poems that made me laugh, like "The Health-Food Diner" about how she's not really interested in restaurants that don't serve junk food.
All that to say, if you are interested in trying some poetry this year, I recommend you check out Dr. Angelou's collection!
April 6, 2009
The first poem I read of Maya Angelou was in Global Literature in 10th grade, when we read "Phenomenal Woman." The powerful literary devices used, especially repetition, made it one of my favorite poems. I was happy when I saw the same poem in this collection of Angelou's poems. The book contains poems on a variety of topics, but I believe Angelou is a feminist writer, and therefore writes poems empowering women. She also includes unforgettable poems that rhyme, deal with past family issues, and capture the ongoing problems of society.
February 25, 2022
I got my copy from my grandmother and I loved reading through these poems seeing which ones my grandmother stared or small notes she made. I read each poem out loud. Some I cried immediately, some I knew I'd have to circle back and reread. I'm so grateful to have this copy and to read these poems
May 13, 2021
maya angelou writes smooth poetry which rolls off the tongue, but simultaneously requires analysis to comprehend the depth of her narrative.
she explores and writes from her own intersections as a black woman and uses satire to confront stereotypes typically assigned to black women such as “the sassy/angry black woman” or “mammy”.
yet, her poetry also combines her personal identities with her own humanity to create a scope understood among all people.
this is a stanza from one of her most popular poems, “caged bird”
“the caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom”
(184)
maya angelou is a quintessential american poet, add this to your summer booklist ppl!!!!
she explores and writes from her own intersections as a black woman and uses satire to confront stereotypes typically assigned to black women such as “the sassy/angry black woman” or “mammy”.
yet, her poetry also combines her personal identities with her own humanity to create a scope understood among all people.
this is a stanza from one of her most popular poems, “caged bird”
“the caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom”
(184)
maya angelou is a quintessential american poet, add this to your summer booklist ppl!!!!
Read
June 8, 2025reading maya angelou for the first time is funny because you realise that everyone else truly is imitating her in some way. so many of these poems are going to stick with me, but ‘wonder’ was a favourite even before this reading and will remain a favourite for a long time:
A day
drunk with the nectar of
nowness
weaves its way between
the years
to find itself at the flophouse
of night
to sleep and be seen
no more.
Will i be less
dead because i wrote this
poem or you more because
you read it
long years hence.
also, i love the fact that i could distinctly tell what poetry collection i was reading despite the fact that there’s a few collected in here - her artistic vision is expansive and yet so specific.
A day
drunk with the nectar of
nowness
weaves its way between
the years
to find itself at the flophouse
of night
to sleep and be seen
no more.
Will i be less
dead because i wrote this
poem or you more because
you read it
long years hence.
also, i love the fact that i could distinctly tell what poetry collection i was reading despite the fact that there’s a few collected in here - her artistic vision is expansive and yet so specific.
May 18, 2025
My hinge date called me performative for having this in my tote bag 😔
Love this collection a few poems I marked:
No Loser, No Weeper - even though the tone here is a little playful/petty, I relate to this a lot. I hate losing things too, hate it so bad 😢
No No No No - love a political poem. And I would get this line tattooed on my face “JUST GIVE ME A COOL DRINK OF WATER ‘FORE I DIIIE” that’s writing only a great could make work
Refusal and Just For a Time -GORGEOUS poems and back to back in the book these ones hurt to read. Damn damn damn
Lots more I could say and that I marked but those are my overall fav standouts. 5/5 no notes
Love this collection a few poems I marked:
No Loser, No Weeper - even though the tone here is a little playful/petty, I relate to this a lot. I hate losing things too, hate it so bad 😢
No No No No - love a political poem. And I would get this line tattooed on my face “JUST GIVE ME A COOL DRINK OF WATER ‘FORE I DIIIE” that’s writing only a great could make work
Refusal and Just For a Time -GORGEOUS poems and back to back in the book these ones hurt to read. Damn damn damn
Lots more I could say and that I marked but those are my overall fav standouts. 5/5 no notes
Read
December 27, 2020Favorites included:
Phenomenal Woman
Woman Work
Still I Rise
Just Like Job
&
Caged Bird
Phenomenal Woman
Woman Work
Still I Rise
Just Like Job
&
Caged Bird
November 5, 2023
i think i still don’t understand poetry lol but i liked it for the most part
April 25, 2025
Will I be less
dead because I wrote this
poem
dead because I wrote this
poem
August 14, 2024
she writes directly from the heart and the beat of her poems stay present while the stories she tells wind around it, beautiful work
December 15, 2016
On more than one occasion I found myself reaching the end of a poem by Maya Angelou and needing to reread it because their ending took me by surprise. Beautiful, poignant, deep, layered.
Race is often present and so is femininity and the mysteries of living the life of a black woman with the power of words. It's definitely something that gets you thinking and offers a very different perspective of what life is and how it is lived. Many a time the words showed Angelou could touch the deepest of our souls and leave room for dessert.
A wonderful collection for anyone curious to see the makings of a woman who would tackle race, sex, sensuality, life, vices, hate, bigotry, death, and love in plenty of shades.
Race is often present and so is femininity and the mysteries of living the life of a black woman with the power of words. It's definitely something that gets you thinking and offers a very different perspective of what life is and how it is lived. Many a time the words showed Angelou could touch the deepest of our souls and leave room for dessert.
A wonderful collection for anyone curious to see the makings of a woman who would tackle race, sex, sensuality, life, vices, hate, bigotry, death, and love in plenty of shades.
July 31, 2018
I appreciate how relatable Maya Angelou’s poems are, but I fail to make connection myself. Many pieces of the poem in this collection are about poverty and race, two subjects I only understand superficially. In a sense, her poems make me think but not feel. Diction of the poems is not abstruse; instead, Angelou’s plays with the structure and style of the poem to convey her messages. Some I find, even from the untrained eyes of mine, are quite very clever.
I gave this collection only one star based on my reading experience. I believe many people would enjoy it though.
I gave this collection only one star based on my reading experience. I believe many people would enjoy it though.
May 27, 2018
Yeah…was not a fan of this at all. I had to write an essay on a an excerpt of “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” earlier this year and I really enjoyed that excerpt, but I guess I’m just not a fan of Maya Angelou’s poems.
August 6, 2015
There are a lot of very famous poems in this collection but having encountered them later on it wasn't as surprising as I was expecting.
May 22, 2017
I don't really know how to write about poetry but I loved Maya Angelou's moving and powerful life's journey in this collection.
May 8, 2023
Maya Angelou will always be one of my favorite authors. I love the way she writes and has a rhythm to her poems.
November 26, 2025
phenomenal woman
December 29, 2025
Favorite quotes:
“This bed yawns beneath the weight of our absent selves”
“So I’ll believe in Liberal’s aid for us when I see a white man load a black man’s gun.”
“Won’t you pull yourself together for me ONCE?”
“Will I be less dead because I wrote this poem?”
“I don’t like reminiscing. Nostalgia is not my forte. I don’t spill tears on yesterday’s years.”
“I was born to work up to my grave, but I was not born to be a slave.”
“Dreams are petted, like cherished lap dogs, misunderstood and loved too well.”
“Dawn offers innocence to a half-mad city”
“This bed yawns beneath the weight of our absent selves”
“So I’ll believe in Liberal’s aid for us when I see a white man load a black man’s gun.”
“Won’t you pull yourself together for me ONCE?”
“Will I be less dead because I wrote this poem?”
“I don’t like reminiscing. Nostalgia is not my forte. I don’t spill tears on yesterday’s years.”
“I was born to work up to my grave, but I was not born to be a slave.”
“Dreams are petted, like cherished lap dogs, misunderstood and loved too well.”
“Dawn offers innocence to a half-mad city”
May 26, 2025
Jamás había leido a Maya Angelou, pero sus palabras. su ritmo y sus imágenes tienen tanto color y tanta vida que su voz me acompaño en cada lectura <3
February 7, 2025
Beautiful, haunting, and true. An example of how one's self can be another in you. I'm no Maya Angelou, I will always say that. But reading these poems, I feel what I can only imagine is a moment of a moment wrapped in her spirit. And though the moment is beautiful as she is beautiful and though her dreams nearly compare, there is no out. You can only breathe in and in and in and you are her. To live with so much pain is to suffocate, and how this woman continues, continued, to live and to love is beyond my experience but closer now, I think, to my understanding.
Some Favorites:
When I think About Myself
When I think about myself,
I almost laugh myself to death,
My life has been one great big joke,
A dance that’s walked,
I laugh so hard I almost choke
When I think about myself.
Sixty years in these folk’s world
The child I work for calls me girl
I say “Yes’Mam” for working's sake
Too proud to bend
Too poor to break
I laugh until my stomach ache,
When I think about myself.
My folks can make me split my side.
I Laughed so hard I nearly died,
The tales they tell, sound just like lying,
They grow the fruit,
But eat the rind,
I laugh until I start to crying,
When I think about my folks.
They Went Home
They went home and told their wives
that never in all their lives,
had they met a girl like me,
But…They went home.
They said my house was licking clean,
no word I spoke was ever mean,
I had an air of mystery,
But…They went home.
My praises were on all men’s lips,
they liked my smile, my wit, my hips
they’d spend one night, or two, or three
But…
On a Bright Day Next Week
On a bright day next week
Just before the bomb falls
Just before the world ends
Just before I die
All my tears will powder
Black in dust like ashes
Black like Buddhas bellly
Black and hot and dry
Then will mercy tumble
Falling down in goheads
Falling on the children
Falling from the sky
Some Favorites:
When I think About Myself
When I think about myself,
I almost laugh myself to death,
My life has been one great big joke,
A dance that’s walked,
I laugh so hard I almost choke
When I think about myself.
Sixty years in these folk’s world
The child I work for calls me girl
I say “Yes’Mam” for working's sake
Too proud to bend
Too poor to break
I laugh until my stomach ache,
When I think about myself.
My folks can make me split my side.
I Laughed so hard I nearly died,
The tales they tell, sound just like lying,
They grow the fruit,
But eat the rind,
I laugh until I start to crying,
When I think about my folks.
They Went Home
They went home and told their wives
that never in all their lives,
had they met a girl like me,
But…They went home.
They said my house was licking clean,
no word I spoke was ever mean,
I had an air of mystery,
But…They went home.
My praises were on all men’s lips,
they liked my smile, my wit, my hips
they’d spend one night, or two, or three
But…
On a Bright Day Next Week
On a bright day next week
Just before the bomb falls
Just before the world ends
Just before I die
All my tears will powder
Black in dust like ashes
Black like Buddhas bellly
Black and hot and dry
Then will mercy tumble
Falling down in goheads
Falling on the children
Falling from the sky
July 28, 2015
I know that everyone loves her, and I get the commercial appeal and the necessity of the work and where it comes from, but I'm just not a huge fan. The majority of the rhymes are just too easy, like high-school-level poems (what I refer to as the "life is bad; it's so sad; I am mad" rhymes), and the majority of them are actually rather boring and don't dig terribly far into the soul. That said, it does have some powerful gems among the bedrock. To get a taste of Angelou at her best, I recommend reading from this collection: "To a Freedom Fighter," "Riot: 60's," "We Saw beyond Our Seeming," "My Guilt," "Request," "America," "Take Time Out," and "Family Affairs."
June 10, 2010
When reading poems by Maya Angelou it fills me with so much inspiration. Not only do I learn for her poems, but I also try and figure out a way to put what i learn to use in the real world. Her poem "On The Pulse of Morning" was terrific! It was given at the inaguration of President Clinton. It took me by surprise and gave me a different perspective on life and how everyone should be treated fairly and that once you take a different perspective in hand you'll live a better life. The overall book is great and filled with poems that will take you to another world.
March 17, 2012
From Africa to boobies...From death to diamonds at the meeting of thighs...From love to rape.
Maya Angelou surely lives her life.
Although some of the poems are overly slang, the majority would keep on breaking your heart into a million pieces, and thereafter, find fellow poems, to fix and amend.
In my second reading, I've decided to mark the poems I loved by flipping the edge of the papers. Now my collection of poems look like an intricate piece of origami.
Maya Angelou surely lives her life.
Although some of the poems are overly slang, the majority would keep on breaking your heart into a million pieces, and thereafter, find fellow poems, to fix and amend.
In my second reading, I've decided to mark the poems I loved by flipping the edge of the papers. Now my collection of poems look like an intricate piece of origami.
September 27, 2017
Beautiful and powerful. Unquestionably. Although at times I must admit to have been completely at a loss… lost in Maya Angelou's imagery of words, that is perhaps too much colored and indebted to a social atmosphere strange to my own? Not that I am not in full awe for her genius as a true wordsmith: honest and heartfelt, artful but still full of grace, distinguishing a soulful rhythm – often like the blues – that makes you want to read some Poems aloud. Which one definitely should.
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