LOVE FOR DR MAYA ANGELOU

 Sarana VerLin and her dear friend Beaux Mitchell

Tonight I was speaking with a new friend Beaux Mitchell.  Miss Beaux is a poet, singer, songwriter, teacher and marvelous woman. I felt as if I had known her all my life and yet we have never been in the same room. Thanks to Sarana for getting Beaux's number for me!

Beaux is nominated for a few Detroit Music Awards and I tried my best to get her to come out tomorrow to the show.  She might surprise us and be there.  If not I am going to pick up her awards!!!

 

 Dr Maya Angelou

Miss Beaux and I were talking about many topics but a favorite subject of her's is poetry.  My favorite poet/author is Dr. Maya Angelou. I asked Miss Beaux if she knew of Dr. Angelou and she had not. I began listing a ton of her books for Beaux to read.  Beaux suggested I write a story about Maya and her major influence she has had on my entire life.

I was first introduced to Maya Angelou's book "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" in college by a very enlightened teacher named Kathleen Steele. It was a book on our reading list for our Humanities class.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

From the very first beginning...

A young Marguerite (Maya) stands in front of her church congregation on Easter, unable to finish reciting a poem. She wears an unflattering altered taffeta dress that, she notes, is probably a secondhand dress from a white woman, and she fantasizes that one day she will wake up out of her “black ugly dream” and be white and blond instead of a large, unattractive African American girl. After being humiliated in front of everyone and tripped by another child, she ends up running out of church peeing, crying, and laughing all at the same time.

Maya's life stories became my addiction... I have read every one of her published works.  She doesn't know me. I was just a young white girl searching for meaning in my life. But I feel I know her... Her pride, her fearlessness and determination were boundless.  She inspires me to this day to follow my dreams and touch other souls wherever I can.

Back in the 1970's it was difficult to find Maya Angelou on radio or television.  Then lo and behold, PBS had Maya on one of their shows.  My Mother called me right away to alert me. To my amazement...Maya speaks just as she writes! Those adjectives, those tones and pauses...just like her books. More on Dr Angelou

Dr. Maya Angelou is one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time. Hailed as a global renaissance woman, Dr. Angelou is a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist.

Born on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Angelou was raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. In Stamps, Dr. Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination, but she also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community, and culture.

Maya Angelou's Inaugural Poem

(born Marguerite Ann Johnson on April 4, 1928) an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. 

The first and most highly acclaimed, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her first seventeen years. It brought her international recognition, and was nominated for a National Book Award. She has been awarded over 30 honorary degrees and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her 1971 volume of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Diiie.  

And Still I Rise

THIS IS DEDICATED TO BEAUX ,JILL, AND GENEVA

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

The free bird leaps

on the back of the wind

and floats downstream

till the current ends

and dips his wings

in the orange sun rays

and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks

down his narrow cage

can seldom see through

his bars of rage

his wings are clipped and

his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings

with fearful trill

of the things unknown

but longed for still

and is tune is heard

on the distant hillfor the caged bird

sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze

an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees

and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn

and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing

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.

Maya Angelou