Why the Caged Bird Sings
Ahavati
Tams
Forum Posts: 17054
Tams
Tyrant of Words
124
Joined 11th Apr 2015Forum Posts: 17054
Poetry Contest Description
The Classic Corner: Maya Angelou
Co-Host - JohnnyBlaze ( also the amazing artist who rendered Angelou's portrait )
Part IX in an ongoing series introducing serious writers of DUP to the most well-known poets, both classical and modern.
Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American poet, singer, memoirist, 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 more than 50 honorary degrees.
In addition to honorary degrees, her awards include:
Pulitzer Prize nomination for her book of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie
Tony Award nomination for her role in the 1973 play Look Away,
Three Grammys for her spoken word albums.
Two presidential committees
Spingarn Medal - 1994
National Medal of Arts - 2000,
Presidential Medal of Freedom - 2011
Guidelines
Write a new poem honoring Angelou from any of her published poetry. We feel listing poems may be constricting, and want you to follow the inspiration wherever it leads.
The Rules
1. One entry per DUP persona.
2. No erotica; this is open to all ages and can't be viewed with an ECW.
3. No exact word limit; however, attempt to keep it no more than 250 - 300.
4. Any form is acceptable ( but studying the poet is advised ).
5. Hashtag your poem #MayaAngelou and link to your poem here. Do NOT copy paste your poem to the competition. The point is to eventually direct visitors searching for Angelou to your poem via the hashtag we hope will eventually be implemented by the Webmiss.
Comp will be judged by a panel including myself. You have one month; best of luck to all entrants.
Jade-Pandora
jade tiger
Forum Posts: 5134
jade tiger
Tyrant of Words
154
Joined 9th Nov 2015 Forum Posts: 5134
Until I Find You Waiting
Tell me all the places I can find
The dappled shadows of you
That show me everywhere the sun goes
Where your warmth is while I live.
I know there will be other moments
In dreams where I’m wide awake
And yet only exist in dreamscapes,
Because that is where we’ve lived.
The river’s yearn and pull to the gulf,
Our currents, when strength is spent,
All conjoined in a vortex of mirth
Felt so clearly from my mouth.
That will assure us without pledges,
Totems of your abundance,
Reading a deep night’s constellations,
Until I find you waiting.
#MayaAngelou
Written by Jade-Pandora
(jade tiger)
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Anonymous
Related submission no longer exists.
Rachelleundrgrd
Forum Posts: 82
Thought Provoker
2
Joined 17th Feb 2018 Forum Posts: 82
Cable(d)
Fox News turns
clock irrelevant
as night and day
meld into fear.
If no surprises from the
current King’s reign
nor no left-leaning bastion unseated,
certainly then we should expect
to see more poor immigrants,
to read faces of rapists
in those of the desperate.
Why must they be so
Brown?
What could they be after?
My comfortable home
shutters in around me.
The land upon which it sits
moans in ancient tongues
of those long before.
Why do Brown people still
come? Who will
surrender their shutters
and cede them
one more morning?
#MayaAngelou
clock irrelevant
as night and day
meld into fear.
If no surprises from the
current King’s reign
nor no left-leaning bastion unseated,
certainly then we should expect
to see more poor immigrants,
to read faces of rapists
in those of the desperate.
Why must they be so
Brown?
What could they be after?
My comfortable home
shutters in around me.
The land upon which it sits
moans in ancient tongues
of those long before.
Why do Brown people still
come? Who will
surrender their shutters
and cede them
one more morning?
#MayaAngelou
Written by Rachelleundrgrd
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Anonymous
Related submission no longer exists.
Ahavati
Tams
Forum Posts: 17054
Tams
Tyrant of Words
124
Joined 11th Apr 2015Forum Posts: 17054
The Lesson ( after Maya Angelou )
I was conceived by a bloodline
of warriors: Jew and Cherokee;
I'm certain if we draw deep
there is also African American
Thus, "abandon" is not a word
existing in my ancestry—
neither does "quit"
though definition appears equal
Maybe they are, technically
according to the dictionary—
but, one slices more personally
as part of our humanity
I am no quitter despite suffering
having swallowed the streets;
I never stopped believing
'One day' I would have it:
'One day' it would arrive—
a flagship bearing proof
the treasure in its cargo hold
for those who refused to let go:
the abandoned, hurt, destitute
faithfully waiting upon the dock
with not one guarantee
anything would ever make port
But, there you have it . . .
laden with truth, relief, and reward
for those who didn't desert hope;
who refused to walk— to quit
not on some lost dream, or lover
they could no longer stomach—
nor a cruel plantation owner
beating bloody the helpless . . .
those who walked not by sight
entrenched knee-deep in mud
toward a lost covenant of Love
finally having learnt
the only thing needed to survive
circumstance is belief—
whether in this world or the next
despite how hard it's kicked;
Because freedom is never in vain;
it will rise up, and up again
~
#Maya Angelou
of warriors: Jew and Cherokee;
I'm certain if we draw deep
there is also African American
Thus, "abandon" is not a word
existing in my ancestry—
neither does "quit"
though definition appears equal
Maybe they are, technically
according to the dictionary—
but, one slices more personally
as part of our humanity
I am no quitter despite suffering
having swallowed the streets;
I never stopped believing
'One day' I would have it:
'One day' it would arrive—
a flagship bearing proof
the treasure in its cargo hold
for those who refused to let go:
the abandoned, hurt, destitute
faithfully waiting upon the dock
with not one guarantee
anything would ever make port
But, there you have it . . .
laden with truth, relief, and reward
for those who didn't desert hope;
who refused to walk— to quit
not on some lost dream, or lover
they could no longer stomach—
nor a cruel plantation owner
beating bloody the helpless . . .
those who walked not by sight
entrenched knee-deep in mud
toward a lost covenant of Love
finally having learnt
the only thing needed to survive
circumstance is belief—
whether in this world or the next
despite how hard it's kicked;
Because freedom is never in vain;
it will rise up, and up again
~
#Maya Angelou
Written by Ahavati
(Tams)
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Heaven_sent_Kathy
Forum Posts: 177
Thought Provoker
9
Joined 1st Nov 2017 Forum Posts: 177
Biscuits
You needn’t care of what I seek,
My father taught me, he was wise:
“No matter how you look and speak,
Become the sun each day you rise.”
Do I annoy you by my spunk,
The way I handle every slight?
Why do you fill your head with junk?
As President? Well I just might.
My faith is day, my passion night,
But you don’t know me, you despise
How much I love, with whom I cite,
And wonder next time when I’ll rise.
You hate me for my looks & strength,
Of different hair & skin & nose.
You think about my life, it’s length.
All the above, our Maker chose.
Don’t think about my happiness,
I feel I’ve won the lottery.
Without a dime, in God I’m blessed,
My plate is full, His gifts to me.
I am a Mardi Gras delight,
Confetti floating from the skies.
The crowd will dance with me all night,
And like balloons in air, I’ll rise.
Do I hear gunshots, go to jail,
Is that the life you think I lead?
With all the wisdom as my bail,
I will remind that slaves were freed.
The ghettos and the jungles show
It’s of diversity we’ve come.
You plant us anywhere, we’ll grow,
We won’t go back where we came from.
You lie awake, of me you shake,
I’ve got the gist of your surmise.
What do I cook as biscuits bake?
It won’t be long now ‘till I rise.
Written by Heaven_sent_Kathy
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ImperfectedStone
The Gardener
Forum Posts: 1347
The Gardener
Tyrant of Words
28
Joined 10th Oct 2010Forum Posts: 1347
Upon stolen sand
When you come, I'll bathe you
in the holy water of a lionness
stalking in the blackness
of a harsh, slumbering Sun.
As you come upon your prized pyre,
offering the embers of oldest fires,
burning the paws of my beast brutally,
singing retellings under our shared Moon, I growl and hiss and spit at you.
In this wasteland, where we roar our truths from mountaintop,
for the ones before and the ones to come, and the ones that never were,
I weep.
#MayaAngelou
in the holy water of a lionness
stalking in the blackness
of a harsh, slumbering Sun.
As you come upon your prized pyre,
offering the embers of oldest fires,
burning the paws of my beast brutally,
singing retellings under our shared Moon, I growl and hiss and spit at you.
In this wasteland, where we roar our truths from mountaintop,
for the ones before and the ones to come, and the ones that never were,
I weep.
#MayaAngelou
Written by ImperfectedStone
(The Gardener)
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PoetsRevenge
Forum Posts: 749
Dangerous Mind
29
Joined 30th June 2016Forum Posts: 749
Still I Rise (Still The Pen Glides)
When I wake in the morning,
ain’t never surprised,
I got no time for cryin’
so still the pen glides.
How, they would wonder
could I ever have arrived
when grief falls around me
as dust on their winds of doubt rise?
That I could have much of anything to say
in wake of all I’ve survived,
that I would have not become a slave
to all my years for which dashed hopes
I only strived?
I lift a pen, I lift my voice
and so amplify words,
into a megaphone did I shout until
I was, by so many, heard.
The lofty dream was always there,
a little diamond in my heart,
that I would rise from all despair-
Riches from tattered rags of a journey
I could share
in words that still rise,
and still the pen glides.
.....
#Maya Angelou
ain’t never surprised,
I got no time for cryin’
so still the pen glides.
How, they would wonder
could I ever have arrived
when grief falls around me
as dust on their winds of doubt rise?
That I could have much of anything to say
in wake of all I’ve survived,
that I would have not become a slave
to all my years for which dashed hopes
I only strived?
I lift a pen, I lift my voice
and so amplify words,
into a megaphone did I shout until
I was, by so many, heard.
The lofty dream was always there,
a little diamond in my heart,
that I would rise from all despair-
Riches from tattered rags of a journey
I could share
in words that still rise,
and still the pen glides.
.....
#Maya Angelou
Written by PoetsRevenge
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Anonymous
Psssst!
The vote is on for our next Classic Corner comps!
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/speakeasy/read/10625/
The vote is on for our next Classic Corner comps!
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/speakeasy/read/10625/
slipalong
Forum Posts: 861
Dangerous Mind
43
Joined 1st Jan 2018Forum Posts: 861
Investments #Maya Angelou
Can we guess how hard that road to tread
to where the seeds of inspiration lead
the cramp before you spread your wings
the stones they threw of words that sting
The civil rights of Black and White
Wikipedia I read between the lines
a resume that few can match
of sparks that flew to ring the change in time
From modesty the caged bird fledge
but not to fly but to sing instead
challenge them and shake the world
born again not once but three or four
Cap and gown tread the halls renowned
the doctorates that Universities provide
the investment that a small town girl made
paid dividends for all of us to share
to where the seeds of inspiration lead
the cramp before you spread your wings
the stones they threw of words that sting
The civil rights of Black and White
Wikipedia I read between the lines
a resume that few can match
of sparks that flew to ring the change in time
From modesty the caged bird fledge
but not to fly but to sing instead
challenge them and shake the world
born again not once but three or four
Cap and gown tread the halls renowned
the doctorates that Universities provide
the investment that a small town girl made
paid dividends for all of us to share
Written by slipalong
Go To Page
eswaller
Forum Posts: 764
Dangerous Mind
31
Joined 22nd Dec 2015Forum Posts: 764
Still I Rise (After Maya Angelou)
My queen, your whole body has been draped in diamonds
Because you are like the main prize and a jewel. Men and
Women alike are worshiping the ground you are walking
On because you are drawing attention, not for the money
You have or for fame you want or because you are a lion
At the head of the pack, but because you will always stand
On a solid footing with a permanent smile. You are talking
As if you are made from the essentials of gold and honey.
You do not need anyone telling you that you have power
Within you to stand up to the rest of this world who is
Telling you that your body is too imperfect with a spirit
That is too wild or untamable and with eyes that are too
Wide open. Darling, you will always pray for your flower
To bloom away from all the sidewalk cracks and from his
Smudged fingertips that once gripped your neck to limit
Your voice. He cannot take your newfound hope or blue
Sky streaked with warm sunlight during the day and stars
Filling your mind with dreams for a new tomorrow. When
When you look in the mirror you do not see his imprint or
Their shadows that try to make you feel like nothing. They
Do not know that you have emerged from written memoirs
Of your ancestors with their spilt blood, but you once again
Have already begun writing with your blood and hand your
Own stories. That is why you are here. You are here to stay
And etched into history. They may try to shoot you down
With their words, but you still rise and wear the crown.
#MayaAngelou
Because you are like the main prize and a jewel. Men and
Women alike are worshiping the ground you are walking
On because you are drawing attention, not for the money
You have or for fame you want or because you are a lion
At the head of the pack, but because you will always stand
On a solid footing with a permanent smile. You are talking
As if you are made from the essentials of gold and honey.
You do not need anyone telling you that you have power
Within you to stand up to the rest of this world who is
Telling you that your body is too imperfect with a spirit
That is too wild or untamable and with eyes that are too
Wide open. Darling, you will always pray for your flower
To bloom away from all the sidewalk cracks and from his
Smudged fingertips that once gripped your neck to limit
Your voice. He cannot take your newfound hope or blue
Sky streaked with warm sunlight during the day and stars
Filling your mind with dreams for a new tomorrow. When
When you look in the mirror you do not see his imprint or
Their shadows that try to make you feel like nothing. They
Do not know that you have emerged from written memoirs
Of your ancestors with their spilt blood, but you once again
Have already begun writing with your blood and hand your
Own stories. That is why you are here. You are here to stay
And etched into history. They may try to shoot you down
With their words, but you still rise and wear the crown.
#MayaAngelou
Written by eswaller
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Ahavati
Tams
Forum Posts: 17054
Tams
Tyrant of Words
124
Joined 11th Apr 2015Forum Posts: 17054
Greetings, honored Classic participants. The above poll for March has been closed in order to have time to prep the portraits.
Below is the new poll for April. This will close March 15 ( so beware the Ides of March and vote before then ). We are conducting this early in order to prepare DUP's NaPoWriMo Team and Comp. Thank you.
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/speakeasy/read/10638/#439297
Below is the new poll for April. This will close March 15 ( so beware the Ides of March and vote before then ). We are conducting this early in order to prepare DUP's NaPoWriMo Team and Comp. Thank you.
https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/speakeasy/read/10638/#439297
snugglebuck
Forum Posts: 1873
Dangerous Mind
77
Joined 3rd Feb 2014Forum Posts: 1873
RAPTURE
When we two become one
Like the Father and the Son
Fused by passion’s embrace
I’m carried to a heavenly place
Of complete bliss and exhilaration
“Sweet Jesus,” I cry out in exaltation
Captured within this rapture
I discover that paradise is for lovers
And in a divine God I do believe
For he sent an angel to earth
To make sweet love to me
#MayaAngelo
Like the Father and the Son
Fused by passion’s embrace
I’m carried to a heavenly place
Of complete bliss and exhilaration
“Sweet Jesus,” I cry out in exaltation
Captured within this rapture
I discover that paradise is for lovers
And in a divine God I do believe
For he sent an angel to earth
To make sweet love to me
#MayaAngelo
Written by snugglebuck
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Painting by Bouguereau "L'Amour Vainqueur - Victorious Love" 1886.
blinkers55
Joined 26th Jan 2019
Forum Posts: 4
Strange Creature
Forum Posts: 4
Prison Song
the bars are not set firm
although they are of fired steel
risin and fallin, infirm
expandin and contractin
like actions reactin
like Gods breath of life
moving in time with rib cage
there is no time like prison time
where the few freedoms by the man granted
are bleached away with a single flush
a disinfected pine smelling gush
the mark of a man tattooed
man forced on man like bitches
rules apply snitches get stitches
shanks approved
the singin stoollie's song
is not prevented by bars
but accumulates razor scars
no one sings along
with this rapper from the crapper
silenced sweetly
when death come callin
I will sing a song of freedom
tis music to my own ears
caged or uncaged
for sure it falls on deaf ears
stony, is the path I walk on
imprisoned or not
for a gangsta killing spree
I will never be free
my constant desire to sing
does not depend on anything
the cage is what we surround us in
its all in the mind
I hits the rewind
on cruelly clipped wings
this caged bird still sings
still no freedom it brings
although they are of fired steel
risin and fallin, infirm
expandin and contractin
like actions reactin
like Gods breath of life
moving in time with rib cage
there is no time like prison time
where the few freedoms by the man granted
are bleached away with a single flush
a disinfected pine smelling gush
the mark of a man tattooed
man forced on man like bitches
rules apply snitches get stitches
shanks approved
the singin stoollie's song
is not prevented by bars
but accumulates razor scars
no one sings along
with this rapper from the crapper
silenced sweetly
when death come callin
I will sing a song of freedom
tis music to my own ears
caged or uncaged
for sure it falls on deaf ears
stony, is the path I walk on
imprisoned or not
for a gangsta killing spree
I will never be free
my constant desire to sing
does not depend on anything
the cage is what we surround us in
its all in the mind
I hits the rewind
on cruelly clipped wings
this caged bird still sings
still no freedom it brings
Written by blinkers55
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