Poems Inspired by Maya Angelou
#MayaAngelou
Poems inspired by the American poet, storyteller, activist and autobiographer Maya Angelou. Here you'll find poetry using the style or themes found in the work of Maya Angelou. Along with poems about Angelou herself, including praise, criticism and memorials.
Black-kwacha
Poem Published
26th Feb 2019 10:49pm
26th Feb 2019 10:49pm
#AFRICA
She feeds nations but fails to breast feed her own
she is the epitome of wealth,my Africa
But they will not let her harvest her own
She has endowed her children with knowledge
Ask about the brain drain
Yes,she is beautiful,beauty packed and sold
beauty that does not at all benefit her
They know how to crawl in
they called it 'development loans'
sunk her in so deep in debt she can barely float
Africa,the land that once thrived on authenticity
The land that the Creator blessed with so much melanin
Her children now scrap it...
she is the epitome of wealth,my Africa
But they will not let her harvest her own
She has endowed her children with knowledge
Ask about the brain drain
Yes,she is beautiful,beauty packed and sold
beauty that does not at all benefit her
They know how to crawl in
they called it 'development loans'
sunk her in so deep in debt she can barely float
Africa,the land that once thrived on authenticity
The land that the Creator blessed with so much melanin
Her children now scrap it...
#Africa
#MayaAngelou
#oppression #inequality
#oppression #inequality
648 reads
5 Comments
mcjay
Poem Published
22nd Feb 2019 9:14pm
22nd Feb 2019 9:14pm
Slick Quick
You I'll never fall in love with a smile
My test not just another day
I belong the love I guess
Hand promise me we'll have a chance son, don't follow
Gone and I go on I can't leave 'em
I know the rest of my time
Bet is to look me in your eyes
Live my life completely you got my lady, don't call
Meant to be slick quick when he a-a-ask
Many times I recall a night gown trim in lace
Cause the tears how she had a tryout
Time cause other wise
Why baby why would you be working she'll probably stop
At this game when it...
My test not just another day
I belong the love I guess
Hand promise me we'll have a chance son, don't follow
Gone and I go on I can't leave 'em
I know the rest of my time
Bet is to look me in your eyes
Live my life completely you got my lady, don't call
Meant to be slick quick when he a-a-ask
Many times I recall a night gown trim in lace
Cause the tears how she had a tryout
Time cause other wise
Why baby why would you be working she'll probably stop
At this game when it...
#breakup
#MayaAngelou
575 reads
2 Comments
eswaller
Poem Published
18th Feb 2019 6:08am
18th Feb 2019 6:08am
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...
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...
#strength
#hope
#PowerOfWords #MayaAngelou
#PowerOfWords #MayaAngelou
650 reads
8 Comments
slipalong
Poem Published
12th Feb 2019 9:05pm
12th Feb 2019 9:05pm
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...
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...
#historical
#MayaAngelou
520 reads
2 Comments
PoetsRevenge
Poem Published
7th Feb 2019 11:04pm
7th Feb 2019 11:04pm
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...
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...
#LifeStruggles
#LifeAsAWriter
#WritingPoetry #MayaAngelou
#WritingPoetry #MayaAngelou
663 reads
4 Comments
ImperfectedStone
The Gardener
The Gardener
Poem Published
6th Feb 2019 6:22pm
6th Feb 2019 6:22pm
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
#nature
#fiction
#evolution #MayaAngelou
#evolution #MayaAngelou
652 reads
10 Comments
Heaven_sent_Kathy
Poem Published
6th Feb 2019 4:14am
6th Feb 2019 4:14am
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...
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...
#love
#God
#freedom
#inequality
#MayaAngelou
853 reads
10 Comments
Ahavati
Tams
Tams
Poem Published
30th Jan 2019 6:13am
30th Jan 2019 6:13am
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...
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...
#hope
#faith
#spiritual
#philosophical
#MayaAngelou
893 reads
18 Comments
Rachelleundrgrd
Poem Published
29th Jan 2019 5:23am
29th Jan 2019 5:23am
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 ...
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 ...
#hope
#MyInspiration
#CallToAction #MayaAngelou
#CallToAction #MayaAngelou
588 reads
6 Comments
Jade-Pandora
jade tiger
jade tiger
Poem Published
28th Jan 2019 11:19pm
28th Jan 2019 11:19pm
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...
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...
#dreams
#sun
#moon
#lover
#MayaAngelou
1023 reads
17 Comments
da_poetic-edifier
Damon
Damon
Poem Published
27th Jul 2018 3:53pm
27th Jul 2018 3:53pm
STILL I RISE
I use my creativity to rise above all negativity
I'm only interested in upliftment and positivity
I'm trying to keep all negative energy far far away
Worldly forces attempt to steal my peace everyday
As I lay down crosses that I use to bear on my back
Luciferian agents keep trying to put them all back
I've racked up mileage on a body that's now weary
But my protective deflector goes by the name of poetry
Vigilantly she stays on guard protecting me from harm
Giving me the strength to maintain some semblance of charm
Shadow boxing...
I'm only interested in upliftment and positivity
I'm trying to keep all negative energy far far away
Worldly forces attempt to steal my peace everyday
As I lay down crosses that I use to bear on my back
Luciferian agents keep trying to put them all back
I've racked up mileage on a body that's now weary
But my protective deflector goes by the name of poetry
Vigilantly she stays on guard protecting me from harm
Giving me the strength to maintain some semblance of charm
Shadow boxing...
#strength
#inspirational
#LifeAsAWriter #MayaAngelou
#LifeAsAWriter #MayaAngelou
572 reads
2 Comments
eswaller
Poem Published
12th Apr 2018 5:38am
12th Apr 2018 5:38am
Like Maya Angelou (Tribute)
Sexy, sultry and deep like Maya Angelou.
The words that bloom from the cracks in
The sidewalk like flowers. A painted blue
Sky in the backdrop, wearing every sin
Like a diamond necklace. Pretty to wear,
But it also shows us where we have been.
You light up the night sky and every tear
Is well hidden within that smile of yours.
Some day you will rise and swear
To protect what people are afraid of. Doors
Will open and you will walk in with grace.
Do not let life have you down on all fours,
Cowering...
The words that bloom from the cracks in
The sidewalk like flowers. A painted blue
Sky in the backdrop, wearing every sin
Like a diamond necklace. Pretty to wear,
But it also shows us where we have been.
You light up the night sky and every tear
Is well hidden within that smile of yours.
Some day you will rise and swear
To protect what people are afraid of. Doors
Will open and you will walk in with grace.
Do not let life have you down on all fours,
Cowering...
#strength
#courage
#memorial #MayaAngelou
#memorial #MayaAngelou
615 reads
4 Comments
DU Poetry : Poems Inspired by Maya Angelou
#MayaAngelou is curated by Ahavati (Tams).
