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.
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
511 reads
2 Comments
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
573 reads
8 Comments
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
435 reads
2 Comments
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
565 reads
4 Comments
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
564 reads
10 Comments
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
763 reads
10 Comments
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
800 reads
18 Comments
[ CC ] Rise To The Occasion
Girl
don't you let them
get you down
Strut the pavement
like you own the damn town
They'll howl like wolves
lunge, snarl, scowl and frown
when you refuse to be their dinner
Show them you're a winner
Girl
let them talk to the hand!
as you walk right on by
ignoring every command
demanding you get in back
of the line or bus
Girl
you're black
and you're too damn fine
to give up yet
on...
don't you let them
get you down
Strut the pavement
like you own the damn town
They'll howl like wolves
lunge, snarl, scowl and frown
when you refuse to be their dinner
Show them you're a winner
Girl
let them talk to the hand!
as you walk right on by
ignoring every command
demanding you get in back
of the line or bus
Girl
you're black
and you're too damn fine
to give up yet
on...
#women
#racism
#SelfWorth #MayaAngelou
#SelfWorth #MayaAngelou
524 reads
3 Comments
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
523 reads
6 Comments
[ CC ] Light On Your Feet
You got game? Lets play
I got game. Show you the way.
It's hot out here, but not to fear---
an ice cream truck may soon be here
Don't stop your hopping now
or you'll be droppin. How?
In your ass - POW POW!
Caps be a'poppin
So skip rope left n right turn on a dime
Don't touch any dope --- that shit's a crime
Keep on moving if you want to be just fine
and we'll all be home safely by dinnertime
I got game. Show you the way.
It's hot out here, but not to fear---
an ice cream truck may soon be here
Don't stop your hopping now
or you'll be droppin. How?
In your ass - POW POW!
Caps be a'poppin
So skip rope left n right turn on a dime
Don't touch any dope --- that shit's a crime
Keep on moving if you want to be just fine
and we'll all be home safely by dinnertime
#violence
#drugs
#MayaAngelou
625 reads
1 Comment
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
872 reads
17 Comments
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
501 reads
2 Comments
DU Poetry : Poems Inspired by Maya Angelou
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Ahavati
#MayaAngelou is curated by Ahavati.