STILL I RISE by Maya Angelou

Six years ago, I had the privilege of listening to Maya Angelou speak live on the value of poetry at the University of Florida. I share these reflections with you again today, in honor of her birthday. 

I was relieved to get one of the last seats available for this rare event, having arrived at five for Maya Angelou’s free speech at eight. The historically long line began with people settled into beach chairs in winter coats busying themselves on tablets, or eating sandwiches for dinner.

As helicopters hovered above and newscasters below, I felt the excitement of realizing that thousands of people were gathering together to hear an eighty four year old black woman recite her poetry!

Maya Angelou speaking at University of Florida on Feb. 27, 2013 

When the curtain rose -after an overflow of hundreds were sent away- we lucky ones on the inside greeted Maya with a standing ovation, as she smiled sweetly, beginning her talk using metaphors from nature. Maya asked that we all become like “rainbows” to those parts of the world that are “in the clouds”, emphasizing the importance of supporting each other, and giving each other hope. And when we can’t find that support on the outside, she said, there’s always poetry.

 “Memorize your favorite poems!” Maya stated enthusiastically.

 “Keep them inside you. That way you can still use them when your technology goes out.” 

Her uncle had taught her to memorize poetry when she was only three. And she emphasized this usefulness of poems, as powerful companions that carry us through life when we feel alone. Swords that cut through adversity.

For ten years of her childhood, after enduring a tragic trauma, Maya did not speak. She feared the power of her own voice, which she had misidentified as a destructive force at the young age of seven. But we are “neither devils, nor divine” she said, instead we are “rainbows”; a symbol she returned to throughout the evening, defining it as a person of generous heart above all else, emphatically stating:

 “When you get, give. 

And when you learn, teach!”

There is no place for fearful muteness in this world. The rainbow metaphor alluded to each of us being made of beauty and light, and full of bright voices to share. We are, essentially, gifts! That was most important, she said, to share our voices, to share our poems. 

And at that, Maya Angelou treated us with many of her poems, which she recited from memory. And those of poets she loved –like Paul Laurence Dunbar- whose line “I know why the caged bird sings” from his ‘Sympathy’ poem became the title for her famous autobiography, which I read as a schoolgirl. For there are little parts of each of us that feel caged sometimes, but even so, we should never stop singing. And when we feel pushed down, we need to remember that we can always rise.

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

Catherine L. Schweig is an artist, mother and free spirit who founded Journey of the Heart in 2012 to facilitate the expression of women through poetry. Since then, the project has grown into an online sisterhood from which four anthologies, featuring the voices of hundreds of women from around the world, have emerged: Journey of the Heart, Where Journey's Meet, Poetry as a Spiritual Practice and Goddess: When She Rules (Golden Dragonfly Press, 2018), which was named a finalist in the 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and nominated for three Pushcart prizes. As a Bhakti Yoga practitioner of over 30 years, Catherine also runs the Secret Yoga Institute with her partner, Graham. They live in Virginia, where she also makes vegan, Waldorf-style dolls, photographs Nature, and and cultivates her relationship with the Goddess. You may reach her on Facebook or e-mail her: catherine@secretyoga.com

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