Maya Angelou dies at 68

[meninlove]

[AlohaShannon]

I like this poem of hers:

[COLOR="SeaGreen"]I Will Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread 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. [/COLOR]

[Jesse]

My favourite tidbit of wisdom from her is this:

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."

Here's to hoping I can do the same.

[TwisttheLeaf]

Horrible Loss

[Metta8]

"And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed."
From "When Great Trees Fall," by Maya Angelou

[Metta8]

Petition to get a postage stamp for Maya Angelou:

"there's a wonderful way for us as a country to honor her: by commemorating her life with a United States Postal Service stamp."

I am not able to post a link here, but the petition is on the weareultraviolet website.

[LONDONER]

Petition to get a postage stamp for Maya Angelou:

"there's a wonderful way for us as a country to honor her: by commemorating her life with a United States Postal Service stamp."

I am not able to post a link here, but the petition is on the weareultraviolet website.

On behalf of Metta8, here is the link:

http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign....443277.kUyXMA

That link doesn't seem to be working so, try this:

http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/Ang...277.kUyXMA

[Melody]

I'm gonna miss her

[LONDONER]

Unfortunately it seems that that website is only open for those living in the USA. It asks for a zip code. I put mine in and it was rejected.

[Lambert]

I remember reading her poems a lot in middle school, RIP