There must be quite the literary salon going on in the Great Beyond right now, as Maya Angelou joins heavenly voices like June Jordan, Audre Lorde, and Pat Parker.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
-Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Down here on earth, Alice Walker and nikki giovanni carry the message on.
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Please come in. You're invited to make yourself at home! Join us beneath the orange poetry-in-motion...
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My passion for poetry has always leaned heavily toward African-American women. It's hard to articulate why, since they're a very diverse bunch. No one would confuse the unique cadence of ntozake shange's wow...yr just like a man! with the stripped-down images of Alice Walker's Rage. But I'm drawn to writers with two things in common.
First, they write about stuff that actually matters. Politics, race, sex, life and death, (and yes, love poems too). And second, they get to the point. It's not that those qualities are inevitable or unique to African-American women. It's just something that I see a lot with people who've had to deal with multiple oppressions: when you've had to fight like hell just to be heard, you're going to try to make it count. When I read stuff that's needlessly obscure or self-centered, it makes me reach for the bluntness of Pat Parker's Brother:
Brother
I don't want to hear
about
how my real enemy
is the system.
i'm no genius,
but i do know
that system
you hit me with
is called
a fist.
I first discovered the power of poetry in Alice Walker's words, like
Torture, and
Expect Nothing, and the one that was my mantra at that age,
Be Nobody's Darling:
Be nobody's darling;
Be an outcast.
Take the contradictions
Of your life
And wrap around
You like a shawl,
To parry stones
To keep you warm.
Long before "intersectinality" was a common term, Audre Lorde was challenging white feminists like me in
Who Said it Was Simple:
Sitting in Nedicks
the women rally before they march
discussing the problematic girls
they hire to make them free.
An almost white counterman passes
a waiting brother to serve them first
and the ladies neither notice nor reject
the slighter pleasures of their slavery.
Lorde also wrote about survival and taking joy where you find it,
For Each of You.
One of the most disturbing and powerful images I ever encountered was the searing description of a rape in June Jordan's Case in Point. But Jordan is best known for a single line from her Poem for South African Women:
we are the ones we have been waiting for
That line was turned into a song by a capella greats
Sweet Honey in the Rock. The same group also did justice to Jordan's
Oughta Be a Woman and
Alla That's All Right, But...
Somebody come and carry me into a seven-day kiss
And was there ever a better poem for seducing your lover than nikki giovanni's
That Day?
you get the glass
I've got the wine
we'll do what we did
when we did it overtime
if you've got the dough
then I've got the heat
we can use my oven
til it's warm and sweet
Ms. Angelou gets the final word here, as she should. Godspeed to a powerful spirit,
On the Pulse of Morning:
History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.
Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.
Give birth again
To the dream.
On to Top Comments!
From BlackSheep1:
Wherein MargaretPOA nails the problem with Texas: Why should I spend my hard earned money electing Democrats for other states when they just abandon me and mine to the Teabag Taliban? From YucatanMan's diary A Texas-Sized Depression.
From
Susan from 29:
From Colorado is the Shiznit's recommended diary This woman hating uptick is pissing me off.
A comment from Dale:
A message that is so helpful in easing the frustration and anger that so many women are feeling right now.
And BTW, I sure wish they would incorporate a link to you in the banner at DKos!
From
Puddytat:
La Gitane has a great solution to our "corporate" problem.
(Note from Tara: comment is from joedemocrat's diary The Goose That Lays Their Golden Egg.)
From
your humble (if antisocial) diarist:
In Jen Hayden's front-page diary on Maya Angelou, kaleidescope shared a memory of hearing her speak, and teresahill offered another.
In Jed Lewison's front-page diary Issa Going Rogue, antirove suggests a nickname for Darell Issa.
Flagged by onionjim, here's penelope pnortney making an astute observation in kos's diary Beltway Media Toss Out First Amendment Because Some Guy Was a Jerk.
Top mojo, courtesy of
mik:
1) Yep I'd Be Outta There and My Meal WOuld Be by Gooserock — 160
2) Seems like you'd have legitimate cause to flee... by Battling Maxo — 124
3) Agree 100%. by Gordon20024 — 122
4) no apology needed by wilderness voice — 119
5) "Disarm the world?" by Bob Johnson — 105
6) Bullies only get away with what by RudiB — 98
7) How do you get insurance with everyone walking by skillet — 94
8) the card to hand such good citizens by annieli — 94
9) Many children are dying to "preserve" those by Bob Johnson — 92
10) Tipped for ramekins by fcvaguy — 92
11) My thoughts exactly. Immediately throw down the by OregonWetDog — 92
12) On the same day as Sandy Hook, a man in China by zenbassoon — 91
13) Joe the plumber speaks for all real by LaFeminista — 84
14) "I thought my knife was unloaded by anonevent — 84
15) Yep - I'd be outta there and then later calling to by nchristine — 81
16) Gun owners should not have more rights by Sandy on Signal — 81
17) And by "constitutional rights", he means by Inland — 79
18) Only good guys with knives will knife by commonmass — 78
19) Eager for Greenwald to drop the other hammer. by Jim P — 78
20) we need knives.... how are we supposed by ridemybike — 77
21) As my grandmother used to say, by commonmass — 76
22) Rep. Elijah Cummings response by Denise Oliver Velez — 74
23) If you don't want to be responded to, don't post. by nailbender — 73
24) ^^^^^THIS^^^^^ by chrississippi — 72
25) You wrote this: by Bob Johnson — 70
26) Are you freaking kidding me? by moviemeister76 — 70
27) the right of children NOT TO BE MURDERED by wilderness voice — 69
28) The Federalist Society..... by dweb8231 — 68
29) Heh. by Bob Johnson — 68
30) I actually think this is great. by 420 forever — 66
31) What a disgusting use of that hashtag. by Mike S — 66
32) Not to what? by Bob Johnson — 66
33) I survived by Damnit Janet — 66