Inspired by Maya Angelou
June 23rd, 2007
I am WOMAN,
I am Latina,
I am immigrant:
I AM birth and soul of this land,
hear the brown power strike,
hear the chants of my Aztec god,
hear the African drums of my dance,
I am fire under justice,
And inspiration for volumes of poetry!!
I AM WO-MAN!
I want to travel the world,
And be the next Marco Polo,
(the one history never knew, accepted or placed in the kitchen,)
I want to know the 1,000 worlds
that lie behind the 1,000 rivers
I’d live every thousandth of a second
All to know what it takes to be me.
I ain’t no Mammy, I ain’t no slave,
And all the living I’ve read;
I know it takes a history of struggle,
to say I am me…
incredible, just woman me
And at the end of every rainbow,
in the last chapter … of the last page … of the last
paragraph … of the last line,
there’s LOVE,
LOVE to say, feel, act, and accept
that I am woman, incredible, ‘credible woman me.
June 25th, 2007 at 6:09 am
The picture of the plant is very Georgia O’keefe-ish! cool.
Nice text!
June 25th, 2007 at 7:43 am
Maya is the most inspiring writer of our times I think. Have you ever read “Why The Caged Bird Sings”? That helped me get through my rape years ago and I have followed her work for many years. Great post!
June 25th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Touching and lovely. I really enjoyed reading it from the very beginnig and twice the last paragraph!
June 25th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
hmmm…I think I need to redo the poem for a better effect, I’ll work on it. Thank you TonNet.
OOOOO, a message from the master photographer himself. I bow in the honor of the compliment, Mr. Jon. Thank you! I was uncertain as to what I should call it, “When plants talk” or “kiss me, baby!” I am more biased to option 2 since I already started a small series of shoots with this theme in mind. Let me know.
Dariana: For some reason, I am unable to pull up your blog. BTW, I love the fact you change the face of your blog so often, it’s really nice. Yes, I love Maya’s work. Though she is contemporary in birth, she so classic in prose. I believe they also have a clip of her in Poets.org if you want to check it out. I would also suggest Zora. I would be happy to mail you the tape of Alice Walker’s “In the Temple of my Familiar.” I was hearing in my car on the way to work. I give books or tapes away once I am finish reading them.
Interesting the way books affect people….i am sorry for the pain, truth be told one of 7 women/children are in the same statistic and many don’t speak up, glad that you have. I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to post the response on the blog but I am grateful for your courage. Do you ever get approached with questions on line about your experiences?
The cat nap pics look wonderful.
June 26th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
i heard that name before clau… help me remember who maya is…
I think women should really be empowered because they have qualities that are worthy of admiration.
i’m looking at it in the perspective of Mary… simple, docile yet so powerfully blessed with female characteristics.
June 27th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
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…
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15623
Maya is a wonderful inspirational poet, check her out.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Gud one !!!!