Maya Angelou: Still I Rise

Today the world lost one of its greats...

Rest in paradise Maya Angelou

Your legacy will live forever 

This is how I will remember you ... phenomenal woman!!! 

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. 

Maya Angelou

Homage to my Hips

These hips are big hips.

they need space to

move around in.

They don't fit into little

petty places.

These hips

are free hips.

They don't like to be held back.

These hips have never been enslaved,

they go where they want to go 

they do what they want to do. 

These hips are mighty hips.

These hips are magic hips.

I have known them

to put a spell on a man and 

spin him like a top.

Lucille Clifton

Image source: Black women by Sergey Levin 

I haven't met You yet ...

I recently found this letter in The Huffingtonpost and needed  to share it .
The message is beautiful and profound and I can totally relate.

A letter for the love you haven't met yet ...  The author gives the reasons why it takes longer for some of us to recognize and be recognized!! I like to think of myself as a "rational" person but thank God I am romantic to the bone.

I am want a love that will fill me up and burst out of chest and I am willing to wait for it... meanwhile there is  so much I want to do and accomplish, so love of my life... forgive me for making you wait so long... when you meet me, you'll understand.

"Dear Future Love of My Life:

I know. I should have written before. Forgive me. But I got the feeling that you were beginning to think I didn't exist. But I do. And I wanted to let you know that while I might be as elusive as a unicorn grazing in a field of four-leaf clovers, I'm close. I'm around the corner, down the street, on Facebook, in your office, at our local coffee shop, a complete stranger. I made eyes at you once on the subway. I saw you across the room at a party. I swiped you right on Tinder. But it's not our time yet. And I know you're wondering why.

It's really not fair that you've had to wait this long, or go on blind dates, endure bad sex, settle for 'meh' relationships, feel misunderstood, cry from loneliness, wrap your arms around a pillow as you fall asleep at night. I'm so sorry, my love. You deserve an explanation. So, here it goes. It's taken me a long time to even admit this to myself much less to you, so please know that everything I've written here is true.

The reasons we haven't met yet, in no particular order:

1. I haven't thrown out the list of things I think you should be.

2. I'm with the wrong person right now.

3. I'm not ready to be loved unconditionally.

4. Since my life isn't together, I think you'll reject me.

5. I still believe that drama is a show of love.

6. I've been intentionally keeping my head too busy to think with my heart.

7. I need to date more to understand what I do and don't like.

8. I won't be able to appreciate you until life has kicked my ass.

9. I'm too focused on my own needs.

10. I don't know how to create the feeling of home that lives in my heart.

Clearly, I'm not my best self yet. Or even myself -- I'm still figuring out who that is. I'm pretty sure even if we did meet, you wouldn't like me all that much right now. It's entirely possible that we did hit it off once, and I left without getting your information; or maybe I did get your number and never called because of any one of the above reasons.

Be patient with me, darling heart. Know that I'm working my way toward you. So don't spend any more time thinking about where I am or am not. Just keep making your life exciting and full, so when we do finally come together, we can bring each other joy, because we are already happy.

I know it's taking longer than you'd like. It's a hell of a lot slower than I could have ever imagined. But I'm here. This is me talking to you. And I'm not going anywhere.

Don't give up on me.

Yours, in perpetuity,

The Love You Haven't Met Yet "

This post originally appeared in Medium. 

Three poems by Langston Hughes

Dream Variations

To fling my arms wide In some place of the sun, 

To whirl and to dance Till the white day is done. 

Then rest at cool evening Beneath a tall tree

 While night comes on gently,

 Dark like me— That is my dream!

 To fling my arms wide

 In the face of the sun, Dance! 

Whirl! Whirl!

 Till the quick day is done. 

Rest at pale evening . . . 

A tall, slim tree . . .

 Night coming tenderly

Life is Fine 

I went down to the river, 

I set down on the bank.

 I tried to think but couldn't, 

So I jumped in and sank.

 I came up once and hollered!

 I came up twice and cried!

 If that water hadn't a-been so cold I might've sunk and died.

 But it was Cold in that water!

 It was cold!

 I took the elevator 

Sixteen floors above the ground.

 I thought about my baby

 And thought I would jump down.

 I stood there and I hollered!

 I stood there and I cried! If it hadn't a-been so high

 I might've jumped and died.

 But it was High up there! It was high! 

 So since I'm still here livin', 

I guess I will live on. 

I could've died for love— But for livin' I was born 

Though you may hear me holler, 

And you may see me cry—

 I'll be dogged, sweet baby,

 If you gonna see me die.

 Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!

The Grass

The grass so little has to do, --
A sphere of simple green,
With only butterflies to brood,
And bees to entertain,

And stir all day to pretty tunes
The breezes fetch along,
And hold the sunshine in its lap
And bow to everything;

And thread the dews all night, like pearls,
And make itself so fine, --
A duchess were too common
For such a noticing.

And even when it dies, to pass
In odors so divine,
As lowly spices gone to sleep,
Or amulets of pine.

And then to dwell in sovereign barns,
And dream the days away, --
The grass so little has to do,
I wish I were the hay!

Emily Dickinson 

Splittings

1.

My body opens over San Francisco like the day –

light raining down      each pore crying the change of light

I am not with her     I have been waking off and on

all night to that pain     not simply absence but

the presence of the past      destructive

to living here and now      Yet if I could instruct

myself, if we could learn to learn from pain

even as it grasps us      if the mind, the mind that lives

in this body could refuse      to let itself be crushed

in that grasp     it would loosen      Pain would have to stand

off from me and listen     its dark breath still on me

but the mind could begin to speak to pain

and pain would have to answer:

We are older now

we have met before     these are my hands before your eyes

my figure blotting out      all that is not mine

I am the pain of division      creator of divisions

it is I who blot your lover from you

and not the time-zones or the miles

It is not separation calls me forth      but I

who am separation      And remember

I have no existence      apart from you

2.

I believe I am choosing something now

not to suffer uselessly     yet still to feel

Does the infant memorize the body of the mother

and create her in absence?     or simply cry

primordial loneliness?      does the bed of the stream

once diverted      mourning       remember the wetness?

But we, we live so much in these

configurations of the past      I choose

to separate her     from my past we have not shared

I choose not to suffer uselessly

to detect primordial pain as it stalks toward me

flashing its bleak torch in my eyes     blotting out

her particular being     the details of her love

I will not be divided      from her or from myself

by myths of separation

while her mind and body in Manhattan are more with me

than the smell of eucalyptus coolly burning      on these hills

3.

The world tells me I am its creature

I am raked by eyes     brushed by hands

I want to crawl into her for refuge     lay my head

in the space     between her breast and shoulder

abnegating power for love

as women have done      or hiding

from power in her love     like a man

I refuse these givens      the splitting

between love and action      I am choosing

not to suffer uselessly      and not to use her

I choose to love      this time      for once

with all my intelligence.

- Adrienne Rich
Dream of a Common Language

Sam's Happiness Philosophy

How do you deal with a heartache?
How do you keep a positive attitude when you feel defeated?

I've been sad... I am giving myself time and dealing with it the best I can...
I am reading and researching on ways to deal with the array of emotions that comes with disappointment.

I am a faithful and spiritual person and believe everything happens for a reason but still... I am hurt.

I first I thought that maybe if I was less optimistic and had lower expectations I would be less prone to heartaches...

But how sad would life be if you live expecting the worst?

What I've found and feel is that being optimistic is actually what makes life better. The anticipation makes me happy!  I dream, I plan, I expect more... ALWAYS!!  More kisses and more sunny days.

Optimism is imprinted on my DNA. It changes my reality and it makes me work harder.
I  am choosing to live out loud!!! Heartaches... well I will learn to deal with them.  Practice makes perfect!!!


I am sharing this video I found on  ted.com that will actually demonstrate what I am talking about...  Watch and learn! Joy to all!

Sam Berns is a Junior at Foxboro High School in Foxboro, Massachusetts, where he has achieved highest honors and is currently a percussion section leader in the high school marching band. He recently achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. Sam was diagnosed with Progeria, a rare, rapid aging disease, at the age of 2. He is featured in the documentary Life According to Sam, which will premiere on HBO on October 21, 2013.