"Still I Rise": From the Very Beginnings

In these past few weeks I have been reminded over and over again of the power of the arts in the face of despondency. Literature, music, dance, you name it, it all has the power to evoke the deepest of human emotions. Lately I have sought out the types of art that stir the heart, or rather, MY heart, since it has needed a bit of a jumpstart of late. And since like attracts like, I have had those around me reach out in need of a jumpstart as well. My high school students, my friends, my colleagues, and my loved ones have all felt a sort of collective malaise seep into their bones.

Maya Angelou has always been a source of inspiration for me, and her poem "Still I Rise" has held juicy fruits of empowerment, heavy on the bough, each time I read during different times of my life. Any student or lover of literature has seen numerous videos and interviews with the late, great Angelou over the course of studying or even enjoying her. Until last week, however, I had not seen this particular video. I was humbled by her resilience and how, phoenix-like, she rose from the ashes of childhood rape and triumphed through her muteness, to become the sheer force of strength, a champion for humanity, and the literary queen she was for years and years afterwards.

As we travel through both our jubilations as well as our hardships, but also look to simultaneously lift each other up, may we find the ability to empathize, empower,  and enlighten each other to the power of the arts and their ability to communicate love for ourselves and our fellow humans. May this poem inspire our blog as we work to enhance each other's daily lives with love. Please leave your comments below.

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.