Lesson 3.1 The Poetry of Maya Angelou Reading Assignments Poem#1 on the distant hill for the caged bird I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings sings of freedom The free bird leaps The free bird thinks of another breeze on the back of the win and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and floats downstream and the fat worms waiting on a dawn‐bright lawn till the current ends and he names the sky his own. and dips his wings in the orange sun rays But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams and dares to claim the sky. his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied But a bird that stalks so he opens his throat to sing down his narrow cage can seldom see through The caged bird sings his bars of rage with a fearful trill his wings are clipped and of things unknown his feet are tied but longed for still so he opens his throat to sing. and his tune is heard on the distant hill The caged bird sings for the caged bird with fearful trill sings of freedom. of the things unknown ‐Maya Angelou but longed for still and is tune is heard 1 Poem #2 You may shoot me with your words, Still I Rise You may cut me with your eyes, You may write me down in history You may kill me with your hatefulness, With your bitter, twisted lies, But still, like air, I'll rise. You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise Does my sassiness upset you? That I dance like I've got diamonds Why are you beset with gloom? At the meeting of my thighs? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Just like moons and like suns, Up from a past that's rooted in pain With the certainty of tides, I rise Just like hopes springing high, I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Still I'll rise. Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Did you want to see me broken? Leaving behind nights of terror and fear Bowed head and lowered eyes? I rise Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear Weakened by my soulful cries? I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, Does my haughtiness offend you? I am the dream and the hope of the slave. Don't you take it awful hard I rise 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines I rise Diggin' in my own backyard. I rise. 2 Poem #3 Alone Lying, thinking Alone, all alone Last night Nobody, but nobody How to find my soul a home Can make it out here alone. Where water is not thirsty And bread loaf is not stone Now if you listen closely I came up with one thing I'll tell you what I know And I don't believe I'm wrong Storm clouds are gathering That nobody, The wind is gonna blow But nobody The race of man is suffering Can make it out here alone. And I can hear the moan, 'Cause nobody, Alone, all alone But nobody Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone. Can make it out here alone. Alone, all alone There are some millionaires Nobody, but nobody With money they can't use Can make it out here alone. Their wives run round like banshees ‐Maya Angelou Their children sing the blues They've got expensive doctors To cure their hearts of stone. But nobody No, nobody Can make it out here alone. 3