Still I Rise

[maddiejoan]

-- a wonderful poem by a Hillary Clinton supporter

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 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 my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.


© Maya Angelou, 1978.




Toodles!

[Bonobo]

1. Still I vomit.

[mbperrin]

9. No education, much?

nt

[Bonobo]

14. I vomit at the notion of using these find words to describe a consumate political hack, yes.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DJ13]

2. Repost from 5 minutes ago

:eyes:

[scheming daemons]

3. I'm wondering if the past 2 months has made Maya less proud of Hillary.....

..I'm betting the answer is yes.

[anonymous171]

4. Nice prose.

But it does seem kind of creepy for the anti-cult group to start putting out this kind of praise.

[Bonobo]

8. In fact, it puts the "EEP" in "CREEPY"!

[robbedvoter]

5. Named my daughter after her (the poet)

[Joe the Revelator]

6. Another attention seeking swan song

I thought you were a little more grown up for this type of silly bullshit.

[JohnnyLib2]

7. Poetry is not for everyone, of course.

But it speaks to some. Fitting. Thanks. And toodles to you!

[Yes We Did]

17. And it's not for Hillary either. It is nice though.

She is a wonderful writer. But, Hillary wasn't running in 1978... the year this was written.

[JohnnyLib2]

20. I think the OP made that clear, as did the poem itself.

??

[libbygurl]

10. Beautiful, maddiejoan! Thanks! nt

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[Mezzo]

12. Rise Hillary, Rise!!! nt

[zabet]

13. Rise!

:bounce::patriot:!!!HILLARY!!!:patriot::bounce:

[ProSense]

15. Rise from the gutter Hillary

Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay-- Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again-- The land that never has been yet-- And yet must be--the land where every man is free. The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-- Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-- The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America!

O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again!

Vote Obama

[cliffordu]

16. So: did they like that over......

on the duMP'r list??

:hi:

[Bjornsdotter]

18. Thanks for posting!

I love this poem....

Cheers

[malletgirl02]

19. Maya Angelou is one of my favorite poets

Great positive post. :)

[Lilith Velkor]

22. LET IT RISE

:kick:

[DeadElephant_ORG]

23. no kidding - I thought this would be like "Night of the Living Dead" - I rise, I rise. Bwahaha!

'cause you gotta admit --- NOTHING stops Hillary.

[Lilith Velkor]

25. w00t!

[Breeze54]

26. Did she see me broken, weakened by my soulful cries?

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries.

You may shoot me with your words,
I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain,
I rise

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear,
I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear,
I rise

I rise
I rise
I RISE.

[CreekDog]

27. and you find Obama supporters creepy?

:eyes: :rofl:

[meow mix]

28. she didnt even know hillary, let it sink

O8)

[MonkeyFunk]

29. Maya Angelou doesn't know Hillary?

How do you figure?

[Lilith Velkor]

30. Must be the desperation talking.

[Mezzo]

31. why should it surprise me when an Obamamaniac is wrong?

I'll never know.

[noel711]

32. Did Dr. Angelou endorse Hillary?

[Maddy McCall]

33. She is a Hillary supporter.

She is supporting Clinton despite her close friendship with television personality and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, a prominent backer of rival Democrat Barack Obama, the first black presidential hopeful with a real chance of reaching the White House.

Angelou is steadfast in her loyalty to Clinton. She said recently: 'I made up my mind 15 years ago that if she ever ran for office I'd be on her wagon. My only difficulty with Senator Obama is that I believe in going out with who I went in with.'

The 79-year-old poet was the centrepiece of Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993 when she read her poem On the Pulse of Morning, playing on the idea of a new political dawn. Last week she handed this new poem over to the Clinton campaign.

Angelou says that she has had many long telephone conversations with Winfrey on the subject of Obama versus Clinton. 'She thinks he's the best, and I think my woman is the best,' she has explained. 'Oprah is a daughter to me, but she is not my clone.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jan/20/usa.poetry

[bigtree]

34. wonderful post

wonderful poem. Many thanks for posting.

K&R :kick:

[Bonobo]

35. Wow, Hillary is really rising. I'm sure Maya would be proud to hear Obama being called a "monkey"!

Hillary supporters are really high-mided Progressives all right.

That call black people "monkeys"!

[redqueen]

36. Love it.

Thanks for posting it, maddiejoan.

K&R

[Blue-Jay]

37. Maya wrote that for Sen Clinton.

That's awesome!

[redqueen]

41. It really is.

:kick: again.

:hi:

[thevoiceofreason]

42. in 1978? Get off the drugs

[redqueen]

43. All right all right... you can correct someone without being nasty.

Jeez this place.

[Blue-Jay]

44. Newsflash: Dumb people can't detect sarcasm without a smiley.

[redqueen]

45. .

Dammit! You made me laugh.

I was trying to be all serious and shit. :P

[Blue-Jay]

46. I've given up being serious in here.

It ain't worth it.

[thevoiceofreason]

47. Sorry - too much caffiene today!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

38. I know why the caged bird croaked.

It was hit by sniper fire.

[GarbagemanLB]

39. Don't rise!! There's a fucking sniper out there!

[apocalypsehow]

40. Man, that was, like, the shortest "boycott" in history.

:shrug:

[AX10]

48. K & R!