RIP Maya Angelou

[sojourner]

Fucking gutted. She was a HUGE inspiration to me. Can't believe this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27606776

http://www.wxii12.com/news/dr-maya-angelou-dead-at-86/26204272

http://myfox8.com/2014/05/28/maya-angelou-dead-at-86/

 

[butchersapron]

Yep, she was fantastic. Proper life lived.

 

[Treacle Toes]

editor merge the threads please.

 

[Treacle Toes]

Fucking gutted. She was a HUGE inspiration to me. Can't believe this.

Likewise soj.

 

[Metal Malcolm]

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

Her poetry gave me such strength when i was weak, thank you Maya.

 

[Treacle Toes]

Still I Rise

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

 

[Cheesypoof]

Such an amazing writer. One of my friends turned me on to her last year, and I really enjoyed her books - a deep-thinking, uncompromising individual.

 

[Biddlybee]

 

[madamv]

I was introduced to her by sparklefish She made a beautiful difference to the world. Certainly my world. Good innings Maya, rest easy.

 

[Treacle Toes]

Have been reading her since childhood, I have always considered an Auntie whom I have never actually met. I am gutted. RIP



Ben did a great job with this.


Fuck need to get out of the office for a walk.

For those who don't know her story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou

 

[sojourner]

I was introduced to her by my lecturer (now friend) at uni, who got me into my holy trinity of Maya, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.

I never do celeb grieving but am filling up, tell ya.

 

[quimcunx]

Loved her books and her poetry. RIP Maya.

 

[Treacle Toes]

I was introduced to her by my lecturer (now friend) at uni, who got me into my holy trinity of Maya, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.

I never do celeb grieving but am filling up, tell ya.

I'm leaking.

 

[Balbi]

A good age, but she and we deserved more time. Read "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" at GCSE level, and it was uncomprimising and beautiful.

 

[Gingerman]

 

[5t3IIa]

 

[belboid]

aah fuck thats sad

But what a hell of a life

 

[ska invita]

RIP Maya x
my first contact with her was from her sample on Bukems classic, Horizons...

still gives me goosepimples, not least from the power of her voice


from

 

[belboid]

Still I Rise

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

apologies if this is on the wrong thread, but I just read this and feel the need to say:

Fuck off and die Michael Gove, everyone should learn this

 

[Fez909]

I also first heard about her through music. Still I Rise is used on this tune:



I bought Caged Bird Sings based on a recommendation on Urban years ago. Haven't got around to reading it yet, so I guess I still don't know anything about her.

RIP anyway

 

[ska invita]

liking that track....

I bought Caged Bird Sings based on a recommendation on Urban years ago. Haven't got around to reading it yet, so I guess I still don't know anything about her.

RIP anyway

one of the nice things about her writing is its full of ideas and sentiment, but told is a short and direct way, easy to read and dip in and out of

 

[kittyP]

Oh how very very sad. RIP

 

[Treacle Toes]

'A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.'

Caged Bird
By Maya Angelou
A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
http://askville.amazon.com/bird-sing-answer-sings-song/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=4956854

 

[Treacle Toes]

liking that track....


one of the nice things about her writing is its full of ideas and sentiment, but told is a short and direct way, easy to read and dip in and out of

I think that's a very good point actually.

 

[ska invita]

even her poetry is kind of concise...

 

[Treacle Toes]

She certainly had a way with words. Honesty and depth.

 

[ska invita]

She certainly had a way with words. Honesty and depth.

and spoken from experience

 

[Treacle Toes]

and spoken from experience

That's where the honesty thing comes in for me, she shared so much of her own experience.

 

[Looby]

Oh gosh, I feel so sad. She was one of the authors that made me fall in love with books. Me and reading have fallen out a bit recently but I think I know what I'll be reading next.

Farewell Maya.