And Still I Rise

Starting to feel better.  Students are slowly coming back from their fall break (a much needed break!).  A nice read today, poetry!  Interestingly enough someone’s favorite book is a book of poems.  What a nice reflective read on Maya Angelou’s And Still I Rise.  When I think about poetry, I think if I were the poet, which ones do I choose?  After reading this book, “they fit.”  The author does a wonderful job of lifting the reader up and thanking the almighty (if you are of that persuasion) for all that we have: the brilliant sun, the water, flowers, and our own lives.  She pays homage to black men and women who have cultivated an American culture and also describes how it is to get old.  The journey of her life provided in rhyming couplets at times, and others just painting pictures on where I’ve been and how I got there.  You know, poetry isn’t that bad.  I know why she was asked to speak at the Inauguration of the President.   I had such a bad experience taking an English course at Fordham U back in the day – the Symbolist Movement… that I think the bad vibes have stayed with me.  When I think of poetry I usually get pretty nervous… not this read!