I have known about Maya Angelou. Seen her in movies and how she has been honored around the world. However and with my head hung low in shame, that was really most of what I knew of her. Until I realized some time back that she wrote the poem “Phenomenal Woman”. It’s really funny how I got to know the poem. It was recited by Alfre Woodward’s character,”Ms. Josephine” in the movie The Beauty Shop” and I thought “oh, that is an awesome thing she said.” Only for google to correct me later. It is one poem that I enjoy. Even with all that she went through in her life, the struggles she faced, the titles she carried, she still had that sense of self worth and value in which she could call herself phenomenal.
Although it is a piece that gives strength, it is also a piece that reminds that I still have a long way to go before I can even consider myself a writer. It is kind of pathetic that I haven’t exposed myself to more of her works being that I have a blog and to blog is to write and to write is to have expose yourself to many brilliant works of others who have been ahead of you, who have seen it all before you and have made an impact in the world of ink for you.
So, in my own little way of honoring her and keeping my ink flowing, here is “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou: