This week I have finished reading Just Give me a Cool Drink of Water ‘fore I Diiie by Maya Angelou. This was the first time that I have actually read anything by Angelou. I was throughly absorbed and read many of them aloud to myself in the flat. Dog earred favourites are:
Late October: Sprinkle down the tiny sound of little dyings
In a Time: In a time of furtive sighs/ Sweet hellos and sad goodbyes/ Half truths told entire lies
Sounds like Pearls: Roll off the tongue…to grace this eager ebon ear. Doubt and fear, ungainly things, with blushings disappear.
Times-Square-Shoeshine-composition: (go look it up and sing it to yourself)
My Guilt: My sin is “hanging dying from a tree”/I do not scream/ it makes me proud. I take to dying like a man
Here’s to Adhearing: I went to a party in Hollywood, the atmosphere was shoddy, the drinks were good and that’s where I heard you laugh…
Poor Girl: You’ve got another love and I know it/ Someone who adores you just like me/ Hanging on your words like they were gold/Thinking that she understands your soul/ Poor Girl/ Just like me.
Alone: Lying, Thinking/ Last night/ how to find my soul a home where water is not thirsty/ and bread loaf is not stone/ I came up with one thing/ And I don’t believe I’m wrong/ That nobody, but nobody/ Can make it out here alone.
Wonder: A day/ drunk with the nectar of/ nowness/ weaves its way between the years
Take Time Out: When you see her/ Barefoot in the rain/ and you know she’s tripping/ on a one way train/ you need to ask/ what’s all the/ lying and the/dying/ and the running and /the gunning/ all about. Take Time Out.
I have found Angelou’s poetry to be musical, sad, poignant. I appreciate the world weariness of a soul who has experienced much in their life and is able to speak from the heart about it. Of the injustices they have faced, to speak of discrimination, loneliness and heartbreak with direct frankness. An apt observer of life she sees it all for its beauty in all its contradictions and allows to reader to empathise with her like any good soul singer does. She does not shy away from the pain of life but invites you to sit in those feelings with her and admire the beauty of the natural world. To take all in hand and hold in it perspective and still find things to reflect on that make life worthwhile.