Two Powerful Poets-Maya and Sonia!

Maya and Sonia! Two powerful female poets who through their poetry speak volumes to the world. They speak much to you and I. Let us learn a little about them and enjoy their works.

Maya Angelou-Maya may have changed her childhood name, but she has never forgotten her childhood. Born Marguerite Johnson in 1928 in St. Louis Missouri (Mocha, there's that St. Louis again!), the adult Maya Angelou recalls the events and difficulties of her past in her autobiography, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.' In the poem 'Life Doesn't Frighten Me,' she explores the worries and concerns that a young person conquers as she moves toward adulthood. I don't know if any one of you have ever read the book or saw the movie but I can most certainly tell you this: it took great boldness for her to do so and to survive one of life's tragedies of being sexually assaulted by a mother's boyfriend. I can rightfully identify with Maya and I can definitely, very much so say that I too, have survived one of life's worst tragedies a young girl can ever experience and live through. I can write about it, talk about it and walk tall about it without shedding a tear. I survived just like Maya. And will continue to do so. I am a Phenomenal Woman just the same.

here is a poem 'Life Doesn't Frighten Me' by Maya Angelou

Shadows on the wll
Noises down the hall
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn't frighten me at all.

Mean old Mother Goode
Lions on the loose
They don't frighten me at all
Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn't frighten me at all.

I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won't cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn't frighten me at all.

Tough guys in a fight
All alome at night
Life doesn't frighten me at all.

Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don't frighten me at all.

That new classrooom where
Boys all pull my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don't frighten me at all.

Don't show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I'm afraid at all
It's only in my dreams.

I've got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve,
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.

Life doesn't frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all.
Life doesn't frighten me at all.

maya angelou



Sonia Sanchez--born 1934

She was born in Birmingham Alabama in 1934, Sanchez has taught creative writing and African-American literature in at least eight universities across the United States. Now a professor of Eglish at Temple University, she has performed her poems and given poetry workshops in Australia, England, Cuba, Nicaragua and Africa, as well as the states. No other American figure blends the roles of mother, teacher, poet, and political activist more sincerely and energetically than Sanchez.

Her poems manifest the spiritual link between art and politics. If her earlier poems are to be appreciated, the reader must forget all "conceptions" of what the poem is, and listen attentively to Sanchez's attacks on the Euro-American politicial, social, and aesthetic establishments. Her work is intentionally non-intellectual, unacademic and anti-middleclass. "To blk/record buyers" is characteristic of her work which aims at teaching blacks to know themselves, to be self-reliant, and strong. In this poem, she attacks the Righteous Brothers for their aping a style which originated with black performers such as James Brown. What appears to be a list of the activities in the black urban community contains over three hundred years of black history. Sex, language and retorts, drinking, mocking war materials, crime and religion are the placeboes blacks have used for comfort. Sanchez's poem ends with the "AAAH, AAAH, AAAH, yeah" which both affirms her points and echoes the style of popular artists like Aretha Franklin and James Brown. Her language comes out of her immediate surroundings and accents her characters' lifestyles. Her refusual to use standard, academic English is a part of a political statement which undermines the use of language as a tool for oppression. Black women, men and children are her interests as far as relationships go. Two of her books are written for the young. "It's A New Day" and "A Sound Investment" are the titles. Sanchez's purpose is to teach black people to know themselves, to be themselves and to love themselves.

Here's the poem: to blk/record/buyers

don't play me no
righteous bros.
white people
ain't rt bout nothing
no mo.
don't tell me bout
foreign dudes
cuz no blk/
people are grooving on a
sunday afternoon.
they either
making out/
signifying/
drinking/
making molotov cocktails/
stealing
or rather more taking their goods
from the honky thieves who
ain't hung up
on no pacifist/jesus/
cross/ but.
play blk/songs
to drown out the
shit/screams of honkies. AAAH.
AAAH AAAH yeah. brothers.
andmanymoretogo.

1969. sonia sanchez

I hope that you have enjoyed the two poems by our dear poets with their unique styles. See ya next week!

Queen Writer