Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Weekend Glory

Some clichty folksdon't know the facts,posin' and preenin'and puttin' on acts,stretchin' their backs.They move into condosup over the ranks,pawn..

© Maya Angelou

On The Pulse Of Morning

A Rock, A River, A TreeHosts to species long since departed,Mark the mastodon.The dinosaur, who left dry tokensOf their sojourn hereOn our planet..

© Maya Angelou

Remembrance

Your hands easyweight, teasing the beeshived in my hair, your smile at theslope of my cheek. On theoccasion, you pressabove me, glowing..

© Maya Angelou

When You Come

When you come to me, unbidden,Beckoning meTo long-ago rooms,Where memories lie.Offering me, as to a child, an attic,Gatherings of days too..

© Maya Angelou

Momma Welfare Roll

Her arms semaphore fat triangles,Pudgy hands bunched on layered hipsWhere bones idle under years of fatbackAnd lima beans.Her jowls shiver in..

© Maya Angelou

They Went Home

They went home and told their wives,that never once in all their lives,had they known a girl like me,But... They went home.They said my house was..

© Maya Angelou

Refusal

Beloved,In what other lives or landsHave I known your lipsYour HandsYour Laughter braveIrreverent.Those sweet excesses thatI do adore.What surety is..

© Maya Angelou

Insomniac

There are some nights whensleep plays coy,aloof and disdainful.And all the wilesthat I employ to winits service to my sideare useless as wounded..

© Maya Angelou

Million Man March Poem

The night has been long,The wound has been deep,The pit has been dark,And the walls have been steep.Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach,I was..

© Maya Angelou

The Lesson

I keep on dying again.Veins collapse, opening like theSmall fists of sleepingChildren.Memory of old tombs,Rotting flesh and worms doNot convince me..

© Maya Angelou

Passing Time

Your skin like dawnMine like muskOne paints the beginningof a certain end.The other, the end of asure beginning.

© Maya Angelou

A Conceit

Give me your handMake room for meto lead and followyoubeyond this rage of poetry.Let others havethe privacy oftouching wordsand love of lossof..

© Maya Angelou

Men

When I was young, I used toWatch behind the curtainsAs men walked up and down the street. Wino men, old men.Young men sharp as mustard.See them. Men..

© Maya Angelou

Touched By An Angel

We, unaccustomed to courageexiles from delightlive coiled in shells of lonelinessuntil love leaves its high holy templeand comes into our sightto..

© Maya Angelou

Woman Work

I've got the children to tendThe clothes to mendThe floor to mopThe food to shopThen the chicken to fryThe baby to dryI got company to feedThe garden..

© Maya Angelou

Alone

Lying, thinkingLast nightHow to find my soul a homeWhere water is not thirstyAnd bread loaf is not stoneI came up with one thingAnd I don't believe..

© Maya Angelou

Caged Bird

The free bird leapson the back of the windand floats downstreamtill the current endsand dips his wingsin the orange sun raysand dares to claim the..

© Maya Angelou

Still I Rise

You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,You may tread me in the very dirtBut still, like dust, I'll rise.Does my sassiness..

© Maya Angelou

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's sizeBut when I start to tell them,They think I'm telling..

© Maya Angelou

Childhood’s Retreat

It’s in the perilous boughs of the treeout of blue sky the windsings loudest surrounding me.And solitude, a wild solitude’s reveald, fearfully..

© Robert Duncan

Styx

And a tenth part of Okeanos is given to dark night a tithe of the pure water under earthso that the clear fountains pour from rock face, ..

© Robert Duncan

What I Saw

The white peacock roostingmight have been Christ, featherd robe of Osiris,the radiant bird, a sword-flash, percht in the treeand the..

© Robert Duncan

Often I Am Permitted To Return To A Meadow

as if it were a scene made-up by the mind,that is not mine, but is a made place,that is mine, it is so near to the heart,an eternal pasture folded in..

© Robert Duncan

Rites of Passage II

Something is taking place.Horns thrust upward from the brow.Hooves beat impatient where feet once were.My son, youth grows alarming in your face.Your..

© Robert Duncan

Passage Over Water

We have gone out in boats upon the sea at night,lost, and the vast waters close traps of fear about us.The boats are driven apart, and we are alone..

© Robert Duncan