Best Maya Poems
They wouldn’t let me be White
Oh I wanted to be
Dreams of that Pulitzer haunted me
They said, Sir, you have ten minutes to play
I gave them Milton, Poe and Millay
I stood before that panel
Like I was auditioning for Jesus On judgment day
I belted out those rhymes like Sandburg
Gave them sweet elegant words
I gave them personification and anapest
Gave them Trochee with syllables unstressed
I played those Robert Frost Blues
Those Road less traveled Blues
Those Thomas Hardy
going down on the Titanic Blues-
And they said, Son, You could be the greatest
Since Langston Hughes!
And oh I was out of sight
Switched up / Got Fancy
Moved the stressed syllable
From the middle to the right
But still they wouldn’t let me be White
I had every judge popping their fingers
Moving their heads from left to right
So I took a bow
And smiled up at those lights
I gave them Dickinson, Browning and Keats
Oh I had those White judges on their feet
I played until they saw stars
A judge leaned over and said,
You remind me so much of- What’s his name?
Paul Lawrence Dunbar
I played Eliot I played Cummings
I played Stevens too
I had those White Poets out of their shoes
Oh I lifted them a hundred miles off the ground
But when they came down
They said, You could be the next Sterling Brown
I said, Come on! Get out of town!
I closed that audition with my best Haiku
They said, M.e. Don’t take this wrong we like you
I took a final bow I had performed to their delight
But still they wouldn’t let me be White
Doctor Maya Angelou the writer
Maya Angelou the actor
Maya Angelou the poet
The singer that was Maya Angelou
That Black lady
With silk smooth voice
Like silk smiling under the finger’s touch
She is dead
Maya Angelou is dead
How does that sound?
Do not let questions go to your head
For thoughts abound
With things that have no answer for themselves
Against the contest of death we never wins
I have memory on shelves
Of those who died and left me all their sins.
Maya Angelou is dead
Not the singer, or poet, or writer
The doctor is dead
Do I hear laughter
Or the sound of ice in glass
Before they pour bourbon, scotch or gin
And say I am only like grass
Why struggle if you never win?
The caged bird is it set free at last
Will freedom mute its tongue
What happens to the sorrow of the past
And the souls of people hung
Where there was neither cross or reason
Beyond the color of my skin
It is man alone that last a season
Thinking and believing was Maya’s sin.
D. Livingstone Smalling
I
The Greek origins of our word for "matter," is the same for "measure" and MEASURING, as well as a few other terms that carry surprises.
First, however, there is no separate word for matter in Sanskrit, or broadly Hindu VEDANTA Philosophy. Indians and Hindus use a joint term, NAMA-RUPA or simply NAMARUPA: "name and form." As a young Hindu child in South Africa - of all places - I knew this. It was the term that stood for all REALITY - a combination of names and forms.
II
The surprises are for MATTER, its Greek origins also connect with MAYA or "illusory reality." Maya also includes the individual "ego-identity," as Indian philosophy generally sees "ego" as a temporary identity that is fluid and transient. Like an iceberg floating in an ocean, will not be a separate form of water for long.
Matter is also connected with the words METER or "metre" and MATER for mother.
“A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.” - Maya Angelou
The infamous feminist and activist Maya Angelou
She was a powerful force to recon with and to know
Her feminist and civil right beliefs were strongly expressed
As she bravely spoke her mind to try put injustices to rest
I hold it up again today; the world,
Pregnant with magical dimples
Of a child's reckless abandon,
And look at the face,
Then I look at the deep cut
And the pain it inflicted
I look back at the unpaid ransom,
The whips, hands chained to the back
Faces buried deep into the cold wall,
The so-called wall of the world, soaked
By the tears of our raped eyes.
I have seen the world through and through;
The sweet bitterness of living and dying,
The joyful agony of getting and losing;
The memories come clear like crystal
And the weak world whirls by unconsciously
Taking us down its untrodden alluvial depths
And scattering silence nearby and abroad:
Those are the world's worth!
Who amongst us does not have a story?
The world is killing us, thinking, perhaps
That there is sudden rebirth in each death
But those we lost are gone forever
And we bite our lips and rub our eyes,
Alas! Another phenomenon has been lost.
Like a cherished effigy
I hold it up again, the wild world
The nuance feeling surges like thousand waves
And I listen as different sharp sounds
Of cries, nay, moans pierce my ears,
The tears fall in torrents like a waterfall.
The earth, our unconcerned world is killing us,
Like little ants...it kills us with sledgehammer,
Hypothetical villain lurking by street corners
Waiting and waiting, almost impatiently.
But we love the world, and so much so
We cling to life, despite the odds
We want to live, love and be loved,
We want to experience and explore the depths.
We have been heart broken again and again,
And each time we heal
We lick our wounds and clean our tears
Trying to protect our battered ego.
We hold it up again and again
Like a cherished effigy, smiling
Notwithstanding our heaps of unfulfilled dreams,
Our not-to-clear future, our unheard cry-cracked voices,
Despite the rigours of the trite rituals
Of our religions, our creeds, our norms;
Despite the guns, the bombs, the blades
That cut us clean and shatter our unborn hopes,
We still cuddle our earth like a cherished effigy
Dressed to pattern by virgin children
While it takes us down one after another
Jubilantly like a well trained military marksman.
Alas! Another phenomenon has been gone.
(Response to And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou)
Refusing to ever descend after
My mother, grandmother, great grandmother
Have all endured broken wings
To ensure that I would one day be able to catch wind
I rise
Because Maya said so
Explaining to me my existence
Is never burden
Not curse
No, I am heavenly
Her voice like gospel
And I will always respond to good news
I rise
Because I was birthed from dead flames
So you’re damn right I’ve been through hell
I rise
Because too many
Will find satisfaction in my downfall
I’ve been hunted like duck season
Aiming at my every move, so yes
They will be upset when I make it out alive
I rise
Cuz I know no other direction
Built into me like going south for winter
Internal compass passed down
Through North Star guidance
This is instinct
There is nowhere to go but
Up
We are the smallest birds,and some mistake us for insects!We realize who we are,and we communicate on many levels of intelligence so that we can be relavent!,and connected,and respected.We fly faster ,and higher than any insect,and we possess an intelligence that can cause a president ,doctor,lawyer,teacher,preacher,racist,hater,player,actor,mystic,or even a critic to change their minds to do right: We do this just in the nick of time to be blessed for stopping a mess!! We fly and land on a man,s chest,or a woman's breast,and when we land there;they realize that we are not insects,but small birds with words to help us all hold our heads high ,and dry tears from every eye. We as poets are here to bring joy,and power while using words of wisdom in any arena where some have to ,and must make a decision!The words of a "Poet"can and does change people,and the way they behave,and bring joy into their nights and days. We feel the vibes,and we transmit the positive waves;both morning,noon,nights,and years,and all days!Maya Angelou landed on "MY" manly chest,and she landed on my mother's "Breast",and gave us a message,and a quest!We were dying,but we flew over "Death",and "Death passed us by! We are blessed,and we realize the reason why we did not die!We put on the whole suite of armor that has been given to us to have a victory over any enemy "Achieved",so that we will succeed!!WHEN "YOU GET" MONEY OR ANYTHING ELSE": YOU NEED TO "GIVE" IN ORDER FOR YOU TO CONTINUE TO "LIVE" OR MAYBE YOU WILL "DIE" FOR BEING "THE GREEDY" WHO WOULD NOT HELP "THE NEEDY"!!!! WHEN "YOU "LEARN" ,GO AHEAD AND "TEACH"!!!SCIENCE IS "KNOWLEDGE",! sCIENCE IS A CERTAIN "KIND"OF KNOWLEDGE.THERE EXIST KNOWLEDGE OF "ALL, ALL, KINDS,AND PHYSICS IS "JUST "ONE"!!! SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE IS WHERE "ALL SCIENCE,AND EVERY THING THAT CAN EXIST COMES FROM IN THE "UNIVERSE"....NOW "THE PHYSIST CAN BUST A "NUT" AND FINALLY "COME! THERE IS A .NUT TO CAUSE A .NUT.COM.AND THIS CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE!!! .COM=.NUT. WHAT IS .COM WITHOUT .NUT?
In English
(Acrostic)
Maya ~ make my day positive, I can not imagine a day without her
Absolutely my very best friend ~ from morning to evening
You're loved ~ you're strong when I'm weak
Amazing ~ you might not see it ... but I do
In Norwegian
(Verse)
Maya ~ du gjør min dag positiv, jeg kan ikke tenke meg en dag uten henne
Absolutt min beste venn ~ fra morgen til kveld
Du er elsket ~ du er sterk når jeg føler meg svak
Fantastisk ~ kanskje ikke du kan se det ... men det kan jeg
18.03.2018
Sun :) A-L Andresen :)
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Ode To Maya Angelou
Great Poet!
We shall forever yearn for one last verse,
one last soulful offering of truth,
one last rendering of the heart,
one last line from a hand so divine.
Great Poet!
We will forever feel the loss of your pen,
the loss of your own unique voice,
the loss of your talent on our stage,
the loss of a point of view scribed by you.
Great Poet!
Your written words so profound
etched in our hearts and minds
will live on "in and out
in and out
in and out
of time."
A bird in hand is worth two in the woods
Teaches us to take care not to be greedy
In the air, quite very easy to build castles
The water and the image are not a reality.
The image of sky and pool, even the wood
This material world is, philosophically, illusion.
We know the way to create imaginary world
We humans can not dispense with illusion.
Now slowly taking the hands apart or aside
The water, the image will disappear soon
It was just an illusion in one’s mind created
We live immersed in dreams and illusion.
“We are stuff as dreams are made on and
Our little life is, with a sleep, surrounded”*
============================
*A quote from William Shakespeare
* Maya means illusion in Indian languages.
============================
First Placement
For the contest : The power in your hands by Carolyn Devonshire
Staking Claims: For Yucatec Maya & Native Peoples
The stones of the desert cry with me
They are brothers and sisters, but no bloody kin
New hearts see just cold rocks … no warmth or charity …
Might you see how we worship gods in them?
The gods themselves are dead, buried in hopeless holes
They died when we could not stop the excesses of each Columbus
Who brought a brutal hunger for gold and souls
Then bone and marrow fell within Columbus’ compass
The trees and tree stumps of the Yucatan
Hold deep scars and memories in their bosoms
The limestone cries quietly for the sons of Chillam Balam
Their tears yielding tomorrow’s blossoms
For even grasses, herbs, insects … know
That they too will be sucked, one after another
Away from the withering, wrinkled body of our Mother
Through a gaping hole in the atmosphere
All earth cries with the sun and stone worshippers
The blackened peasant clasps his callused hands
With those last calories from a breakfast of peppers
Unaware that his gods died hopelessly condemned
The desert explodes into those oases
Where infatuated faith still yields cool, delicious flesh
And forgiving flowers among the spikes in the cactus:
The desert and stones are gentler than Columbus
©Dr. A. S. Deo, 500 Years after Columbus, circa 1996.
BACKGROUND NOTE OF HORRORS:
(Written in the 1990s. Blood and tears are part of the story, not only for Native Peoples like the Maya of the Yucatan, but for my wife and daughters, too. A Sri Lankan professor allied with my Promoter/Chairman of my doctoral committee, objected to my politics outside of the classroom. They used the clout of the legal department at my campus, The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, to shut me up and deny my degree. They failed, thanks to my “cold stone gods” and Jesus. I defended my thesis, successfully, on 1 May 1995 and was back working in my native South Africa in June 1995! Soon I was hired by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pretoria, when Nelson Mandela was President. He retired in 1998. Sadly, little changed in the then DFA at the Union Buildings, and poor of South Africa … and across the globe, continue to get false hope & promises from Liberals, Conservatives, Blacks & Whites. Jesus alone will speak truth to you, about EVERYTHING. Check a Bible near you, start with John's Book)
God or Sat being the only true substance
Choicelessly chooses to manifest existence
Dividing Himself into two by His creativity
Creating thus a pulse manifested as polarity
The pulse the word the outpouring being Ohm
Wherefrom arose the Universe we call our home
In the void of stillness He remains neutral
Attraction & repulsion orbiting the Sun central
Thus is set up the triad or trinity of energies
Satva & Rajas & Tamas in a play for eternity
That that He may behold Himself in surprise
He slips into stupor to gradually awake & rise
This play then enacted in the field of maya
Where space-time-matter become an enigma
Veil of illusion creating in life feeling of identity
Appearing to be limited though in truth infinity
Delusion of each lifetron rooted in stagnation
Freedom instant centred in source of causation
Maya manifestation being but division illusionary
Reflection of vibrations in a dream world imaginary
Eternal truth Sat found in stillness of meditation
Evident in the void of each pulse polarity rotation
Stretching the void by stilling flickering attention
We are one with the absolute in blissful elation
The ancient Maya had a game
They called Tut to Tut
A game like soccer
but the ball but the ball
would be passed by the thigh
and not the foot.
They played with a latex rubber ball
that some claim contained a human skull
But what ever you think about the game
it was never dull.
Two teams would play before a temple
On a strip of green
the object of the game
to pass the ball through a hoop made of stone
the Winners were victorious
but for the losers
it wasn't so nice
because they'd chop their heads of
and make them a sacrifice.
Glad I wasn't a coach
beats soccer any day.
''Any one for a game of Tut to Tut''?
Don't all shout at once.
Peter Dome.copyright.2013.
For Langston Hughes
What sends them Harvard poets
I just couldn't do it, Sir:
What sends them Harvard poets
I just couldn't do it, Sir:
They'll never give me a Pulitzer.
What tickles them Yale poets
Just leaves me sad an' a grievin':
What tickles them Yale poets
Leaves me sad an' a grievin':
Never seen no Birch trees
On a snowy evenin'.
Then Oxford poets got they poems
An' I gots mine...
So I'll be movin' on, Langston
Movin' down the line....
Michael Ellis
No one can stay forever
calmly we said goodbye
There is no more pain
What we've had together,
we can never lose
Maya, you were more than just a pet
R.I.P. Maya - We Love You
26/03/2021
Sun :) - A-L Andresen :)
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