Poem Review: Still I Rise

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Commentary: Maya Angelou is someone that I’m awe of. She passed away in 2014, but her legacy lives on forever. Still I Rise is in my top five poems I’ve ever read, and has gotten me through some very difficult times. It’s easily the best American poem ever written. I resonate with the poem because I also know what it feels like to be counted out, ignored, and hated on. But that’s ok. The hate is actually love and always makes me stronger. I love challenges! For people who deal with baggage, generational trauma, stress, bias, negative sterotypes, and things not going according to plan, this poem is for you. The human spirit to keep fighting is stronger than any opposing force out there that’s trying to take you down. With faith, a person can overcome any kind of situation (good, bad, or indifferent). Believe it and rise above the situation; great things are just around the corner!