& Still I Rise

Maya Angelou was raised in Stamps, Arkansas. In addition to her bestselling autobiographies, including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Heart of a Woman, she wrote numerous volumes of poetry, among them Phenomenal Woman, And Still I Rise, On the Pulse of Morning, and Mother. Maya Angelou died in 2014.

These new poems are powerful, distinctive and as always, full of lifting rhythms of love and remembering.

Maya Angelou s unforgettable collection of poetry lends its name to the documentary film about her life, And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS s American Masters.
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I m not cute or built to suit a fashion model s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I m telling lies.
I say,
It s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That s me.
Thus begins Phenomenal Woman, just one of the beloved poems collected here in Maya Angelou s third book of verse. These poems are powerful, distinctive, and fresh and, as always, full of the lifting rhythms of love and remembering. And Still I Rise is written from the heart, a celebration of life as only Maya Angelou has discovered it.
It is true poetry she is writing, M.F.K. Fisher has observed, not just rhythm, the beat, rhymes. I find it very moving and at times beautiful. It has an innate purity about it, unquenchable dignity. . . . It is astounding, flabbergasting, to recognize it, in all the words I read every day and night . . . it gives me heart, to hear so clearly the caged bird singing and to understand her notes. "

A graduation gift that's full of inspiration, Maya Angelou's unforgettable collection of poetry lends its name to the documentary film about her life, And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS's American Masters.

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Thus begins "Phenomenal Woman," just one of the beloved poems collected here in Maya Angelou's third book of verse. These poems are powerful, distinctive, and fresh--and, as always, full of the lifting rhythms of love and remembering. And Still I Rise is written from the heart, a celebration of life as only Maya Angelou has discovered it.

"It is true poetry she is writing," M.F.K. Fisher has observed, "not just rhythm, the beat, rhymes. I find it very moving and at times beautiful. It has an innate purity about it, unquenchable dignity. . . . It is astounding, flabbergasting, to recognize it, in all the words I read every day and night . . . it gives me heart, to hear so clearly the caged bird singing and to understand her notes."

Touch me, life, not softly : A kind of love, some say — Country lover — Remembrance — Where we belong, a duet — Phenomenal woman — Men — Refusal — Just for a time — Traveling : Junkie monkey reel — The lesson — California prodigal — My Arkansas — Through the inner city to the suburbs — Lady luncheon club — Momma welfare roll — The singer will not sing — Willie — To beat the child was bad enough — Woman work — One more round — The traveler — Kin — The memory — And still I rise : Still I rise — Ain't that bad? — Life doesn't frighten me — Bump d'bump — On aging — In retrospect — Just like Job — Call letters: Mrs. V.B. — Thank you, Lord