And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems - Maya Angelou

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