Poetry Friday–Rising up & Art

Rose Red Reality, © 2017 Michelle Kogan, watercolor and watercolor pencil.

FOREVER WE’LL RISE
From Maya Angelou STILL I RISE

Always Strive higher, But
hold onto your dignity. Still–
Always speak your thoughts, like
they’re yours alone, precious as Air.
Always remember your roots, where I’ll
help you draw from within, and forever we’ll Rise.

© 2017 Michelle Kogan

 

STILL I RISE
By Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread 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 back yard.

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.

Read the rest of her poem at the Poem Hunter

Happy Poetry Friday! I’m sharing a montage of poems and art this week. The above reflecting on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and our times. My poem, Forever We”ll Rise is a golden shovel taken from Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise. My painting, which I thought fit in with these poems,  is  featured in the Evanston Art Center’s Faculty Exhibit which runs through February 11, 2018. Though,  I started my week with a poem about the weather. It had warmed up a bit, but dreary January had captured me, momentarily. 

 

JANUARY–MOVE ALONG

Oh woe, January–
Though the holiday lights still shine,
the snow’s sidestepped, and the cold snaps
on mid-week winter vacation–Ah, yet you’ve
entrapped me, in your foreboding foggy, clouded
night sky, filling me with want of spring still so far, far
afield. But, music gently rescued my desires, embraced
my emotions, and momentarily pulled me from
my stupor; I pushed my pen across my page,
and perhaps tomorrow will lift my brush
until light again climbs into the night
and rocks me till the morning dawn.

© 2018 Michelle Kogan

 

Jan Godown Annino at BookSeedStudio is hosting this weeks Poetry Friday Roundup with more on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., thanks Jan for hosting!