Product Overview
Throughout her illustrious career in letters, Maya Angelou gifted, healed, and inspired the world with her words. Now the beauty and spirit of those words live on in this new and complete collection of poetry that reflects and honors the writers remarkable life.
Every poetic phrase, every poignant verse can be found within the pages of this sure-to-be-treasured volumefrom her reflections on African American life and hardship in the compilation Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water fore I Diiie (Though theres one thing that I cry for / I believe enough to die for / That is every mans responsibility to man) to her revolutionary celebrations of womanhood in the poem Still I Rise (Out of the huts of historys shame / I rise / Up from a past thats rooted in pain / I rise) to her On the Pulse of Morning tribute at President William Jefferson Clintons inauguration (Lift up your eyes upon / The day breaking for you. / Give birth again / To the dream.).
Maya Angelou: The Complete Poetry also features her final long-form poems, including A Brave and Startling Truth, Amazing Peace, His Day Is Done, and the honest and endearing Mother:
I feared if I let you go
You would leave me eternally.
You smiled at my fears, saying
I could not stay in your lap forever
This collection also includes the never-before-published poemAmazement Awaits, commissioned for the 2008 Olympic Games:
We are here at the portal of the world we had wished for
At the lintel of the world we most need.
We are here roaring and singing.
We prove that we can not only make peace, we can bring it with us.
Timeless and prescient, this definitive compendium will warm the hearts of Maya Angelous most ardent admirers as it introduces new readers to the legendary poet, activist, and teachera phenomenal woman for the ages.
