MAYA ANGELOU: POEMS
Just Give Me
a Cool Drink
of Water
'fore I Diiie
Oh Pray My Wings
Are Gonna
Fit Me Well
And Still
I Rise
Shaker, Why Don't
You Sing
BANTAM BOOKS
NEW YORK -TORONTO � LONDON � SYDNEY � AUCKLAND
MAYA ANGELOU: POEMS
JUST GIVE ME A COOL DRINK OF WATER 'FORE I DIIIE,
OH PRAY MY WINGS ARE GONNA FIT ME WELL,
AND STILL I RISE, SHAKER, WHY DON'T YOU SING ?
A Bantam Book
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Bantam 3 Volume edition / November 1981
Bantam 4 Volume edition I February 1986
Bantam reissue November 1993
JUST GIVE ME A COOL DRINK OF WATER FORE I DIUE was originally published by Random House, Inc., in 1971. Bantam
edition published January 1973 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Copyright � 1971
by Maya Angelou; The following poems were first published in The Poetry of Maya Angelou and are reprinted by permission of Hirt
Music Inc. Copyright � 1969 by Hirt Music Inc.: "They Went Home," "The Gamut," "To a Man " "No Loser, No Weeper," "When You
Come to Me," "Remembering," "In a Time " "Tears," "The Detached," "To a Husband," "Accident," "Let's Majeste " or the "Ego and I," "On
Diverse Deviations," "Mourning Grace," "Sounds Like Pearls," "When I Think About Myself," "Letter to an Aspiring Junkie," "Miss Scarlett,
Mr. Rhett & Other Latter-Day Saints," "Faces," "To a Freedom Fighter " "Riot: 60's," "No No No No," "Black Ode," "My Guilt," "The
Calling of Names " "On Working White Liberals," "Sepia Fashion Show," "The Thirteens (Black)," "The Thirteens (White)," "Harlem
Hopscotch"; OH PRAY MY WINGS ARE GONNA FIT ME WELL was originally published by Random House, Inc. August 1975.
Bantam edition published October 1977. Copyright � 1975 by Maya Angelou. Several poems have appeared in Cosmopolitan August
1975 and November 1976; AND STILL I RISE was originally published by Random House, Inc. August 1978. Bantam edition
published January 1980. Portions of this book appeared in Cosmopolitan during 1978 as "Phenomenal Woman" and "Just for a Time."
Copyright � 1978 by Maya Angelou; SHAKER, WHY DON'T YOU SING' was originally published by Random House, Inc. February
1983. Portions of this book appeared in the Ladies' Home Journal Juty 1983 and in New Woman September 1985 through December
1985
All rights reserved.
Copyright � 1986 by Bantam Books.
Photo copyright � 1993 by Peter Cunningham
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Contents
JUST GIVE ME A COOL DRINK OF WATER 'FORE I DIIIE
Part One: Where Love Is a Scream of Anguish
They Went Home 4
The Gamut 5
A Zorro Man 6
To a Man 7
Late October 8
No Loser, No Weeper 9
When You Come to Me 10
Remembering 11
In a Time 12
Tears 13
The Detached 14
To a Husband 15
Accident 16
Let's Majeste 17
After 18
The Mothering Blackness 19
On Diverse Deviations 20
Mourning Grace 21
How I Can Lie to You 22
Sounds Like Pearls 23
Part Two: Just Before the World Ends
When I Think About Myself 26
On a Bright Day, Next Week 27
Letter to an Aspiring Junkie 28
Miss Scarlett, Mr. Rhett and Other Latter-Day Saints 30
Times-Square-Shoeshine-Composition 32
Faces 34
To a Freedom Fighter 35
Riot: 60's 36
We Saw Beyond Our Seeming 38
Black Ode 39
No No No No 40
My Guilt 44
The Calling of Names 45
On Working White Liberals 46
Sepia Fashion Show 47
The Thirteens (Black) 48
The Thirteens (White) 49
Harlem Hopscotch 50
OH PRAY MY WINGS ARE GONNA FIT ME WELL
Part One
Pickin Em Up and Layin Em Down 54
Here's to Adhering 56
On Reaching Forty 58
The Telephone 59
Part Two
Passing Time 62
Now Long Ago 63
Greyday 64
Poor Girl 65
Come. And Be My Baby 67
Senses of Insecurity 68
Alone 69
Communication I 71
Communication II 72
Wonder 73
A Conceit 74
Part Three
Request 76
Africa 77
America 78
For Us, Who Dare Not Dare 80
Lord, In My Heart 81
Artful Pose 84
Part Four
The Couple 86
The Pusher 87
Chicken-Licken 90
Part Five
I Almost Remember 92
Prisoner 94
Woman Me 96
John J. 97
Southeast Arkanasia 99
Song for the Old Ones 100
Child Dead in Old Seas 102
Take Time Out 104
Elegy 107
Reverses 109
Little Girl Speakings 110
This Winter Day 111
AND STILL I RISE
Part One: Touch Me, Life, Not Softly
A Kind of Love, Some Say 116
Country Lover 117
Remembrance 118
Where We Belong, A Duet 119
Phenomenal Woman 121
Men 124
Refusal 126
Just for a Time 127
Part Two: Traveling
Junkie Monkey Reel 130
The Lesson 131
California Prodigal 132
My Arkansas 134
Through the Inner City to the Suburbs 135
Lady Luncheon Club 137
Momma Welfare Roll 139
The Singer Will Not Sing 140
Willie 141
To Beat the Child Was Bad Enough 143
Woman Work 144
One More Round 146
The Traveler 148
Kin 149
The Memory 151
Part Three: And Still I Rise
Still I Rise 154
Ain't That Bad? 156
Life Doesn't Frighten Me 158
Bump d'Bump 160
On Aging 161
In Retrospect 162
Just Like Job 163
Call Letters: Mrs. V. B. 165
Thank You, Lord 166
SHAKER, WHY DON'T YOU SING?
Awaking in New York 171
A Good Woman Feeling Bad 172
The Health-Food Diner 173
A Georgia Song 175
Unmeasured Tempo 178
Amoebaean for Daddy 179
Recovery 181
Impeccable Conception 182
Caged Bird 183
Avec Merci, Mother 185
Arrival 186
A Plagued Journey 187
Starvation 189
Contemporary Announcement 190
Prelude to a Parting 191
Martial Choreograph 192
To a Suitor 194
Insomniac 195
Weekend Glory 196
The Lie 199
Prescience 200
Family Affairs 202
Changes 204
Brief Innocence 205
The Last Decision 206
Slave Coffle 207
Shaker, Why Don't You Sing? 208
My Life Has Turned to Blue 209
JUST GIVE ME
A COOL DRINK
OF WATER
'FORE I DIIIE
to
Amber Sam
and the
Zorro Man
PART ONE
Where Love Is a Scream of Anguish
They Went Home
They went home and told their wives, that never once in all their lives, had they known a girl like
me,
But . . . They went home.
They said my house was licking clean, no word I spoke was ever mean, I had an air of mystery,
But . . . They went home.
My praises were on all men's lips, they liked my smile, my wit, my hips, they'd spend one night,
or two or three.
But ...
The Gamut
Soft you day, be velvet soft,
My true love approaches,
Look you bright, you dusty sun,
Array your golden coaches.
Soft you wind, be soft as silk
My true love is speaking.
Hold you birds, your silver throats,
His golden voice I'm seeking.
Come you death, in haste, do come
My shroud of black be weaving,
Quiet my heart, be deathly quiet,
My true love is leaving.
5
A Zorro Man
Here
in the wombed room
silk purple drapes
flash a light as subtle
as your hands before
love-making
Here
in the covered lens
I catch a
clitoral image of
your general inhabitation
long and like a
late dawn in winter
Here
this clean mirror
traps me unwilling
in a gone time
when I was love
and you were booted and brave
and trembling for me.
6
To a Man
My man is
Black Golden Amber
Changing.
Warm mouths of Brandy Fine
Cautious sunlight on a patterned rug
Coughing laughter, rocked on a whorl of French tobacco
Graceful turns on woolen stilts
Secretive?
A cat's eye.
Southern. Plump and tender with navy bean sullenness
And did I say "Tender"?
The gentleness
A big cat stalks through stubborn bush
And did I mention "Amber"?
The heatless fire consuming itself.
Again. Anew. Into ever neverlessness.
My man is Amber
Changing
Always into itself
New. Now New.
Still itself.
Still.
7
Late October
Carefully
the leaves of autumn
sprinkle down the tinny
sound of little dyings
and skies sated
of ruddy sunsets
of roseate dawns
roil ceaselessly in
cobweb greys and turn
to black
Only lovers
see the fall
a signal end to endings
a gruffish gesture alerting
those who will not be alarmed
that we begin to stop
in order simply
to begin
again.
8
No Loser, No Weeper
"I hate to lose something,"
then she bent her head
"even a dime, I wish I was dead.
I can't explain it. No more to be said.
Cept I hate to lose something."
"I lost a doll once and cried for a week.
She could open her eyes, and do all but speak.
I believe she was took, by some doll-snatching-sneak
I tell you, I hate to lose something."
"A watch of mine once, got up and walked away.
It had twelve numbers on it and for the time of day.
I'll never forget it and all I can say
Is I really hate to lose something."
"Now if I felt that way bout a watch and a toy,
What you think I feel bout my lover-boy?
I ain't threatening you madam, but he is my evening's joy.
And I mean I really hate to lose something."
9
When You Come to Me
When you come to me, unbidden,
Beckoning me
To long-ago rooms,
Where memories lie.
Offering me, as to a child, an attic,
Gatherings of days too few.
Baubles of stolen kisses.
Trinkets of borrowed loves.
Trunks of secret words,
I CRY.
10
Remembering
Soft grey ghosts crawl up my sleeve
to peer into my eyes
while I within deny their threats
and answer them with lies.
Mushlike memories perform
a ritual on my lips
I lie in stolid hopelessness
and they lay my s
oul in strips.
11
In a Time
In a time of secret wooing
Today prepares tomorrow's ruin
Left knows not what right is doing
My heart is torn asunder.
In a time of furtive sighs
Sweet hellos and sad goodbyes
Half-truths told and entire lies
My conscience echoes thunder
In a time when kingdoms come
Joy is brief as summer's fun
Happiness, its race has run
Then pain stalks in to plunder.
12
Tears
Tears
The crystal rags
Viscous tatters
of a worn-through soul
Moans
Deep swan song
Blue farewell
of a dying dream.
13
The Detached
We die,
Welcoming Bluebeards to our darkening closets,
Stranglers to our outstretched necks.
Stranglers, who neither care nor
care to know that
DEATH IS INTERNAL.
We pray,
Savoring sweet the teethed lies,
Bellying the grounds before alien gods
Gods, who neither know nor
wish to know that
HELL IS INTERNAL.
We love,
Rubbing the nakednesses with gloved hands
Inverting our mouths in tongued kisses,
Kisses that neither touch nor
care to touch if
LOVE IS INTERNAL.
14
To a Husband
Your voice at times a fist
Tight in your throat
Jabs ceaselessly at phantoms
In the room,
Your hand a carved and
skimming boat
Goes down the Nile
To point out Pharaoh's tomb.
You're Africa to me
At brightest dawn.
The Congo's green and
Copper's brackish hue,
A continent to build
With Black Man's brawn.
I sit at home and see it all
Through you.
15
Accident
tonight
when you spread your pallet
of magic,
I escaped,
sitting apart,
I saw you grim and unkempt.
Your vulgar-ness
not of living
your demands
not from need.
tonight
as you sprinkled your brain-dust
of rainbows,
I had no eyes.
Seeing all
I saw the colors fade
and change.
The blood, red dulled
through the dyes,
and the naked
Black-White truth.
16
Let's Majeste
I sit a throne upon the times
when Kings are rare and
Consorts
slide into the grease of scullery maids.
So gaily wave a crown of light
(astride the royal chair) that blinds
the commoners who genuflect and cross their fingers.
The years will lie beside me
on the queenly bed.
And coupled we'll await
the ages' dust to cake my lids again.
And when the rousing kiss is given,
why must it always be a fairy, and
only just a Prince?
17
After
No sound falls
from the moaning sky
No scowl wrinkles
the evening pool
The stars lean down
A stony brilliance
While birds fly
The market leers
its empty shelves
Streets bare bosoms
to scanty cars
This bed yawns
beneath the weight
of our absent selves.
18
The Mothering Blackness
She came home running
back to the mothering blackness
deep in the smothering blackness
white tears icicle gold plains of her face
She came home running
She came down creeping
here to the black arms waiting
now to the warm heart waiting
rime of alien dreams befrost her rich brown face
She came down creeping
She came home blameless
black yet as Hagar's daughter
tall as was Sheba's daughter
threats of northern winds die on the desert's face
She came home blameless
19
On Diverse Deviations
When love is a shimmering curtain
Before a door of chance
That leads to a world in question
Wherein the macabrous dance
Of bones that rattle in silence
Of blinded eyes and rolls
Of thick lips thin, denying
A thousand powdered moles,
Where touch to touch is feel
And life a weary whore
I would be carried off, not gently
To a shore,
Where love is the scream of anguish
And no curtain drapes the door.
20
Mourning Grace
If today, I follow death
go down its trackless wastes,
salt my tongue on hardened tears
for my precious dear times waste
race
along that promised cave in a headlong
deadlong
haste,
Will you
have
the
grace
to mourn for
me?
21
How I Can Lie to You
now thread my voice
with lies
of lightness
force within
my mirror eyes
the cold disguise
of sad and wise
decisions.
22
Sounds Like Pearls
Sounds
Like pearls
Roll off your tongue
To grace this eager ebon ear.
Doubt and fear.
Ungainly things,
With blushings
Disappear.
23
Part Two
Just Before the
Worl
d Ends
When I Think About Myself
When I think about myself,
I almost laugh myself to death,
My life has been one great big joke,
A dance that's walked
A song that's spoke,
I laugh so hard I almost choke
When I think about myself.
Sixty years in these folks' world
The child I works for calls me girl
I say "Yes ma'am" for working's sake.
Too proud to bend
Too poor to break,
I laugh until my stomach ache,
When I think about myself.
My folks can make me split my side,
I laughed so hard I nearly died,
The tales they tell, sound just like lying,