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Poetry

My name is WOMAN…

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I wrote this one evening almost 2 years ago…

  Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 11:56pm 

My name is WOMAN,

 Mother, Sister, Feeder, Bearer

 Call me any name

 But without Me there is no You.

Silently , raped when they fight for power,

Mutilated in the name of ancient customs

Sold as slave by my parents for few days of food supply!

Victim of anger, victim of hunger!

My name is Maria

Lliving in luxury,

Emotionally abused

 By the man I chose to spend my life with « for better and the worst »,

Downgraded, Beaten, Abused ,

but still fronting like a lady with my jewelries and my high class car,

Mirage of life filled with pain…

Where do you go when you depend on your torturers?

 My name is Furaha,

 Chased by rebels,

Beaten by soldiers,

Raped by all of them;

I am a widow, a mother mourning my children,

An orphan : they killed my family and  annihilated my humanity!

Where can you flee when your so called protectors use your body to ease their stress?

My name is Bintou,

I lost a piece of my feminity,

Cut for the sake of outdated traditions,

Almost died from an infection,

Never understood why some women say it’s so good to make love!

Where can I hide when my torturer is my grandmother?

 My name is Natalya,

I ran away from the loss of equality

 and the harshness of capitalism,

with the man I thought was my savior,

my lover, my husband to be;

And now here I am

A modern slave trading sex for money,

my body as a cash machine in the streets of Paris

 Threatened to death day & night by my so called lover!

He took away my dignity and my identity!

 My name is Daughter, Sister, Mother, Wife,

But my tears are not shed and my flesh is so sore.

You can call me slave, bitch, whore, thing

but without me there is no You!

My name is Woman

I don’t want you to forget that

Sometimes, somewhere ,

Maybe next door my life is a Tragedy!

To my sisters around the world:

 Beaten, tortured, threatened, raped, chained to prostitution or slavery,

don’t give up because your voices are heard!

To my brothers love your Woman,

Mother, Daughter, Sister

 Because without Her there is no You!

From me, to all the assaulted women of the world.

©Nabou Fall 2008

Poetry

PHENOMENAL WOMAN by Maya Angelou

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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.I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing of my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
The palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me. 

from And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou.

 

Poetry

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

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You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod 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 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.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

© Maya Angelou, 1978.

Still I Rise »
from AND STILL I RISE by Maya Angelou,
copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou.
Used by permission of Random House, Inc.

Poetry

Universal Woman by Frieda Groffy

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I’m the universal woman
with the rainbow colored skin
I bear the pain of all
small little girls
gang raped in the wars
the violated, beaten up women
dying and not knowing why
I’m the fierce, tortured freedom fighter
of all the revolutions
long forgotten and honor denied
I’m the universal woman
humiliated for my color and tongue
persecuted for my beliefs
for my true love for a woman
circumcised in my sexuality
killed in my womanhood
I’m the universal woman
with the rainbow colored skin
mother of the earth
queen of all life
mistress of the moon
the warmth and passion of the sun
the tree of thenderness
the source of compassion
the balance of the world
the universal woman
with the rainbow colored skin
am I
released in February 2006, by Cyberwit Press in Indiahttp://friedagroffy.com