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Still I Rise

11/12/2021

 
Picture
Costa Rica I'm Comin' for Ya! November 14 - 19, 2021 at Imiloa Institute

Standing next to a painting I made weeks after my father's passing. A time during which I dug deep and decided to take greater responsibility for making my dreams a reality. 

The following poem by the righteous queen: Maya Angelou, is my painting's namesake and the inspiration for setting my dreams to teach a painting retreat in Costa Rica into motion. Her courage inspired my courage during a time I felt devastated by the loss.
Still I Rise
​
BY MAYA ANGELOU

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've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

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 that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
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    This blog was created to share my belief that the art-making process is a catalyst for transformation and personal empowerment. I am living proof. 

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