Responses to poems by Maya Angelou, Lucille Clifton, and June Jordan

Responses to poems by Maya Angelou, Lucille Clifton, and June Jordan

“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou speaks in second person to her audience unapologetically, resoundingly rejoicing in her own personal freedom of being woman full of personality, versatility, and most of all, resilience. The concept of “rising” is instrumental to the extinguishment of a history saddled with centuries of pain and intergenerational trauma. Her poem raises the question of the significance in granting an audience second person, and the agency of the reader’s ideologies compared to an individualist perspective of the author.

Lindsey Norward
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Lucille Clifton in “homage to my hips” asserts an understanding of one’s black female body as one that does not fit into societal standards, yet as a result, have been free from the spiritual chains of an oppressive society. This poem embodies the significance of self-love, body reclamation, and a pride of oneself. How does the concept of “put a spell on a man and spin him like a top” relate to feministic power, asserting oneself into a realm of black feminism?

Lindsey Norward
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In “Won’t you celebrate with me” Lucille Clifton describes to us one of the many ways that black women make something out of nothing, carve their own way when there is none and conjure a life for themselves in spite of everything working against them. Must be that black girl magic. I do wonder though, how tired she (and those other black women) must be?

Chelsea Irvin
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June Jordan “Poem About My Rights”
Jordan describes the limitless assaults women of color have endured and continue to endure. She paints a verbal picture about the dangers of walking alone at night, pointing out that the significance is not in that a woman is alone but more so in the fact that she is just that, a woman. The issues of racially motivated and gender motivated crimes has been identified, you (June Jourdan) and the marginalized individuals you speak of have been identified. Does the anonymity of the accused torcher your thoughts, do you question your own motives?

Emily Hemmitt
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Related:
• AALCI 2017