A review by abeerhoque
I Shall Not Be Moved by Maya Angelou

4.0

Big ships shudder /
down to the sea /
because of me

I’ve sailed upon the seven seas and /
stopped in every land, /
I’ve seen the wonders of the world, /
not yet one common man

My thoughts are particular: /
of your light lips and hungry /
hands

This girl, neither feather nor /
fan, drifted and tossed. //

Oh, but then I had power. /
Power.

Yes, my drums are beating nightly /
and the rhythms never change. //

Equality, and I will be free. /
Equality, and I will be free.

Coleridge Jackson

Why Are They Happy People

glistening like /
diamonds strewn/
upon a black girl's belly

Tremors of your network /
cause kings to disappear.

Your bombs can change the seasons, /
obliterate the spring.

You dwell in whitened castles
with deep and poisoned moats
and cannot hear the curses
which fill your children's throats

Glory falls around us

We grow despite the /
horror that we feed /
upon our own /
tomorrow. /
We grow.

the ransack of hunters

I shall not, I shall not be moved.

When you learn, teach.
When you get, give.

Sheba and Sojourner,
Harriet and Zora,
Mary Bethune and Angela,
Annie to Zenobia

lay aside your fears that I will be undone, //
for I shall not be moved.

I thought I’ve never made a sweet man /
A kind man /
A true man /
One who in darkness you can feel secure man

Even minimal people /
can’t survive on minimal wage

I said you had the motion /
of the ocean in your walk, /
and when you solve my riddles /
you don’t even have to talk.