around the beehive

Homage to My Hips

Losing a loved-one always sends me to a place where I can better appreciate life.  Poetry has moved me since discovering it in grade school; yet, the grind of daily life twenty-five years later buried that love affair. 

 

So in rememberance of Nonnie and words that have inspired me, I will spend some time remembering those people and poems that I love.

 

Homage to My Hips

by Lucille Clifton 

these hips are big hips.
they need space to
move around in.
they don't fit into little
petty places. these hips
are free hips.
they don't like to be held back.
these hips have never been enslaved,
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do.
these hips are mighty hips.
these hips are magic hips.
i have known them
to put a spell on a man and
spin him like a top 

P.S.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Jill Scott's new HBO show!!!

A Dream Deferred

 

A Dream Deferred

by Langston Hughes

 

 

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Tribute to Nonnie

My Godmother passed today, and in tribute I remembered poems that would honor her.  Phenomenal Women by Maya Angelou, first came to mind but it provides finite insight to her character and confidence.  Then I looked to Nicki Givoanni and her poem, Mothers; but it only starts the story of Nonnie's womanly mystery and best qualities. 

 

She was the type of woman whose love was best seen through her actions.  She gave and gave and gave until the day God called her.  I will always remember her heart and how she gave of herself generously and relentlessly.  I will miss her and hope to continue to honor her by learning from the example she inspired.   

 

Woman Work

by Maya Angelou  

   

I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got shirts to press
The tots to dress
The can to be cut
I gotta clean up this hut
Then see about the sick
And the cotton to pick.

Shine on me, sunshine
Rain on me, rain
Fall softly, dewdrops
And cool my brow again.

Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
'Til I can rest again.

Fall gently, snowflakes
Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and
Let me rest tonight.

Sun, rain, curving sky
Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone
Star shine, moon glow
You're all that I can call my own.