My_Inspiration

Eng 111 Section 0003S 25 June 2010 My Inspiration The poem that I choose that had a motivating change in my life was Maya Angelous’ “Phenomenal woman”. This poem has made a difference in my life because of confidence and security that it portrays. I think that a woman should feel happy about her self, be it for her smile or her sigh. We are all unique in our own way. We should embrace poems such as these in order to reinforce that fact. She has been a powerful writer and after reading this poem. I have walked a little straighter, smiled a little sexier and enjoyed being a women that much more. Although, the poems are just words on a piece of paper, the way she puts them together is phenomenal and inspirational. When I first read this, I was at a low point in my life. The last thing I was thinking about doing was reading poetry. I saw a friend of mine that said she had read the poem that featured in the movie Poetic Justice. I half heartily read it, but once I started, I thought to myself that this would be another poem where the words are long and the rhyme makes no sense to me. Therefore, the message would be lost, but it surprised me how easy the words flowed together and the message made sense. It is about letting women know that they are beautiful in every sense of the word. It had a way of making me feel and understand what the poem was saying. I hope that it will give you the same sense of empowerment that it gave me. This is how this extraordinary poem starts to me; it is asking what do you want to know about me' “Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size”, which means I may not be the ideal shape, size or have the looks of a model that you may see on the cover of any magazine. I may not even look like a beauty queen on the outside, but I am beautiful on the inside, “but when I start to tell them,” it is not all about how I look and it opened me to the greatest part of me that has been inside of me all along. “They think I'm telling lies”. Because they could not believe that a woman has worth, not just a black women, but all women have greatness in their selves. “I say”, this is to say that if I told you about me you may not believe it. I thought to myself, why do you want to know about me' “It's in the reach of my arms”, it shows people that I am in control of my future and I can accept the woman in me. “The span of my hips”, that to say I have grace in my sway of hip and beauty in my glide. The stride of my step, show confidence and the pride I have in myself. “The curl of my lips shows”, shows the confidence in my voice. “I'm a woman”, that is to say I am strong, independent, and with my head high, I am beautiful. “Phenomenally”, I believe in the woman in me, I can do and be anything my heart desires. “Phenomenal woman”, I am that woman, strong and magnificent. That’s me. Tries to help other people to see what I think about myself and how sexy I feel even without a face of model. This is where my confidence shows and lets me know that, although I may not know what it is. I know it is something truly remarkable. ” I walk into a room”; it takes a real woman to know how phenomenal she is without anyone seeing or hearing her as she comes in a room. “Just as cool as you please, And to a man, The fellows stand or, Fall down on their knees”. I deserve the respect when I walk in a room, they rise as if they never seen a phenomenal woman before it is a beautiful feeling. It seems that all eyes are on me. Could be they see my crown of glory that I carry with me. I am walking tall with a glow about me. They act if they could see the grace God gave me. “Then they swarm around me”, I feel like a queen for them to behold in all my glory, in their eyes. “A hive of honeybees”, this describes my self-confidence that allows me to glide into a room. This is a fantastic feeling for anyone, but especially for a woman who may be unsure of herself. “I say”, to her be proud of the strength you see in the mirror it is you and me. “It is the fire in my eyes”. This is what I want in my heart for other women to be as Phenomenal as me. “And the flash of my teeth”, this is the smile I carry with me every day, hoping others will be affect by it. “The swing in my waist”, I swing them to show off my sexuality and attract the opposite sex with confidence. “And the joy in my feet”, this is my dance to celebrate the woman I have become. “I’m a woman, phenomenally”. This means that I am exceedingly and unbelievably powerful. “Phenomenal woman”, it speaks about where woman are at the dawn of a new century. It reminds women of their towering strength & beauty. “That's me. Men themselves have wondered”, why they I cannot take my hopes and dreams from me by trying to control the spirit in me. “What they see in me”, is a spirit that cannot be tamed, and strength that cannot be weaken, and a light that can be put out. “They try so much”, to keep me down, but the strength that God gave me help me to endure, “but they can’t touch”, the love I have in me, and the woman that I came to be. “My inner mystery”, they do not know the inner woman I have inside of me. “When I try to show them”, by opening my heart, they still do not understand. “They say they still cannot see”. The strengths of a phenomenal woman that is I. “I say”, if you open your eyes you will see the woman I am. “It's in the arch of my back”, they only see but if they could only that not me. “The sun of my smile”, it is what I see when I look in the mirror. “The ride of my breasts”, is not the only part of me. “The grace of my style”, this is how I see me with grace and style. “I'm a woman”, beautiful, “phenomenally, phenomenal woman, I am”, telling you, that is me. “Now you understand, just why my head has not bowed”. This mean to know me is to understand me. I keep my head up and am manifest of myself and I know who I am. “I do not shout or jump about, or have to talk real loud”, I do not need to do anything .I know if I say nothing I am also saying something, and I am listening. “When you see me passing, it ought to make you proud”. What you see is a “phenomenal woman. I say, It's in the click of my heels”, I am a proud confident stepping woman that you hear and can see. “The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand”, pretty and smooth you long to touch, “The need of my care”, it all up to me to be all I can be. “Cause I'm a woman, Phenomenally, Phenomenal woman, that’s me”. “Maya Angelou” After reading this poem there is no way that someone can feel down or not self confident if only for a moment, if more women felt like this about themselves it would relieve a lot of the stress that men sometime put us though and we suffer because of low-self esteem. I have been a victim of low-self esteem; I thought that I was too fat at times and too skinny at others. I thought that I was not smart enough or pretty enough that is why this poem means so much to me. Because It lets me know that even on my off days I am still beautiful and worth something, not matter what people think of me it is what I think of myself that makes me carry myself with dignity. Today I not only love me but respect and like me as well. Work Cited Angelou, Maya (1978) Still I Rise, Phenomenal Women From And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou. http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/insp/maya.htm