Poem of the Day: "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou

"Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou is the Songs of Eretz Poem of the Day and the offering from Poets.org's Poem-A-Day for May 29, 2014, one day after the poet's death.  A link to the poem may be found here:  http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/still-i-rise?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Poem-a-Day++May+29+2014&utm_content=Poem-a-Day++May+29+2014+CID_86c07fd0f0c03db6470aca28962499b7&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Still%20I%20Rise.  "Still I Rise" first appeared in And Still I Rise (1978).  An elegy to Maya Angelou may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2014/05/maya-angelou-phenomenal-woman.html.  Biographical information about the poet may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2014/05/poem-of-day-phenomenal-woman-by-maya.html.

"Still I Rise" is organized as a ballad with end-rhymes every other line and a refrain of some variation on "I rise."  The "you" in the poem represents all of the bigots whom she proved wrong by her very existence.  The poem deliciously drips the confidence and swagger for which the poet was known.