Favorite Pomes

Still I Rise

By Mya Angelou

You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,You may trod me in the very dir tBut still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?'Cause I walk like I've got oil wellsPumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty of tides,Just like hopes springing high,Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?Bowed head and lowered eyes?Shoulders falling down like teardrops.Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?Don't you take it awful hard'Cause I laugh like I've got gold minesDiggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,You may cut me with your eyes,You may kill me with your hatefulness,But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?Does it come as a surpriseThat I dance like I've got diamondsAt the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shameI riseUp from a past that's rooted in painI riseI'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.Leaving behind nights of terror and fearI riseInto a daybreak that's wondrously clearI riseBringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise

Heaven's Grocery Store
By Ron Demarco

I was walking down life's highway

a long, long time ago.

One day I saw a sign that read,

"HEAVEN'S GROCERY STORE."

As I got a little closer, the door opened wide,

and I found myself standing inside.

I saw a host of ANGELS.

They were standing everywhere.

One handed me a basket and said,

"My Child, shop with care.

"Everything a human needed

was in that grocery store.

And if you couldn't carry it all,

you could come back the next day for more.

First, I got some PATIENCE.

LOVE was in the same row.

Further down was UNDERSTANDING,

you need that everywhere you go.

I got a box or two of WISDOM,

a bag or two of FAITH.

I just couldn't miss the HOLY GHOST

, for it was all over the place.

I stopped to get some STRENGTH and COURAGE

TO HELP ME RUN THIS RACE.

By then my basket was getting full,

but I remembered I needed some GRACE.

I didn't forget SALVATION,

for SALVATION was free.

So I tried to get enough of that

to save both you and me.

Then I started up to the counter

to pay my grocery bill.

For I thought I had everything

to do the MASTER'S will.

As I went up the aisle,

I saw PRAYER;

and I just had to put that in,

for I knew when I stepped outside,

I would run into sin.

PEACE and JOY were plentiful;

they were last on the shelf.

SONG and PRAISE were hanging near

, so I just helped myself.

Then I said to the angel,

"Now, how much do I owe?

"He smiled again and said, "MY CHILD,

JESUS PAID YOUR BILL A LONG, LONG TIME AGO."