“STILL I RISE” (MAYA ANGELOU) (I)

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I love a neutral, sober palette, but as I started making this piece, I found myself bogged down in a dreary green reminiscent of dead seaweed. I put away my paint tools, and started working on the canvas with my fingers - something I hadn’t done since I was a child. Allowing something spirited and joyous to come from a gloom that threatens to drown, brought to mind one of my favourite poems (me and millions of others I expect!): Still I Rise, by Maya Angelou from “And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems.” Part of that brilliant poem that has provided me succour over the years, is quoted below. Full text available here.

“You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But 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 wells
Pumping 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 mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

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.”

36h x 24w x 1.5d (inches); acrylic on wood-backed canvas, finger-painted.