Happy Birthday, Maya Angelou!


Tomorrow is Maya Angelou's eighty-second birthday. I wrote a tribute to her a few years ago, which I am re-posting in her honor. My poem is a bit dated, but then again, so is hers.


Ain't That Bad? (after Maya Angelou's poem of the same name)

Dancin' the funky chicken
Eatin' ribs and tips
Diggin' all the latest sounds
Drinkin' gin in sips
Dancin' the Beer Barrel Polka
Eatin' Kielbasa and kraut
Diggin' that funky accordian
Lettin' it all hang out
Puttin' down that do-rag
Tighten' up my 'fro
Wrappin' up in Blackness
Don't I shine and glow?
Puttin' down that hairnet
Loosenin' my bun
Wavin' my babushka
Ain't I havin' fun?
Hearin' Stevie Wonder
Cookin' beans and rice
Goin' to the opera
Checkin' out Leontyne Price
Hearin' Frankie Yankovic
Fixin' some knishes
List'nin' to Liberace
While I dry the dishes
Get down, Jesse Jackson
Dance on, Albert Ailey
Talk, Miss Barbara Jordan
Groove, Miss Pearlie Bailey
Get down, Lech Walesa
Z. Brzezinski, too!
Write, Joseph Conrad
(CONRAD? Heck, who knew?)
Now ain't they bad?
An' ain't they Black?
An' ain't they Black?
An' ain't they bad?
An' ain't they Black?
An' ain't they fine?
Now ain't they bad?
An' ain't they Polish?
An' ain't they Polish?
An' ain't they bad?
And ain't they bad?
An' ain't they Polish?
An' ain't they fine?
Black like the hour of the night
When your love turns and wriggles close to your side
Black as the earth which has given birth
To nations, and when all else is gone will abide.
Pink like the first blush of morning
When the sun comes up and turns darkness into day
Pink like a cervix when it's giving birth
And a layette when a baby girl is on the way.
Arthur Ashe on the tennis court
Mohammed Ali in the ring
Andrew Young and Andrew Watts
Black men doing their thing
Andrew Golata in the ring
The Pope in the Vatican Court
Roman Polanski and Rubenstein
Pink men of every sort
Dressing in purples and pinks and greens
Exotic as rum and Cokes
Living our lives with flash and style
Ain't we colorful folks?
Dressing in navy and white and beige
Knockin' back vodka mash
Livin' our lives with zest and grace
Ain't we got panache?
Now ain't we bad?
And ain't we Black?
An' ain't we Black?
An' ain't we bad?
An' ain't we bad?
An' aint we Black?
An' ain't we fine?
Now ain't we bad?
An' ain't we Polish?
An' ain't we Polish?
An' ain't we bad?
An' ain't we bad?
An' ain't we Polish?
An' ain't we fine?