All I Did Was Copy and Paste

Last week I assigned a poetry reading to my 8th grade Communication students. I gave them all the freedom they would need to enjoy and to choose their poem. I would only be grading them on eye contact, a tone of voice that should match the poem, and voice inflection. So basically, I was grading on emotional connection and getting it across to the audience. There were some funny ones, some very dark and depressing ones, and then there were poems like this one that I was not familiar with but hearing a young girl of 14 read it out loud and knowing her background touched me. She edited and cut it short for school appropriateness. I sat in the back of the classroom with my jaw dropped and a tear running down my cheek. I thought she was the bravest little girl to read this out loud until she told me at the end of class she picked this poem because it reminded her of me. I cannot put into words what I felt after that nor can I recall my response except for hugging her. I am sharing this poem with all little girls and big girls who need to know they too will rise.

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread 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 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....

Maya Angelou