Dr. Maya Angelou turns 83 tomorrow. She’s been a hero of mine since 1993, when she became the second poet to ever read a poem during the presidential inauguration. The second poet, but the first woman. Never mind the minor detail that she’s also an African American, I just needed to know that women poets had value.
“On the Pulse of the Morning” was broadcast live around the world. I wasn’t privileged to hear that particular broadcast, but I read the entire text in the newspaper the next day. It’s a difficult poem to fully comprehend, fraught with deep, evasive metaphors and lyrical language—and yet, it’s important that we try.
Today, I invite you, in celebration of both National Poetry Month and Maya Angelou’s birthday, to joyfully plunge into poetry with reckless abandon. Enjoy the sounds, the imagery, the delightful rhythms and playful pulse of each piece.
You might want to start with a poem or two from the works of Robert Frost, whose poems are a little more “user friendly” than Angelou’s. Frost read at Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961, and although he died in 1963, he still holds the honor of being the most popular poet in America today.
Even if you’ve never enjoyed poetry before, I’ll be dollars to donuts that Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” will speak to you. As the title implies, we’ve all had to make choices that left a path behind, unexplored. And I’m pretty sure we’ve all asked ourselves, “What if I had taken the other road?”
Start your poetic education with Frost. You can tackle Angelou’s poem a little later; it will still be there—like a crouching tiger—waiting.