Phenomenal woman

Phenomenal poem!

PHENOMENAL WOMAN

By MAYA ANGELOU

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them

They say they still can't see.

I say,

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It's in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

the palm of my hand,

The need of my care,

'Cause I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Maya Angelou

This being a woman

This being a woman
is a holding back

words caught in the throat
pebbles, rocks, boulders,
but isn't it the stones
that make the river sing?


This being a woman
is a flowing around

a liquid grace,
a sinuous tenacity,
what obstacle has ever
stopped a river in flow?


This being a woman
is a relearning

no matter how much
the world breaks you,
were you not always
unbreakable and whole?


This being a woman
is a discovering

amidst a world that
denies you your dignity,
finding a world inner,
pure, precious, powerful.


This being a woman
is always about love

you may love one
or may love many,
but above all
you must love your self

~~~

The Heart of a Woman

by Georgia Douglas Johnson

 

The heart of a woman goes forth with the dawn,

As a lone bird, soft winging, so restlessly on,

Afar o'er life's turrets and vales does it roam

In the wake of those echoes the heart calls home.

The heart of a woman falls back with the night,

And enters some alien cage in its plight,

And tries to forget it has dreamed of the stars

While it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars.

 

 

~~~

 

Awesome!

 

 

I am a wild woman

by MELISSA CLARY

I am a wild woman
I know, inspite of myself
and in spite of what I've been told
that there's beauty in every age
no matter how old

I am a wild woman
I've learned what it means to be a life bearer
to bear children
to create art
to plant seeds of love

I am a wild woman
from the depths of the dirt underneath my fingernails
to the height of my very soul
I am one with the Earth
the winds from the four directions whisper through my skin

I am a wild woman
and the spirit of every wild woman coalesces in me
for we are each wild women
and we are all the spirit of the wild woman
I will follow the voice in my heart

I am a wild woman
I sing from my heart
I dance with the stars
I howl at the moon
I love uncontrollably

I am a wild woman
from the deepest, darkest, most sacred part of me
I am fearless
I cry in strength
I open my arms to the sky and welcome the rain

I am a wild woman
I nurture, love and protect
I stand, strongly, silently, sweetly for my brothers
I walk dutifully, prayerfully, joyfully upon the mother
and I will not be stopped

I am a wild woman.

 
~~~

Wabi Sabi: The Magnificence of Imperfection

Cheryl Hunter shows that a simple story, well told and presented, has tremendous potential to educate, entertain and impact people .....

A powerful talk with deep meaning.

Being solitary

An Excerpt from The Stations of Solitude by Alice Koller

Philosopher Alice Koller explains the benefits that ensue from solitude and the creativity that is birthed there. Here is an excerpt on nurturing.

"I surround myself with silence. The silence is within me, permeates my house, reaches beyond the surfaces of the outer walls and into the bordering woods. It is one silence, continuous from within me outward in all directions: above, beneath, forward, rearward, sideward. In the silence I listen, I watch, I sense, I attend, I observe. I require this silence. I search it out. The finely drawn treble song of a white-throated sparrow is part of it. Invasions of it by the noise of engines are torments to me.

"This is my solitude.

"I do not cloak it among other persons, and I know how it appears. No sign of submission, in the eyes of most men; too assured, in the view of most women; not properly respectful, to the gaze of all those in authority. I have become that third gender: a human person, the being one creates of oneself. I fell in love with my work, became fiercely protective of my freedom, started to make new rules. In this, Sartre is surely right: persons are not born but made. The choice lies escapably within ourselves: we may let it wither away, or we may take it and run."

How not to be a 'legitimate' rape victim

How not to be a 'legitimate' rape victim

Daughters are precious

A shocking program about the female foeticide rampant in India...

Watch the video here

Words

Words are not just words. They have moods, climates of their own. When a words settles inside you, it brings a different climate to your mind, a different approach, a different vision. Call something by a different name and see how it is immediately different. So one of the most important things to remember is, if possible, live an experience and don’t fix it by a word, because that will make it narrow.

You are sitting outside on a silent evening. The sun has gone and the stars are just coming out. Just be. Don’t even say, “This is beautiful,” because the moment you say that it is beautiful, it isn’t the same any more. By saying ‘beautiful’ you are bringing in the past, and all the experiences that you said were beautiful have coloured the word. Your word ‘beautiful’ contains many experiences of beauty. But this experience is totally new. Life has never been like this before. It will never be again. Why bring in the past? The present is so vast, the past is so narrow. Why look through a hole in the wall when you can come out and look at the whole sky?

So try not to use words, but if you have to, be very choosy about them, because each word has a nuance of its own. Be very poetic about it. Use each word with taste, love, feeling.

There are feeling words and there are intellectual words. Drop intellectual words more and more. Use feeling words. There are political words and there are religious words. Drop political words. There are words which immediately create conflict. The moment you utter them, argument arises. So never use logical, argumentative language. Use the language of affection, of caring, of love, so that no argument arises. If you start acting this way, you will see tremendous changes.

A single words uttered without awareness can create a long chain of misery. But if you are alert, many miseries can be avoided. Just a very small change can make a lot of difference. You should be very, very careful and only use words when absolutely necessary. Avoid contaminated words. Use fresh words, non-controversial words which are not arguments, just expressions of your feelings.

If you can become a connoisseur of words, your whole life will be different. Your relationship will be totally different because 90 per cent of a relationship is expressed through words and gestures. Gestures are also words. If a word brings misery, anger, conflict, argument, drop it. What is the point of carrying it? Drop it. Replace it with something better.

The best thing is silence. Next best is singing, poetry, love.

Osho in The ABC of Enlightenment

Abiding in discomfort

Another thought-provoking and maybe, heart-wrenching write-up ...

Abiding in discomfort

I Singe The Body Electric

Another raw, bleeding post. The only consolation and maybe hope is that the women are writing about their anguish, proclaiming their pain. I hope that is bringing some measure of control, of catharsis into their lives ...

I singe the body electric

Silence isn't always golden

Another kind of raw, powerful and gut-wrenching post ....

Silence isn't always golden

Transformation and transcendence

This is such an awesome piece of writing. Raw and powerful, yet loving and eloquent ...

The power of female friendship

I hereby dis-empower you

A hard-hitting post which makes you think and wonder about men :/

I hereby dis-empower you

Is this the way we are raising our sons? To dis-empower?

Day of the Feminine

Today is International Woman's Day and I wanted to share something that touched and moved me so deeply and is so apt for today's theme and for every day to follow ...

Women's Love

If possible, listen to the recording as well.

Why it is wise to worship a woman

A post I found fascinating ...

Why it is wise to worship a woman