Her use of words is masterful and she speaks of them as things—as power and as creative. Words to her are alive and like the air that we breathe, they go into the very fabric of her existence, finally inhabiting her body so that she can live.
The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out upon me,
The Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.
—Maya Angelou
I was lost the other day, caught up in a series of appropriate questions and concerns about living in this world and who I will become. Then, in the midst of my subsequent and predictable need for inspiration, I was grateful to have found myself in the middle of a Maya Angelou poem and I listened and obeyed as her words dictated hope:
The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Maya Angelou is a poet and her reverence for words is the access to her genius. Deprived of her willingness to speak at age seven as a result of having been raped by her mother’s boyfriend, she remained silent for five long years. Contemplating for five years in silence, the serious consequences of the words we choose to use, clearly contributed to her respect for words, and has earned her the right, for as long as she chooses, to talk about the ways that people speak. Contemplating Maya Angelou for just a little while has re-ignited in me dissatisfaction with the way that I have, far too often, refused to speak up.
To be able to talk is a gift. To be allowed to speak up is a privilege, to be sure. And, to keep quiet when you have something important to say; when you believe in something from the bottom of your soul, should be counted among those things that cause us great concern and warrant our most serious consideration.
It happened in April 2003, just weeks after being awarded another Grammy that The Dixie Chicks, performing in London, decided to speak up because they had something important to say. Passionate about the stand that they took, they were no doubt driven by their convictions, fully aware of what the consequences might be, yet willing however, to let the chips fall where they may.
