This is a love letter
From a poetic son,
To mother of poetry for the human spirit
From South Africa,
To far away places like Southeast Arkanasia
Your words of wisdom touch all humanity,
From a lover of literacy like Oprah,
To a freedom fighter like Nelson Mandela
In a time where fightin’ was natural,
You reminded us to never forget
That we are a human family
From the prisoner to the pusher to the poor girl,
Your prose and poetry puts all people on a parallel podium
From the aspiring junkie and the melancholy men,
To a man bigot and the phenomenal woman
You make us run the gamut
From tears of personal pleasure and pain,
To a manageable mourning grace
It’s no accident that you have become our mothering blackness,
Nurturing a society suffering from the sickness of senses of insecurity
You write for us,
Who dare not dare to challenge the status quo
And you champion the cause of equality,
Only making ignorance feel insignificant
With you Maya, we saw beyond our seeming
And dreamed beyond our dreaming,
And, in retrospect,
You helped me have the prescience to also promote healing
Oh, Maya Angelou,
Maya Angelou,
May-a-angel-o-u all the blessings in heaven
That you bestow on the often heavy heart of humanity
Avec merci, Mother Maya for your vision,
And being willing to take time out to help us all be free,
And for helping me realize that when I think about myself,
It ain’t that bad to me
Where I UPstand 