“We
write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the ocans
– because we can. We have some impulse
within us that makes us want to explain ourselves to other human beings. That’s why we paint, that’s why we dare to
love someone, that’s why we write – because we have the impulse to explain who
we are.” – Maya Angelou
Author, poet, dancer, actress, and
singer, Maya Angelou, born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Mo., published
seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry. She wrote a long list of plays,
movies, and television shows spanning 50 years and received dozens of
awards and some 50 honorary degrees.
In 1968, her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, written at the urging of writer
James Baldwin and cartoonist Jules Feiffer brought her worldwide attention and started her pathway to
success.
While much acclaim came to her for
her essays, she also wrote many, many poems that drew attention when she
herself performed them at the dozens of public readings and talks she gave
annually. It was my
good fortune to hear her on several and at one held on the campus of Augsburg
College I asked her if she wrote her poems first for herself and then to share,
or the other way around.
“I would be a liar, a hypocrite, or
a fool – and I’m not any of those – to say that I don’t write for the reader,”
she said. “I do. But I write for the reader who hears, who
really will work at it, going behind what I seem to say. So I write for myself and that reader who
will pay his or her dues.”
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