Tag: poetry

Prejudice is a mist, which… often dims the brightest and obscures the best of all the good and glorious objects that meet us on our way- Lord Shaftesbury

Bloganuary writing prompt
If you could un-invent something, what would it be?
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We are more than halfway through January, which means Bloganuary, too! 😱. Where does the time go? Well done, everyone, for getting this far! Thank you to all who have participated in my journey by reading, commenting and/or liking my posts. You are helping to make this an awesome experience.

Hmmm…back to the prompt. I have no idea what I would uninvent. If I were really forced to pin something down, it would be prejudices. I have just read a blog where racism was mentioned, and I would like to add ageism, judging people by their level of intelligence, or their facial features, or their body shape. There are so many other ways in which we judge our fellow man. It is so ingrained in us. I am definitely just as guilty.

Image: created on Canva

Imagine a world where we just accepted each other as fellow human beings and respected each other for our strengths rather than deliberately “creating weaknesses” to judge each other by. Here’s the thing: together, we all make this world work in some way or another. 

So yes, I would definitely uninvent prejudices. What would you uninvent?

Thanks for popping by! Be blessed!

Celebrating 2023: A Month of Gratitude – Day 1

Gratitude is like food for the soul. I am celebrating 2023 by spending each day in December reflecting on and, being grateful for, my blessings this year. Join me. Perhaps you will be inspired to do the same.

Wow, here we are again. Day 1 of the final month of the year. I have so much to reflect on and lots to be grateful for.

2023 has been a journey like no other. A few dreams have come true. Some are on their way there. The losses have been learnings and the near misses have been eye openers. I mean where do I even begin?

Let’s start at the beginning. Reaching 50 has been a wonderful blessing. I said that my 50’s are going to be my best decade yet at the beginning of this year and it has definitely started well! I feel like this year I really came into myself. I still have lots of work to do but I have never been as comfortable in my own skin or as happy to be as I have been this year.

Image: Canva

The reality is that not much has changed materially in my world but I have changed and that has made all the difference.

Wishing you abundant blessings in every moment.

Still I rise – Maya Angelou

Bloganuary Day 25

Today’s Prompt: What is a song or poem that speaks to you and why?

I love the sassiness of Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise”. Whenever I read it, I read it in her voice simply because I love the way she recited it. It speaks to me on so many levels. I have been bullied. I have cried my heart out because I had not been invited to events by friends to protect the ego of another who was insecure about me. I have been looked down upon because I am a single mum and because I am not rich. Then of course there is the fact that I am a female and a person of colour working in the corporate world in a country where I am not black enough for some and of course, not white enough for others.

When I read this poem, I am reminded that despite all this, I still rise. I am able to stand on my own two feet and create a home for my son as a start. I know I do not do it alone. God has my back and surrounds me with the most amazing people to keep me rising and it is because I have realised this, I can now walk confidently through life. 

Still I Rise
BY MAYA ANGELOU

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Maya Angelou, 
"Still I Rise" from And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems.