The Mind Creative
she comes across as immensely
unrelenting and unforgiving about her
self-identity as a woman. The way she
writes about ‘the ride of my breasts’,
‘the swing in my waist’, the ‘span of
my hips’, she actually chronicles the
heart of every woman, documents
their own struggles with a rousing
spirit, and a joyful, unabashed soul.
The poem happened to be the first
literary work of this amazing, gifted
storyteller and poet that encouraged
me, taught me the courageous
expressions of creativity.
Maya’s life can be studied as a miracle of hope and inspiration in
a world driven by social discrimination and sexual objectification
of a woman. From the life of a fry cook to a nightclub dancer to
that of a journalist in Egypt and Ghana, a writer and poet laureate,
an actor, director and producer of plays, movies and television
programs, Maya has experienced it all. Living with the excruciating
struggle and abuse inflicted on a young black woman by a white
dominated America, with the hardship of growing up with the
idiocies of sexism and racism, and raising her voice against it, she
has been proud and inexorable about her blackness and her
womanhood. Her works bring out the
essence of her empowerment
through all of this, imploring us to
believe we can seek out a better
world and be a part of it, with our
sense of pride and responsibility.
To me, her poems and her
autobiographical
works
became
emblematic of her supreme pride in
her womanhood, her blackness and
sexuality, while also representing the
essential humility of a true artiste, a
delicate, beautiful, poise and balance
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