Still I Rise
BY MAYA ANGELOU
You may write me down in ______
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very ______
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my _______ upset you?
Why are you beset with______?
’Cause I _____ like I've got oil wells
________ in my living room.
Just like ______ and like______ ,
With the certainty of______ ,
Just like _____ springing high,
Still I'll___ .
Did you want to ____ me broken?
Bowed _____ and lowered_____ ?
Shoulders falling down like ______ ,
Weakened by my soulful____ ?
Does my ______ offend you?
Don't you take it ____ hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own______ .
You may shoot me with your____ ,
You may cut me with your_____ ,
You may ____ me with your
hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my ____ upset you?
Does it come as a _____
That I dance like I've got ______
At the meeting of my_____ ?
Out of the ____ of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s _____ in pain
I rise
I'm a black____ , leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I ____ in the tide.
Leaving behind _____ of terror and
fear
I rise
Into a ____ that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the ____ that my ancestors
gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the
____.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
We Real Cool
BY GWENDOLYN BROOKS
We ____ cool. We
____ school. We
Lurk___ . We
Strike____ . We
Sing__ . We
Thin____ . We
Jazz____ . We
Die ___ .
Bonsai
Edith Tiempo
All that I love
I fold over once
And once again
And keep in a box
Or a slit in a hollow post
Or in my shoe.
All that I love?
Why, yes, but for the
momentAnd for all time, both.
Something that folds and
keeps easy,
Son’s note or Dad’s one
gaudy tie,
A roto picture of a queen,
A blue Indian shawl, even
A money bill.
It’s utter sublimation,
A feat, this heart’s control
Moment to moment
To scale all love down
To a cupped hand’s size
Till seashells are broken
pieces
From God’s own bright
teeth,
And life and love are real
Things you can run and
Breathless hand over
To the merest child.