NO IMAGES by Waring Cuney

She does not know
Her beauty,
She thinks her brown body
Has no glory.
If she could dance
Naked
Under palm trees
And see her image in the river,
She would know.

But there are no palm trees
On the street,
And dish water gives back no images.

Mom took me to see Maya Angelou speak last night and this was the poem she opened with. I loved it despite my zero tolerance policy for poetry. I guess it's a good thing. It'd be pretty shameful to admit that even Maya Angelou couldn't make me appreciate a poem or two.

The only thing I didn't like about her performance last night was the woman sitting behind me. I think she thought the proper thing to do at the reading would be to behave as if she were in an AME church, telling it back to the preacher. First off, she was an annoying white lady. Secondly, she was bothering me. Thirdly, shut the hell up! "OH YES!" she kept saying. "OH YES! Her inaugural poem. OH YES! I hope she reads that!" she kept yelling in my ear.

Other than that, I loved it. Thanks for the wonderful birthday present Mom!