Maya Angelou dead at 86

[Printer Bandit]

how is Oprah doing?

 

[phucheneh]

Talentless hack, sorry. I'd feel bad about saying that in her death thread if I wasn't forced to read her drivel in school.

Maybe during the civil rights era her 'poor me, I'm black and a woman' shtick was relevant.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Talentless hack, sorry. I'd feel bad about saying that in her death thread if I wasn't forced to read her drivel in school.

Maybe during the civil rights era her 'poor me, I'm black and a woman' shtick was relevant.

Stay classy... not the forum member rather... anyways you know what I mean.

 

[manimal]

Talentless hack, sorry. I'd feel bad about saying that in her death thread if I wasn't forced to read her drivel in school.

Maybe during the civil rights era her 'poor me, I'm black and a woman' shtick was relevant.

Some people appreciated what they read.

maybe you werent cut out for learnin

 

[rudeguy]

where were you educated texas?

Says the guy using no punctuation or capitalization.

 

[NFS4]

how is Oprah doing?

Her statement:

I've been blessed to have Maya Angelou as my mentor, mother/sister and friend since my 20s. She was there for me always, guiding me through some of the most important years of my life. The world knows her as a poet but at the heart of her, she was a teacher. "When you learn, teach. When you get, give" is one of my best lessons from her.

She won three Grammys, spoke six languages and was the second poet in history to recite a poem at a presidential inauguration. But what stands out to me most about Maya Angelou is not what she has done or written or spoken, it’s how she lived her life. She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace. I loved her and I know she loved me. I will profoundly miss her. She will always be the rainbow in my clouds.

 

[manimal]

Says the guy using no punctuation or capitalization.

woosh

 

[JulesMaximus]

Talentless hack, sorry. I'd feel bad about saying that in her death thread if I wasn't forced to read her drivel in school.

Maybe during the civil rights era her 'poor me, I'm black and a woman' shtick was relevant.

It's okay, black women in 'Merica still have Rihanna to represent them...

 

[poofyhairguy]

Her statement:

Wow that was good, thank you for posting.

 

[Perknose]

She was a towering public figure and a great public voice. I'm sorry to see her go. I never read any of her books/memoirs, but I have to say that her poetry was crushingly mediocre.

Eh. I'm sure most of you think the poem in post #2 is great and wondrous art. Imho, it's not. For me, it's a lumbering, pretentious, cliched piece of pseudo profundity. Sigh. I guess most people can't effing tell the difference.

 

[sdifox]

RIP

 

[zinfamous]

The bell has tolled for Angelou,
Her poem-writing days are through.
We’ll have to cope as best we can
With pomes from brianmanahan.

:'(

 

[brianmanahan]

never heard of this person

edit: she wrote pomes??? RIP

 

[brianmanahan]

The bell has tolled for Angelou,
Her poem-writing days are through.
We’ll have to cope as best we can
With pomes from brianmanahan.

thats some high-grade pome right there :thumbsup:

 

[kranky]

Eh. I'm sure most of you think the poem in post #2 is great and wondrous art. Imho, it's not. For me, it's a lumbering, pretentious, cliched piece of pseudo profundity. Sigh. I guess most people can't effing tell the difference.

I know I can't tell the difference. I don't get poetry or literature or art.

Probably why I had to take the same lit class three times before I passed - with a gift of a C from a teacher who at that point felt sorry for me. I was utterly clueless.

 

[Perknose]

I know I can't tell the difference. I don't get poetry or literature or art.

Probably why I had to take the same lit class three times before I passed - with a gift of a C from a teacher who at that point felt sorry for me. I was utterly clueless.

Eh, it's wildly subjective. Make no mistake, I think Maya Angelou was an amazing woman, I just really don't like her poetry, at least relative to the fame it garnered.

Think of my crabby but deeply held response as similar to how many of we tech heads respond when someone refers to their monitor as their computer. It doesn't really matter in the larger scheme of things, but it does tend to bother those of us who know better, and care about such things.

Some of the best poetry I've ever heard has come from no-names at some random poetry reading, while relative drivel gets published in the New Yorker all the damn time (imho.)

I know a lot less about paintings, but I see the same thing happening there, again, in my personal opinion.

 

[manimal]

Eh, it's wildly subjective. Make no mistake, I think Maya Angelou was an amazing woman, I just really don't like her poetry, at least relative to the fame it garnered.

Think of my crabby but deeply held response as similar to how many of we tech heads respond when someone refers to their monitor as their computer. It doesn't really matter in the larger scheme of things, but it does tend to bother those of us who know better, and care about such things.

Some of the best poetry I've ever heard has come from no-names at some random poetry reading, while relative drivel gets published in the New Yorker all the damn time (imho.)

I know a lot less about paintings, but I see the same thing happening there, again, in my personal opinion.

Her poetry speaks to millions. We all have personal tastes but we need to acknowledge the fact that her poetry spoke to millions especially black women at a time when they had very few voices speaking out for them.


I had a similar conversation with a friend regarding Lorca and Pablo Neruda. One sometimes needs to feel the pain of the artist to feel the full weight of the art.


I am not calling you shallow I am just pointing out the fact that you probably havent walked a mile in her shoes or skirt.


I personally dont like the hate in a RIP thread.

 

[skimple]

Honestly, if that same poetry, and those books, were written by an old white guy, it would be considered worthless drivel. And he would be blasted by the black community for making up stuff about civil rights events in his "autobiographies".

I actually heard someone defend Maya Angelou by saying

"it's not factually true, but it's emotionally true"

And I cracked up over the reference to Langston Hughes. Seriously, its like listening to parrots repeating every liberal arts teacher that I ever had. Those two poets are shoved down students throats like bad medicine. At least Langston Hughes could throw down some serious ryme:

''I was so sick last night I
Didn't hardly know my mind.
So sick last night I
Didn't know my mind.
I drunk some bad licker that
Almost made me blind.''

 

[manimal]

Honestly, if that same poetry, and those books, were written by an old white guy, it would be considered worthless drivel. And he would be blasted by the black community for making up stuff about civil rights events in his "autobiographies".

I actually heard someone defend Maya Angelou by saying

"it's not factually true, but it's emotionally true"

And I cracked up over the reference to Langston Hughes. Seriously, its like listening to parrots repeating every liberal arts teacher that I ever had. Those two poets are shoved down students throats like bad medicine. At least Langston Hughes could throw down some serious ryme:

''I was so sick last night I
Didn't hardly know my mind.
So sick last night I
Didn't know my mind.
I drunk some bad licker that
Almost made me blind.''

its easy to look trough the rear view mirror of history and hate on art out of its time and place. Sure you could argue that Bach was simple and didnt have much emotion and change but that was the conditions of the time he was in. Mozart compared to Beethoven seems simple and without emotion unless you actually understand when it was written and what about it was original at the time.



So your not a black woman who grew up in the 50s and 60s. Thanks for telling us.

 

[Perknose]

Her poetry speaks to millions. We all have personal tastes but we need to acknowledge the fact that her poetry spoke to millions especially black women at a time when they had very few voices speaking out for them.

Yes, yes, all true . . . and she was an amazing woman who lived an amazing life.

Otoh, Justin Bieber's music has "spoken" to millions more, and McDonald's hamburgers have "spoken" to Billions.

I won't derail this tribute thread anymore, but my opinion is not hate. I simply care deeply about poetry and the English language, and my deeply held opinion is that her poetry was a vastly overrated pile of cliches, no matter whose shoes I have walked in.

 

[manimal]

Question for the haters in here. How much poetry do you read now and have you written. Largely the responses in this thread smack me of people who dont like poetry.

We have some Jeff Foxworthy fans in here dont we?

 

[Perknose]

Question for the haters in here. How much poetry do you read now and have you written. Largely the responses in this thread smack me of people who dont like poetry.

We have some Jeff Foxworthy fans in here dont we?

I've been a published poet since 1975. And I have never submitted any of my poetry for publication. I have only responded to an editor's request for one of my poems.

I read, and write, and listen to live poetry being spoken, all the damn time.

And I can't effing stand Jeff Foxworthy. He's a true hack.

Seems to me that you, in your passion, are one of the principal haters here.

 

[manimal]

I've been a published poet since 1975. And I have never submitted any of my poetry for publication. I have only responded to an editor's request for one of my poems.

I read, and write, and listen to live poetry being spoken, all the damn time.

And I can't effing stand Jeff Foxworthy. He's a true hack.

Seems to me that you, in your passion, are one of the principal haters here.

Fantastic that you write. Can you at least appreciate that there was a difference between your comments and the other tasteless comments about her sucking and being a talentless hack?


Everyone has the right to like or dislike Jeff Foxworthy. Dismissing him outright without looking at his sucess in certain markets is like dismissing Maya because you dont understand or choose to acknowledge where she comes from.


Defending an artist from thrown tomatoes is not hating. At least Kranky admitted to not understanding poetry or most art.

I did appreciate your comments because they were at least respectful. What a few others wrote not so much.

I have grown up places where artists were persecuted and killed for their beliefs and opinions so I am somewhat sensitive and quick to defend.

Again I think that a RIP thread should be somewhat respectful as your comments were. Saying shes a hack is hating plain and simple.

 

[Printer Bandit]

Subjective <> good

 

[manimal]

Subjective <> good

so vast is art, so narrow the human wit