The Poets Korner: Maya Angelou

Maya 

Poems And books 

Lectures and looks
Freedom you took

Unthinkable for a woman, and a black one at that
The world glared at you at you stared right back
Unafraid to succeed

And as a young girl I read
I absorbed and you fed
My curiosity

And as I grew older my head on good shoulders I decided to soldier in your army of words
I decided to write
Because you taught me that dreams might
be chased like high flying kites

That I should put down my thoughts
For others to ponder
That I can no longer wonder
Why the caged bird sings

You epic epitome of all that I want for me
May you rest in peace
May the world never cease to read the words of wisdom you graciously surrendered

Maya

Love, Nika

The Poets Korner: Ode To Thee

I cannot say forget me
For that will never fly
Impossibilities
like birds without wings
Take my soul from your eyes

I cannot say forgive me
For I am not sure of my sin
I take your fair heart with a fare start and balance it on the wind.

the breath that is left inside my heaving chest is meant for the exultation of you.
And all that i am in spirit, on land is spent in the loving of you.
For love as it is, as rare and as cleansed is not a forlorn sensation. I cannot say this is the only way, but the direction I've paved is without the pace I know.
And the love that exists refuses to relent, like the falling snow.

The Poets Korner: Today

Today is for the children
Called so violently away
Though it wasn't their time it was sadly their day

Today is for the families torn apart in dismay
Their foundations shook by an earthquake of emotion
Spread across the nation in waves of devotion

Never has a country cried so for the death of innocents
Brought swiftly on by psychotic ignorance

And we Mourn

Today

We mourn because we are human and it is our nature to care.
That the misfortune of others is somehow ours to bare.
These events hit much to close to home.
In the blink of an eye it could have been your own.

So we mourn.
For these children, for these families
But much more greatly for the state of
Humanity.

I wrote this in response to the 

December 14th tragedy of the 

Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.

The Poets Korner: Untitled

UNTITLED

The first time you took mine 

and called it something else

I rejoiced in the calamity that ensued.

The destruction of my self taught nature 

the beginning of your tyrannical bliss.

a cold mistress kept blind and held

tied to the idea of you.

bound to a future with you.

And this is what I try to forget.

That I was ever something 

other than myself 

that I allowed you to take 

my youth, my health!

That me and you were wound 

inside a cocoon of lies 

and you encased my mind.

Your curious nature was an invader 

and mimicked the savior 

that I gave shelter 

in the corners of my heart. 

The Poets Korner: Lighter

Lighter

I need a lighter to set my soul on fire 

Throw my bones upon the pyre 

And watch me slowly burn 

I have one desire 

To see you love me more 

To see you being drained 

Of everyone before 

To hear your deaf lips whisper 

Things only I can hear 

To have my fading shadow 

Be your only fear 

Lying in your arms 

No longer meant for me 

The safety of your touch 

Pretends to set me free.

The Poets Korner: Forgive Me

Forgive Me

Forgive me love 

For I have sinned

I let my guard down 

And let you in

I gave you all my entirety

I'm left with nothing 

But the shell of me

I feel it still

Your heart beats for me

But no longer will you 

Play keeps with me

Discarded like an old rag doll

You let me slip

You let me fall.

Top Ten Posts That Reflect You Best As A Person

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly

 meme held over at The Broke and the Bookish. 

This week is the Top Ten posts on your blog that 

would give the BEST picture of YOU (as a reader 

and a person -- so pick the 10 best reviews/posts

 that you wish every potential reader of your blog 

would see!)

The first two are some of Nika's best posts:

The Poets Korner: Remembering To Forget: I honestly love this poem. I think it shows just how well Nika can write some poetry!

Movie Review: Dark Knight Rises: This is the best movie review Nika has written. She has so much love for Batman and the whole thing with the shooting, she just put her heart into this post. 

Onto Mine:

Book Review: Need by Sherri Hayes: I think this is the best book review I've ever written. I loved this book so much. And it was so different from anything I'd ever read. 

Cover Issues: Across The Universe Trilogy: This is a new thing I started. They really like messing with the book covers and I had a whole lot to say about the new covers to this trilogy. Go read!

Book Review: Easy by Tammara Webber: I don't know why I chose this post. I just really loved the book. It was a fabulous summertime read. You should definitely check it out. 

Movie Review: Cedar Rapids: This one shows exactly what I think is funny! Stupid, stupid comedies! I think they're the only thing that keeps me going when I'm really down. Not family, friends and all that other cliche stuff. COMEDIES! And I absolutely love Ed Helms.

Book Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma: This post would be another I don't know one. This book was really different. And it's about a touchy subject. 

Book Review: Looking For Alaska by John Green: This post shows how I really tried to like a book. How I gave my honest opinion and tried not to bash the book or the author. (**Come on! You gotta love John Green!**)

Book Review: Across The Universe by Beth Revis: Once again, I don't know why I chose this one. I really liked the book and enjoyed doing the post. It was also the very first review I wrote!

Angela's Buys: (6/25): This post shows just how much I love buying thrift books and how overly excited I get when I get to go there. It also shows my obsession with buying books. I'll keep buying until I'm broke.

Hope you like the posts I chose,

and if you did a TTT, leave a 

comment and a link to yours.

Have a great day!

The Poets Korner: Remembering To Forget

Remembering To Forget
Woke up this morning
Then I closed my eyes again
I remembered you were gone

I remembered that picture on the night stand was face down
I remembered how I missed you
I forgot how to forget

And before I woke up it was working so well
My uncurious unconscious dictated my feelings
Filing my head with music and happiness up to the ceiling

Where the only thing that mattered was jumping sheep
With pink polka dots
Wearing green hats

Woke up this morning feeling loss
I remembered your favorite song
I remembered how you smiled when I sang it
I forgot how to forget

The most important thing
The one thing I needed to remember I let slip
Sliding out of bed

I slowly started to push you back
Into the depths of my mind
Starting my day, I’ve pushed you out of the way

Here in the waking world I remember how to forget
A smile crosses my lips  

The Poets Korner: The Dust

The Dust

The dust rises from the beaten ground 

The drum of a thousand feet 

Pound pound 

The chant of ancient voices invoking freedom 

Singing an unwritten song

Calling mother Africa

Calling back generations 

Calling together gods that existed before the nations, stations, and invitations.

Beaded arms flailing digging up millennia

This is our history written in dust and stamped into the earth

And its given birth to everything since. 

The Poets Korner: Today

Today
Today I saw the rest of the world
No one noticed
Cause I curled
Under a tree pondering the meaning
On the faces passing by
Too nervous to cast an eye to eye
They pass me by, they pass me bye

Today I fell in love with the sky
It kissed my face with it’s watery grace
And I loved it back with my eyes
The clouds smiled at me,
Extended their hands and carried me
Away away away, today

Today I caught a peek in a pond
My face was worried and wet and wound
I stared at myself and everything else
Was gone a moment
of complete Self in fat you a tion
Feelings that fit into our shell fish
Nation

Today I fell asleep on the ground
I woke up and no one was around
My song forgotten on the leafs
My thoughts as carefree as the breeze
And no one understands it all
We’re lost and eventually
We fall
Today today today

Is just like the day before and yesterday

The Poets Korner: I Am Not My Mother

I am not my mother

The most important walk

Is less then a block

And it

Means forever.

A promise made with a long stride

That I'll always be by your side,

Doing wifely things

Every day and night

Cause I walked…

Well,what if I ran instead?

Could I still be held accountable for your happiness?

Or what if I skipped?

Even fell or flipped,

Would the vow still make sense?

It doesn’t matter I guess.

I am not my mother

And divorce is just another lover

Found at the wedding dinner or the laundry mat

In fact

Lets get divorced first and see how that fares

Maybe will stay together in the end

The Poets Korner: Sic

Sic
Heaven help him

He's delusional bits

Pieces and leaflets

He can't afford to live; he can't abide and die

He is a product of this American lie

The Poets Korner: For You...

...For You...

Tell me love

The stars above
Do they shine, the same for you?

Are the lights just as bright?

Past oceans blue and wide…

Does the sun, heat your face,

In the same time and place?

As it does mine

And do the hours pass the same

Like visions of you held in vain.

Maybe once near and far

We’ll meet close in a bar

Breathe each other in and out

Make a map of my heart.

And in your arms I will stay

Until the dream fades away

And I wake.

Blinking slow

You and I are a

No

Never was, never will

But this dream felt so real

So I’ll wait every day

Talk to you in this artificial way

Pretend our love will go someplace

And hold you in my heart

So tell me love, does the pain

Feel intense and the same

Oceans far away

As it does

For

Me

The Poets Korner: Untitled

Like sheep

We seek 
our shepherds 
to usher us into correctitude 
And guide us throughout life 
And deliver us from spite 
To pull us toward our problems and lead us from that dark knight 

Our shepherd is our father

 Our watcher

 And our friend 

To leave his watchful gaze to graze along the banks of forgetfulness

 is to sign away our right to find the treasure the shepherd keeps behind his gracious heart and watchful eye

And we are but lost Sheep

 On the horizon of sleep

On the edge of defeat

Without him or her

 Whichever you prefer

Whoever you may follow as a part Of the herd

 As a part of the world

 You need a shepherd to lead you home.

Not to say that we are but drones

Cursed to do as others have shown

 But one in a company of many

 All different all exceptional all in need of a shepherds lead

 And bound by that we are sheep searching for
The end