(no subject)

[mynewplace]

I'm sharing other people's words this morning.

In keeping with the "42nd entry" meme going around, I looked up my own 42nd entry. I found it remarkably appropriate, since this is indeed what I strive to, what I am drawn to, how I want my life to be, and how I want folks to see me.


PHENOMENAL WOMAN
By Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Also, in celebration of the brilliance of women, the graceful and intelligent conversation which was present in everyday life during times past, this exerpt from The Writers Almanac for June 2, 2008.

It was on this day in 1865 that the Civil War came to a formal end. Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi, surrendered, and the last Confederate army ceased to exist. The war that cost 620,000 American lives was over.
Emma LeConte, a 17-year-old from Columbia, South Carolina, wrote, "The troops are coming home. One meets long-absent familiar faces on the streets, and congregations once almost strictly feminine are now mingled with returned soldiers ... We expected to meet them exulting and victorious. That was to be a day of wildest joy, when the tidings of peace should reach us, and the thought of that time used to lighten our hearts and nerve us to bear every trial and privation. ... The army is disbanded now — Oh! Merciful God! — the hot tears rush into my eyes and I cannot write."

What a sad turn of events - every war must have a loser in order to have a winner. When I read this it pains me to think that few young women of 17 would be so fluent, so perceptive or so well-spoken of daily happenings in the world that surrounds her.