What can I say about an icon that has not already been said? Maya Angelou had a difficult childhood. Her parents divorced when she was three, leaving Angelou to be raised by her grandmother. When she was seven, Angelou was sexually assaulted by her mother’s boyfriend. After testifying against him, her attacker was beaten to death in an alley, causing Angelou to believe her voice was too powerful. She decided to remain nearly mute for the next five years. During this time Angelou connected with the written word, paving the way for her future as a writer.

The three time Grammy winner, Maya Angelou, wore many hats, she was an American poet, memoirist, actress, and civil rights activist. She spoke six languages. In an unfortunate turn of time, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on her birthday.

Lending her voice to President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993, Angelou was the first poet since Robert Frost to enjoy the honour of the august platform, reading the centuries-spanning epic “On the Pulse of Morning,” which she wrote for the occasion.

This is my frail attempt to recite one of her poems