Guest Blogger - Kim Sisto Robinson, the Phenomenal Woman

Still on the mend, more of my writer friends have shared their work with this space to give you something entertaining to read. Today, Kim Sisto Robinson has shared her feelings on one of her, and my, my deeply loved poems. From Kim's bio at Skirt magazine, (where she is not only a frequent contributor, but also blogger of the year for 2008: ~~I am a struggling writer waiting to be discovered. My dream is to have a directer read one of my blogs and exclaim... "Hey, can you write a screen play about this?!" Remember Juno? Anything is possible, my dears. I am also at an elementary school working as a discipline teacher, a recent college graduate, the wife of a beautiful Brit, and a mother of two wild and crazy teens. I was a cat in my last life; a Siamese, I believe. I looooooove reading other women's work. I read all of the blogs on Skirt, and seriously, these women have transformed me into a better writer and person! I am addicted to writing, finding the right words, and much more interested and excited about the process than the outcome.....

"If what Proust says is true, that happiness is the absence of fever, then I shall never know happiness. For I am possessed by a fever for knowledge, experience, and creation." ~Anais Nin~ (Yes, that's how I feel, too)!~~ This has also been published at skirt.com


~This poem, by the remarkable Maya Angelou, is one of my all time favorites. The first time I read it, I exclaimed loudly, “THIS IS ME!” Thus-- the poet’s job is to cause the reader to find herself someplace within the words. I have continually met myself inside Angelou’s delicious verse and prose.

~For those of you who have not experienced “Phenomenal Women” I envy you reading it for the first time. Quite sincerely, she is writing about every woman, everywhere, or at least, how we’d like to see ourselves!

Suggestion: This poem is meant to be read aloud for one to fully appreciate the rhyme and rhythm. The words are syrup surging into the atmosphere.




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.






Shalom, Kim