Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou



Phenomenal Woman

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.

Maya Angelou
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Submitted on May 18, 2017

Modified on May 03, 2023

1:24 min read
305

Quick analysis:

Scheme aabaCxdxdEFEF xgxxgfgCaxxxEFEF xfhhfbfCxixiE FEF jkxkxkCxljleFEF
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,237
Words 262
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 13, 16, 13, 3, 15

Naomi Buote

Hi, I'm an ESL teacher, but hey, I don't matter....IT's the words. I love that you all like writing and look forward to reading your work and being inspired. I feel I'm not alone at this. I write a lot for my students to get them to write back. Here in Quebec, in French schools literature seems to get forgotten especially at primary and secondary levels...well who has time between all those French rules you have to teach! So in the ESL classroom, I try and introduce as much literature as I can. I try to get students to enjoy it. Then, I show them how it helps them to see the gray and a way past the end of their noses. A word by itself is a wonderful thing, as worthy to the fiddle one string but adorned with a sentence a word blossoms in sense inviting young hearts to sing... (check out more in poem Teaching more than just Words) more…

All Naomi Buote poems | Naomi Buote Books

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    The use of words and phrases to create mental images and evoke sensory experiences is called _______.
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    D personification