Maya Angelou ... A Phenomenal Woman

I have always been a huge Maya Angelou fan and with her passing yesterday,
I went back to an old post written many years ago to see a pillow I hand painted in her honor.  On the back of the pillow is one verse of Ms. Angelou's most famous poem ... "Phenomenal Woman."  This poem should be a required  read for all women, especially young girls.  We should all strive to be the kind of woman that Ms. Angelou describes in this poem.

In my digging around last week, I found a pillow I painted for fun a number of years ago.  Actually, she was the inspiration for the new Manon pillow for Les Femmes de Paris series.  The only difference is the veil on my 8"  X  8" pillows of Manon.  This pillow is now sitting on the daybed in my little office and it's nice to look over there and see her.

On the back of the pillow, is my favorite poem 
"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 stide of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman 

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me."

A phenomenal poem written by a truly phenomenal woman.