Journal 7- Aziz Hamid

My two favorite websites that I really enjoyed are:

www.poetryoutloud.org

www.poetryfoundation.org

I already knew about the poverty foundation website before this activity. I used this website when I was working on my presentation on Lucille Clifton.  Poetry foundation has 27 poems by Clifton. In addition to the poems the website offer articles, audio & podcasts, video and biography on Clifton. The website is nicely organized and easy to work with. 

The Poetry Out Loud website has fewer poems but is a great website to watch people recite poems from memory. I was amazed on how well some of the people memorized poems. I was very nervous reciting my poem in front of a small group, I can't imagine reciting it in front of a larger audience. Poetry Out Loud is a great website for someone like me who get nervous talking let alone reciting a poem in front a group of people. This website can help improve your  public speaking skills and most importantly build self-confidence. The website is also colorful and pleasing to browse through. 

I would give both of these website 5 stars because they are great websites that offer different features depending on your needs. 

My favorite poem I found on poetry foundation :

Still I Rise

By Maya Angelou 

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.