Maya Angelou

In response to Dancing Elephants prompt 4 of 52

Maya Angelou had been a singer, dancer, actress, and composer in her long career and became Hollywood’s first female black director. She was most famous as a writer, essayist, editor, playwright, and poet. Maya worked as a civil rights activist for Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

She has written a best-selling book called “I Know Why Caged Birds Sing”, which tells of her sad childhood, growing up with her grandparents and being unable to speak due to trauma.

Her quote appeals to me, not because of the person who wrote it, although I can understand entirely from where her sentiments originate.

I have always felt I have a ‘book in me’. I know that’s a cliche, but I remember as a child daydreaming my way through pages and pages of fictional stories, my imagination running wild until I grew up with the expectations of my parents and then later my husband weighing heavily on my shoulders.

I imagine Maya went through a lot of pain in her life, and the quote is her realisation that the pain of holding in the story within is greater than the pain of sharing it with the world.

Psychology says that we feel light and relieved when we share our pains with anyone. But when we can’t for some unavoidable reasons, it’s a…