Tell them now.
In the spirit of opening and relaxing into writing, I have found that sometimes, there’s just not much to say.
Today’s letter will be brief.
I just finished reading “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou.
Hoooooly. It’s been awhile since I was forced to stop reading a book due to obstructive globular tears. Her writing doesn’t come from a head, it comes from somewhere deep, perhaps the soul or something equally unknown where wisdom and ancestry and the tie that binds us all live.
I could offer different angles on how to show my gratitude for this work but what I want to offer attention to is the way Maya Angelou writes about the people she loves.
Here are a couple of excerpts.
About her beloved brother, Bailey:
Bailey was the greatest person in my world. And the fact that he was my brother, my only brother, and I had no sisters to share him with, was such good fortune that it made me want to live a Christian life just to show God that I was grateful. Where I was big, elbowy and grating, he was small graceful and smooth. When I was described by our playmates as being shit color, he was lauded for his velvet-black skin. His hair fell down in black curls, and my head was covered with black steel wool. And yet he loved me.
Maya Angelou
Angelou writes about Mrs. Bertha Flowers, a teacher who introduced her to the healing companionship of books:
Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the aristocrat of Black Stamps. She had the grace of control to appear warm in the coldest weather, and on the Arkansas summer days it seemed she had a private breeze which swirled around cooling her…
Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged, but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress, let alone snag her skin…
I don’t think I ever saw Mrs. Flowers laugh, but she smiled often. A slow widening of her thin black lips to show even, small white teeth, then the slow effortless closing. When she chose to smile on me, I always wanted to thank her. The action was so graceful and inclusively benign.
She was one of the few gentlewomen I have ever known, and has remained throughout my life the measure of what a human being can be.
Maya Angelou
Love letters. <3
Bailey and Mrs. Flowers will live on forever in these words – their character, how they affected and inspired the life of one of our most prolific writers, how they were deeply loved and seen.
Angelou reminds us that there is great power in receiving words that are written about you from someone that loves you. We may never pull off such unparalleled poetry like Maya Angelou but the words that we do have dipped in the truths we hold are enough to illuminate this same sweet powerful love.
Let’s not wait til the eulogy. #tellthemnow
Be happy, love you,
Erika
Thank you Maya Angelou, you open, free, mystic, special being.