A birthday, a time to march, a time to sow

…a post that cover many bases, wears many hats: poetry (for National Poetry Month), birthdays and assassinations, food, social justice, a petition, precarious labor, organizing…Read the whole piece and the poem, visit People's World, bookmark the page, add to your rss reader, sign up for email updates, find them on Facebook…and don't forget to sign the Fast Food Forward petition.

Happy birthand sign the Fast Food Forward petition. day Maya Angelou! Did you know that in addition to her books of poetry, fiction and autobiography she has also written cookbooks? I have 2 in my collection: "Great Food All Day Long" and "Hallelujah! The Welcome Table."

Ms. Angelou, like great cooks everywhere, has been cooking all her life and has always loved to "feed other people." The "Hallelujah!" book is full of wonderful recipes accompanied by delightful stories. "Great Food" is based on her ideas for weight control that can be summed up as "cook splendidly, eat smart." Delightful!

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.

Today April 4, fast food workers from across New York City are marking the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by standing up for what's right and going on strike to demand better wages and the right to form a union without intimidation. Click here to sign the petition from Fast Food Forward, and here to visit their Facebook page.

Read the rest of Food News: A birthday, a time to march, a time to sow | peoplesworld. Another day another poetry post...this challenge is more my style. Now to find something suitable to post then back date to April 1... time is not linear, why should I be?