Day 11: Phenomenal Woman.

Did you see me skip a day yesterday? Sorry. Churning out these things daily is not easy jare. I also don't want to just be rambling on. So I may take a couple of days to get my bearing from time to time. But rest assured, I WILL complete the 30 days. So here's to 19 more days...!

Today, I am talking intangibles.

I am fascinated by those things that we cannot see and/or touch that are just essential to our essence. When someone says "you have a certain je ne said quoi about you, I can't just put my finger on it" that excites me to no end. This is mainly for the ladies, but don't tune of gentlemen. We women sometimes don't rate our own magic. We often think it is about the face beat, the laid edges, the slayed weaves, the latest fashions and the expensive gadgets. The society we live in sometimes approves this message. But there is something to us when we peel off the lashes, wash off the makeup, remove the waist trainers and take off the wigs. There is a certain something to us that we have but we don't rate. The quiet strength, graciousness and dignity. Beauty in hidden attributes. Some us have reduced ourselves or have been reduced to only our physical attributes but I say we must celebrate our intangibles....even more than we celebrate the tangibles. 

Today, I am sharing one of my absolute favourite poem with you all. This poem is the very embodiment of the self love ethos. It was the first poem that understood, articulated and insisted that the intangibles were the best things about being a woman. Anytime I consider this poem, I come to the realization that we must appreciate and indeed celebrate those nuances that make us uniquely us. Those things that we do not rate and have considered secondary to what we are told we must project and demonstrate. 

Without further ado, I give you Phenomenal Woman by the phenomenally incomparable Dr. Maya Angelou and I invite you to carefully consider the words of this poem and, if you haven't already, begin a journey of self love...the love for the intangibles. 

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 stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them

They say they still can't see.

I say,

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It's in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

the palm of my hand,

The need of my care,

'Cause I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.