ONE MY FAVOURITE POEMS BY MAYA ANGELOU

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

 

TO LUCY.

Your life has been planned out from your birth,
You strive for a different path,
To choose your own destiny,
You try, but that's all it will be,
You are born,
You go to school,
You get your degree,
You get a job,
You get married,
You have kids,
You grow old,
You die.

That is not a life
It's a pattern,
There is so much more to life,
More to life than a degree,
Than marriage,
Than the opinion of others,
There's LIFE.

MY DRIVE.

Destiny or so it seems,
I awake with a drive inside me,
Rejecting the things that be,
My thoughts are of the future,
And all it can be,
A life chosen by me,
I call all the shots,
I am nobody's employee,
My rhymes are read in every city,
My words in every song,
No one owns my time,
I am no one's employee,
Not running the rat race,
Running my own race,
All of the world will see,
I am no one's employee.

Western Australian farming women mentor counterparts from East Java

A group of Indonesian women are touring Western Australia to share farming experiences and gain a deeper understanding of the potential role for women in agriculture.

The tour is part of a unique mentoring program, Empowering Women in Agriculture – Australia and Indonesia, bringing farming women from Western Australia and East Java together to develop skills to enhance their businesses and industries.