Weaving Interp Selections Ask yourself these questions first: Why do you want to weave your material? What pieces are you using? What is your theme? What point/argument are you trying to make? How will you increase the audience s knowledge on this theme? Do you have an anchor poem or a train that you will use to carry the program? Would the author/poet be able to recognize his work? Things to Keep in Mind: Not creating a new poem Must be able to recognize the original works; retain the original voice Always work to prove your point/argument or to increase the audience s knowledge Distinguish each work from the next with a different persona Have a beginning, a middle and an end Use an anchor poem or a train idea that carries through the pieces (a line, a phrase, a word, etc.) Keep it theme specific You want to enhance the performance and the literature not take from it. Not all pieces should be woven
By Ann Shofner, retired You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may tread me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Intro goes here I've got the children to tend The clothes to mend The floor to mop The food to shop Then the chicken to fry The baby to dry I got company to feed The garden to weed I've got shirts to press The tots to dress The can to be cut I gotta clean up this hut Then see about the sick And the cotton to pick. Phenomenal Woman! 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. 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. 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.
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? Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. 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. 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. 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 back yard. Shine on me, sunshine Rain on me, rain Fall softly, dewdrops And cool my brow again.
Storm, blow me from here With your fiercest wind Let me float across the sky 'Til I can rest again. I m a woman! Out of the huts of history's shame Up from a past that's rooted in pain I'm a ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries. Phenomenal Woman! 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. 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, 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. Phenomenally! 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. It s in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, The need for my care. Cause I m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That s me. Fall gently, snowflakes Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and Let me rest tonight. But I will rise! I m a woman Phenomenal woman That s me. Poet's Page Maya Angelou poems used were: Phenomenal Woman Woman Work Still I Rise