Maya Angelou's books of poetry are widely admired best-sellers, though not as critically acclaimed as her seven autobiographies. Angelou (1928–2014), a prominent African-American writer, used everyday language, the Black vernacular, Black music and forms, and sometimes shocking language to explore themes of love, loss, and struggle against oppression and hardship. Her poetry is not easily categorized, and has been compared with musical forms including the blues. She studied and began writing poetry at a young age, in part to cope with trauma, as she described in her first and best-known autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She became a poet after touring Europe in the cast of Porgy and Bess and performing calypso music in nightclubs in the 1950s. Her first volume of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie (1971), was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. In 1993, she recited one of her best-known poems, "On the Pulse of Morning", at President Bill Clinton's inauguration (pictured). Her poetry has not received as much critical attention as her prose; this has been attributed to her popular success and to critics' preferences for poetry as a written form rather than a verbal, performed one.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry_of_Maya_Angelou

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

202 BC:

Rebel leader Liu Bang was enthroned as Emperor Gaozu of Han after overthrowing the Qin dynasty, the first imperial dynasty of China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty

1897:

Ranavalona III, the last sovereign ruler of the Kingdom of Madagascar, was deposed by a French military force. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranavalona_III

1928:

Indian physicist C. V. Raman and his colleagues discovered what is now called the Raman effect, for which he later became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Physics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._V._Raman

1975:

In London an underground train failed to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashed into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorgate_tube_crash

1985:

The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launched a mortar attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary station in Corry Square, Newry, Northern Ireland, killing nine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Newry_mortar_attack

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

compere: (chiefly UK) A master of ceremonies in a television, variety or quiz show. Also used more generally for any master of ceremonies. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/compere

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The miracle is this The more we share... The more We have   --Leonard Nimoy https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonard_Nimoy