Power (with a bit of Flower)
detail from Sally Swain © original art

Maya and Me

Do you have words in your rugs?

In your upholstery?

Maya Angelou, amazingly versatile, talented poet, actor, director, dancer, everything-creator, said this to her pal Oprah:

“Words are things. You must be careful, careful about calling people out of their names, using racial pejoratives and sexual pejoratives and all that ignorance. Don’t do that. Some day we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they are things. They get on the walls. They get in your wallpaper. They get in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally in to you.”