Survivor and Inspirational Poetry

The following page contains poetry written by Sexual Assault Survivors. If you find a particular poem moving, please email the author and let them know! If you’d like your own poetry to appear here, please email Eden at (eden@taking-back-control.com) and it will be posted as soon as possible!

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
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You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,ÂÂ
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.ÂÂ
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Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?ÂÂ
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
pumping in my living room.
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Just like moons and like suns,
with the certainty of tides,
just like hopes springing high,
still I’ll rise.
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Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
weakened by my soulful cries.
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Does my haughtiness offend you?ÂÂ
Don’t you take it awful hard
’cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
diggin in my own backyard.
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You may shoot me with your words,
you may cut me with your eyes,ÂÂ
you may kill me with your hatefulness,ÂÂ
but still, like air, I’ll rise.
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Does my sexiness upset you?ÂÂ
Does it come as a surprise?ÂÂ
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
at the meeting of my thighs?
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Out of the huts of history’s shame, I rise.ÂÂ
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain, I rise.ÂÂ
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.ÂÂ
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Leaving behind nights of terror and fear, I rise.
Into a daybreak that’s wonderously clear, I rise.ÂÂ
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise.
I rise.
I rise.
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Life Doesn’t Frighten Me by Maya Angelou

Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn’t frighten me at allÂÂ

Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn’t frighten me at allÂÂ

Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don’t frighten me at allÂÂ

Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn’t frighten me at all.ÂÂ

I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won’t cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.ÂÂ

Tough guys fight
All alone at night
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.ÂÂ

Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don’t frighten me at all.ÂÂ

That new classroom where
Boys all pull my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don’t frighten me at all.ÂÂ

Don’t show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I’m afraid at all
It’s only in my dreams.ÂÂ

I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all.
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.

Breaking the Silence by Sylvia Chidi

Shush! Silence
I’m breaking the silence
As I finish this sentence
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Six months ago
My heart said yes
My head said no, go slow
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In my silence I hid the truth, expressing fear
In my silence I hid my feelings, registering no care
In my silence I hid my thoughts, refusing to share
Any of my ideas
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Prosperous is the silence
Abundance of it can turn life
Into a nasty experience
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Shush! Silence
I’m breaking the silence
As I finish this sentence
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Ceaselessly I’ve combated with my conscience
Endlessly in silence I exposed my defence
Allowing all to penetrate my territory without a valid licence
I should have said no with my voice
I should have asked why by making some noise
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In silence I created an air of suspense
And they capitalised on it in my absence
In silence all my thoughts mingled
Some of which should have been singled