Letter to Maya Angelou: By Lina Hjalmarsson Lyons

***Note: This letter was written in the style of “A Letter to my Nephew” by James Baldwin.***

Dear esteemed Maya Angelou,

Have the lost world always been lost

I so don’t rest at night

Knowing that racism is our universal effort

Must we hate so densely?

Are real lives real

Or am I going

Half crazy

Are too many people

So abiding to mastery of hate?

All mighty Angelou

My heart is

Dense with sorrow

So sparingly hamlet

Sang a song

My so beloved Angelou,

Love,

Lina