Maya and Basquiat
- 1d
- 2 min read
"Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn't frighten me at all"
In getting my book list together for an artist study on Jean-Michel Basquiat, I came across a children's book that used his art to illustrate Maya Angelou's poem "Life Doesn't Frighten Me". He passed away in 1988, and the book wasn't published until five years later, pairing his existing artwork with Angelou's words after the fact. But the rawness and childlike honesty of his paintings fit so perfectly that it feels like he made them just for her. This was the first time I had ever heard of this poem. Now, I'm not nearly as poetic or into poetry as I'd like to be, so me never hearing of this poem is no surprise. I got the book and absolutely fell in love with the poem, especially for my kids.
I know that memorizing poetry has its benefits, including:
Building vocabulary and a feel for language
Strengthening memory and recall
Boosting confidence with public speaking and recitation
Developing a sense of rhythm, tone, and expression
Connecting kids to a long tradition of oral storytelling
But honestly those aren't the reasons I had my kids memorize it. I just want them to be more into poetry than I've been and this is such a fun and powerful poem for kids to learn.
"I won’t cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn’t frighten me at all".
We also did an art project to go along with it, where they made their own little books with images that went along with the words, like Basquiat did. We made some shadow puppets which went perfect with the theme of the poem. Here's a free downloadable link to the puppet set I made, inspired by the poem.
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