Karla Flagg grinned as she stepped into the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday night, admiring the ticket she clutched in her hands.
Flagg, a 21-year-old Palatka resident, came to listen to someone she admires.
“I’m excited to be here seeing Maya Angelou,” she said.
The acclaimed poet and author visited UF and spoke to about 1,600 people inside the auditorium at the Accent Speakers’ Bureau-sponsored event.
About 650 more people gathered around a large screen that broadcasted the speech outside.
Angelou talked for an hour, telling stories about her life. Sometimes she broke into song or into different accents.
She quoted her own poems and the works of others such as William Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe. Angelou said she experienced the strengthening influence of poetry as a child. After she was raped at age 7 by her mother’s boyfriend, she said, she told adults what had happened. Soon after, she heard a mob had kicked him to death. She didn’t speak for six years because she thought her words could kill people. Reading poetry during that time helped her experience the healing power of words, she said.
Angelou urged the audience to memorize poetry for a strong foundation.
“When you find the grades are not what you hoped they’d be — when your beloved has found another beloved — you need something to call upon,” she said.
Paris Wheeler, a 20-year-old UF psychology and criminology junior, said Angelou’s presentation conveyed emotion that made the words she read come alive.
“I used to love poetry,” she said. “And she really reinstated that for me tonight.”
Contact Kelcee Griffis at kgriffis@alligator.org.
Author and poet Maya Angelou speaks to a crowd at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday night.
