Favorite Poem from Children's Poetry Anthology

Life Doesn't Frighten Me
by: Maya Angelou

Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn't frighten me at all.

Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don't frighten me at all
Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn't frighten me at all,

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.

Tough guys in a fight
All alone at night
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don't frighten me at all.

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

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

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.

This poem came out of a book entitled, "A Child's Intoduction to Poetry." I found this book in the IMC and I love it.I think it would be wonderful to use to introduce poetry to first - second graders. It comes with a CD that you are suppose to play that reads the poems but this book didn't have it. It has all the classic poems and nursery rhymes. The books says that this poem was published in Angelou's 1978 book, "And Still I Rise."
I like this poem because it rhymes but not too much. If it's a poem, it has to rhyme, in my opinion, but it doesn't rhyme too much where you can't understand what the poem means. The illustration shows different things that the writer isn't afraid of. She isn't afraid of barking dogs, ghosts, snakes, etc, not even kissy little girls or tough guys. Angelou has been through a lot and this poem shows the world that she is a survivor.
This poem has lots of sounds. "Bad dogs barking loud, I go boo," It helps children to hear what is going on. The rhyme pattern in the poem is two lines that rhyme, then "Life doesn't frighten me at all." This happens for most of the poem. There is a little onomatopoeia in the poem. Words like barking, boo, and shoo are the only words I seen. I think the poem makes you feel like you are there in the poem, which is images. You feel like you are there seeing the snakes and the dragons breathing flame. The form was just in stanzas. Most stanzas had "...don't frighten me at all" after two lines and then at the end.
I think this poem would give children strength to get through whatever is in their lives.